QUEENSLAND GROPER 1968
SPEAR FISHING COMPETITIONS DESTROY
“The last straw”
Can clearly remember the time I decided to give up competition diving. It was on a reef inside inside Broughton Island in toward the little Gibber. Heavily kelp covered reef and a bonus weight Crimson banded parrot fish, he didn’t get to be this big by luck. I used every trick in the trained killers book and several times I gave up and chased other stuff. But the old story one last try, I loaded the rubber to the last notch and once again entered the fray, he would go in and out of the kelp, caves, crevices THEN on the edge of the reef I lay in the weed and he presented me a long shot but swimming away from me. It was now or never The long spiked pranger took him in the shoulder and out the head it wasn’t pretty, couldn’t dislodge the pranger in the water, so back to boat; eventually remove the pranger. The CBP was ripped to pieces on one side and looked unharmed on the other; unharmed (apart from being dead).
That was it (what a waste) a thing of beauty slaughtered for no particular reason. I took the pledge, only (spear fish in future) for food.
(Robert E Grounds 2013)
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Needle-teeth of Grey Nurse sharks were popular trophies in the 1960′s. Taking a set from that species today, in Australia, would guarantee a terrible penalty. The young lady is Tanya Binning - a famous surf girl of the era. Grey Nurse sharks made a dramatic return to the east coast of Australia in 1988. The population has been steadily increasing since. Unreliable out-of-date reports continue to circulate promoting a demise.