A group of University students is working on forming a student organization dedicated to its favorite activity — spearfishing.Marine biology junior Jamie Halk is spearheading the effort. The club would be a way to get together with other students interested in spearfishing, a relatively rare hobby, Halk said.Halk got the idea during the summer by talking with other University students about the hobby and the available spearfishing organizations in the state.”There’s a couple spearfishing clubs in Louisiana, but they are all open to everyone,” Halk said. “This summer I threw the idea around about making one exclusive to LSU, and after talking to guys coming into the dive shop where I worked, I knew we had enough interest to start one ourselves.”Spearfishing is a combination of scuba diving and fishing which involves diving underwater and shooting fish with a high-powered spear gun. The method of catching the fish makes spearfishing the most environmentally friendly, Halk said.”It’s the most ecologically friendly [way to fish] because you’re targeting only the fish that you want, and there’s very little bycatch,” Halk said.Bycatch are species unintentionally caught while fishing for another species.Halk said shooting the fish is the easy part.”[After you shoot], you’re fighting them,” he said. “It’s not uncommon to hit a 100-pound fish, and some of them feel like Glenn Dorsey pulling you around.”Halk said the group is close to becoming official. He is working on fulfilling all the requirements for University organizations, as well as the rules of the Louisiana Council of Underwater Dive Clubs.”I have the constitution finished,” Halk said. “I’ve got member information forms and applications to send to LSU Student Life and to the Louisiana Council of Underwater Dive Clubs.”The organization also needs a faculty adviser and at least five members, according to University Campus Life.”We’re working on finding an adviser,” Halk said. “We’d like to find another diver who is interested in spearfishing.”Halk said he has contacted about 20 other students who are interested in joining. Jackson Wilson, business junior, said the club will be about having fun and enjoying an interesting hobby.”Spearfishing can go from a mud hole in your backyard to 100 miles off-shore near an oil rig,” Wilson said. “We just really like [spearfishing], and it’s hard to find other people who do it.”Both Halk and Wilson acknowledged the possible dangers of the sport, but the club will require all members to be skilled divers before they partake in a club dive.”All members will have to be scuba certified … and part of the requirements to be a member will be going out with some experienced divers,” Halk said. “But it’s really rare to have something go wrong, especially when you’re trained.”Halk said the club would compete as a team at “fishing rodeos,” or competitions, but the ultimate goal would be to host a rodeo themselves.”When you host a rodeo, you have good competition and get other divers to come in, but you can also donate a lot of money to charity,” Halk said.The spearfishing club will hold its first meeting at 6 p.m. Sept. 22 at Underwater Adventures, a facility in Baton Rouge.–Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]