Sorry if I didn't explain that better Matt. The whole point of the specimen comps was to encourage and enable competitors to look for specimens of all species that might command as many competition points as bass which commanded a basic premium for many years (even though it is one of the more common species) over several other species including flatfish which used to be easy to find and catch but are now much rarer. So for example specimen points enabled a decent sole to rank on par with a very good bass and they were probably equally hard to find.
In fact from a competition outlook, it turned out that bass were almost the last fish to look for, as a high % fish was almost an impossibility, whereas there were other occasions when we would come across shoals of other species containing fish that exceeded rod caught record size (time and location logged I can assure you). All three mullet species, various flatfish, red mullet, triggerfish etc............Unfortunately the logic and the diversity of that approach and its appeal to novice competitors (who could not swim 3 miles and did not want to bang out small pollack for 6 hours at a time) met no favour with the hardened competitors especially the "big white trophy hunters" amongst them and the idea was shelved. My involvement ended soon after.
So there are people trying to improve the ethics of spearfishing and there are bad apples in the barrel too, just like angling. Tossers stand out wherever you find them, but I hope nobody judges either activity by the actions of 1 person. Hopefully we can encourage the participants in all sports that impact on the environment to act more and more responsibly.
