Collectors die in Tonga, Vanuatu

[cortez marine]

People,
The pursuit of deepwater wrasses in Vanuatu and deepwater ventralis anthias in Tonga has killed two divers these past few months.
I just got off the phone to my own guy in Tonga and he said the reason there was not so much alarm is because they were both Filipinos under contract and not locals with families.

The grieving families in the Philippines did not apparently count.
They were promised a severance pay...that never got sent....
They were also both pressured to dive deep for the coveted species in order to get paid.

Beautiful fish, dangerous...200 foot depths, and scandalous business.
There is no way to work 200 foot w/ conventional scuba and not kill divers.
The only press so far is this.
There will be more as I dig futher.
Sincerely, Steve

[delsol650]

That Sux...

[GreshamH]

Steve, is that one in each country in the last few months?

200' on SCUBA while working is stacking the odds in a major way. Heck, I've never hit the depth even for a couple minutes. 160' is my limit and I don't stay long, and I have never worked at ANY depth collecting fish. I can not imagine what that would do to your down time.

So I take it the companies don't use computers (duh, I know ) nor do they enforce any tables (another duh, I know ). Indeed it does sound scandelous and my heart goes out to the families. Those divers sent most thier earnings back to their family in PI. While I don't know what exporter they worked for, I wish I did so I could make sure I didn't support them in any way.

Steve, do you think it's safe to see over a hundred divers have died world wide in persuit of MO collections? You've meantioned the village in PI that has nearly no males left do to baby clownfish collections (deepwater). Are there other places like that?

[Unarce]

[Thales]

Massively lame.

200 feet is a decompression dive. When I was there they didn't even do a safety stop at 15 feet. 80 feet to the surface as quick as they could swim. Oy.

[cortez marine]

Gresham,
I just talked to MeMe in Tonga and he reminded me of the Polilio Island, Quezon province village that lost 45 collectors to baby clown triggerfish collecting from 1988-93.
The pressure to go deep is put on by the business /marlketing people who know nothing of the ocean but how to sell it.
Steve

[cortez marine]

The Vanuatu guy was from Mascinloc Zambales, trained on nets in 1993.
The Bolinao guy, Eddie Balmoral was trained by others and was thrilled to get paid well to work abroad.
No where in the contract they had to sign did it say that you'd have to "dive deep or else not get paid" .
Forcing people to go to certain danger every, single day to catch ventralis gives them the choice...resign and be sued or work deep.
None of them understand the efects of deep diving like genuinely trained scuba people and they figure that "some are taken and the rest spared."
Just bad luck if you're taken they think instead of the predictable laying down the odds in a game of Russian Roulette.
Today they are still pressured to go deep...and think they cannot rebel against the powers that they are contracted to work for.
Criminal charges would be levied in many countries over this.
Steve
Steve

[Thales]

Thats the Eddie that dove with us in Tonga?

[hawaiianwargod]

Damn...that so sad! May they RIP!

[cortez marine]

No, A different Eddie from the other company. Joeys friend.
Steve

[Thales]

Thanks Steve. It still really sucks.

[cortez marine]

The pressure came from the American manager who knows better.
I warned him several times about this....on 100 foot fish!
I had no idea he then pushed them to go even deeper.
That means it was really unneccessary and more scandalous.
He worked Vanuatu as well and prepped it to sell to the new guys. They continued the program using imported Filipino divers to go super deep and sure enough, a good guy died of the bends.
The way they still go for hooded wrase, ventralis, scotts wrasse and pictilis is still very dangerous.
The odds are for more deaths to come as the "good season" rolls in .
Some of the divers are resigning as their contracts expire.
Steve

[waxy]

Anything for money

[scuba71]

my condolences to their family and friends.

My deepest dive was a wreck dive in the marshal islands at 160'. Only stayed there for less than 10 minutes. I can't even imagine doing any chasing of fish at 200'. That's nuts man.

[cortez marine]

I can't even imagine doing any chasing of fish at 200'. That's nuts man.

Then I should shut up cuz there are a number of Americans running stations in the Pacific who regularly put their briefly trained employeee divers at risk .

The divers generally think theres not much difference between 100 and 180 feet as they are both deep. In fact here is a huge difference but the exporters want ventralis to please you all and most of them are not divers .
For the ones who are divers, they know better and have no excuses.
Pushing the guys into repetitive dives three times a day is the norm. Three!
Not 60 feet then 50 feet then 40. Oh no...

