Each month we feature a selection of your letters
We ’ re still looking for a new prize for a Star Letter , so please bear with us for a while longer . It ’ s a difficult time for the diving industry , so sponsorships are a tricky proposition at the moment .
ChatSend your letters to simon @ scubamagazine . co . uk
PHOTO : KIRSTY ANDREWS
Each diver would often catch five or six crawfish per dive , each weighing over 5lbs . They were so sluggish we could catch them by hand . We would do two dives on each trip . At the end of the day the boat owner would buy our catch for six bob ( 30p now ) a pound and put them in underwater keep-boxes in the harbour . He explained that the English restaurants didn ’ t want crawfish , preferring the regular lobsters with claws , but that a French trawler would come over and buy the crawfish for the French restaurants . I remember my buddy and I were delighted to get paid for our catch ; it paid for drinks and dinner at the pub in the evening .
I now live and dive in Miami where we have a spiny lobster ( crawfish ) season from August to the following March . The crawfish weigh about 1 to 2 lbs ( about 450-900g ) and are so lively they are impossible to catch by hand ; you need a net and tickle stick , or other device . NICK MORRELL , BSAC Direct
Stuck on the craw
I READ WITH INTEREST THE ARTICLE BY BSAC 006 ) used to go camping in Stoke Kirsty Andrews about the South Coast ’ s Flemming , Devon and hunted crawfish on resurgent crawfish ( October 2022 ). I would a boat owned by a member of the Torbay be interested to know how big the crawfish BSAC ( 008 ). The boat was moored on the are these days , and how easy they are to Kingswear side of Dartmouth and took catch ? about 10 divers . I don ’ t remember much I remember hunting for crawfish in the about the boat except we had to hand crank late 60s . My buddy and I ( Bournemouth the diesel engine to start it in the morning .
Editor ’ s response : Thanks for writing in , Nick . Popular belief here has it that foraging divers were partially responsible for the collapse in the UK ’ s crawfish stocks in the 1960s and early 70s , although environmental factors and industrial fishing probably played a greater role . In recent years there has been a trend to survey and conserve marine life in the UK , so the culture of taking lobsters has dwindled , whether they be spiny or pinchy . A few groups of foraging divers do still take lobsters , though not to the extent seen in Florida . When they grow to maturity , they can weigh up to 2kg .
Stafford SAC ’ s inspiration
DAVE KENNEDY , AKA ‘ DK ’, HAS BEEN THE ELDEST DIVER AT Stafford Sub-Aqua Club for some time now . He is a very active member , taking part in many of the organised club dive trips . In May 2021 he was rushed to hospital , where he subsequently had a quadruple heart by-pass . Throughout his recovery , Dave focussed on getting back in shape in order to pass his medical , and then to resume diving .
After many months of swimming and fitness exercises , he got his medical signed off in June 2022 . He then set himself a goal of carrying out a 76min dive before the end of the year , as he was then 76 years old . After a gradual build-up of dives over the summer and autumn , he completed his 76min dive in late November . Dave is an inspirational figure in our club , demonstrating that you can achieve your goals by working hard and never giving up . Sebastien Danneels , Chair , Stafford SAC
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