First of all.for everyones reference you can dive in Moriches inlet. This is because the coast guard has marked it as an unavigable channel and the laws around such a denotation allow for diving.
However, you are absolutey not allowed to dive on the inside of shinnecock inlet.
A few years back, some fishermen were arrested at shinnecock for dropping large stones down into the water on top of divers.The divers were on the outside of the west jetty and within their rights. The fisherman ans ignorant as they were, actually were trying to kill the divers. Don't fight it all by yourself. Call the police if you are being harrased to the point where you feel you will have to fight.
I generaly try to be very curtious to fisherman and do my best not to get into the spot where they are fishing. I also tell the guys fishing in the area what the bottom looks like and where the best spot to drop their line is. I just feel over time the good nature will add up and more fisherman will see divers as a benefit.
However, there are A-holes out there that are ignorant, stupid and maybe inbred. It's not worth spending the weekend in jail for such a loser. As a younger man I would have given different advice but the reality is that the cost of loss of time, hiring a laywer and the negative karma only get you down.
There is also this tactic. You need to keep a cool head for it but I have never seen an idiot get so frustrated. I have a friend named Karl who I used to bowhunt with. One day we were sitting in our treestands and a guy rode up to Karl on a horse and started scrteaming at him for trying to kill deer. we were on public land and well within our rights to be hunting. This activist felt he had the right to keep us from huntinhg and to save deer. In reality he was harrassing us. My friend Karl is a cool cat and kept his temper. He spent the next hour needling the guy calmly and prooving over and over again how wrong he was for harrasing us. It was truly a work of art. Whenever the guy would try to end the conversation, Karl would needle him and get him back into it and just wore him down. In the end the guy was damnn near in tears as he saw what a big dick he was and was apologizing to Karl up and down for ruining his day. I think if Karl had asked the guy for money to cover his loss of time, gas and ruined hunt the guy would have given it to him. I had been very quiet during the conversation but as the conversation came to a close, I personaly told the guy that if he harrased me again I would beat him within inches of his life. Being in my 20's at the time most people would take me seriously on a threat like that. However, looking back I think Karl was the wiser man.