For you guys out there who are divers and have already sat thru boyles law and Archimedes principle during scuba class, you already understand what this daily ventralis anthias collectors dive profile means;

8:30 AM DIVE TO 180 FEET FOR 25 MINUTES
11:30 AM DIVE TO 150 FEET FOR 40 MINUTES
1:30 PM DIVE TO 150 FEET AGAIN FOR 40 MINUTES

The divers are not nearly decompressed enough and are way over the limits setting themselves up for the bends, paralysis, partial paralysis, bone neucrosis and eventually premature arthiritis if they survive.

If employers were held responsible, things could change quickly.
Steve

[Unarce]

Steve,

Is there anything we can do as conscientious hobbyists? Something more than simply boycotting deepwater fish from these areas.

If you're able to locate and contact the relatives of the deceased collectors, perhaps we could contribute to a Family Donation.

Karl

[cortez marine]

Karll
One I know already and the second ...I'll have info tomorrow.
I know Eddie had a wife and a one year old baby.
A direct western Union to the wives of both would be wonderful!
Steve

[Reefcherie]

Originally posted by Unarce
Steve,

Is there anything we can do as conscientious hobbyists? Something more than simply boycotting deepwater fish from these areas.

I wonder how many hobbyists actually realize which fish are the "deepwater" ones that they could be choosing not to buy due to the risk to divers trying to obtain them? I can't honestly say that I know. Does such a list exist?

[billsreef]

Originally posted by cortez marine
8:30 AM DIVE TO 180 FEET FOR 25 MINUTES
11:30 AM DIVE TO 150 FEET FOR 40 MINUTES
1:30 PM DIVE TO 150 FEET AGAIN FOR 40 MINUTES

For the non divers out there, these depths and bottom times are well past the no decompression limits for diving on air. Such dives really require considerable decompression time and a good amount of time spent on the surface between dives. Multiple deep dives ,on air, like that in the course of one day is just bad.

If these exporters really want their divers to collect deep water fish, they should be supplying their divers with proper training and equipment.

[Glove]

WOW I am amazed at those dive depths and times.
Totally not acceptable.

[cortez marine]

I am amazed that these commercial divers have physiologically "adapted and adjusted" to lethal depth/time dive profiles that we learn are deadly in dive class..
However, w/ that said, they still pay the piper eventually. Some sooner, some later in bone diseases .
The trade and hobby has an unsuitable species list to protect it from buying a coral feeder. A list of unsafe fishes to protect the diver is not hard to generate.

For Americans w/ mixed gas diving experience, rest assured, that is never in the equation for these guys.
American deep diving professionals Richard Pyle and Chip Boyle [ Cook Islands ] are capable of it and very few others.
Steve

[Thales]

Steve,

In your experience, how many, if any, any of the divers have actual dive training and/or citification?
How responsible are the state side importers?

[cortez marine]

They all have to have ..allegedly... scuba certification.

Being long time commercial divers, they perhaps confuse "all around water knowledge" and skills with deepwater knowledge and skills, which are, as you know, not the same.

Thats a good follow-up question for the next phone call.

After a sea cucumber death in 1995, we had a one day seminar on diving issues and safety for the villages on the East side of Tonga.
The death was a local and the cause of great enough concern to serve as a basis for banning hookah compressor diving as a safety measure in Tonga...ignorant of the fact that scuba is no guarantee of safe practice either.
Depth is still depth...time down is still time down.

If this causes a ban on SCUBA as well...only shallow fish will go forth as in Solomon Islands.
Steve

[cortez marine]

State side importers are merchants and not divers per se.
Island based American managers are also generally not divers but one in Vanuatu and also Tonga was a long time commercial diver in Hawaii and knows very, very well about diving physics and human welfare.
They pressure divers to go deep still.
No, there is no gun at the head...but the pressure is real.
Brought to the island specifically for this activity and contracted solely for this...they see few alternatives but to relectantly oblige, especially the young, "invincable" ones.
The Filipino enclave of imported divers in Tonga are getting together on this now.
I'M GOING TO ASK THE ADRESS OF THE FAMILIES TO PROVIDE A WESTERN UNION ADRESS FOR SOME RELIEF.
Steve

[cortez marine]

I used to write for FAMA magazine from 1981 to 1993.
My last article quiery was to be a story about the 45 collectors we discovered to have died collecting baby clown triggerfish in a single region in the Philippines; Polilio Island, Quezon Province, Philippines.
We trained this area for several weeks and learned first hand of the stories of each and every diver and diver family member left behind.
Divers wanted to know why the stricken divers coughed up foamy, purple blood .
Why they couldn't talk in the boat as paralysis set in, why some survived yet became crippled and so on.
The article was turned down, my first....and I think I became a bit of a pariah soon after that.
Steve