Local divers are furious about octopus hunters in the Puget Sound

Rachel Belle - 

The Giant Pacific octopi that live in Seattle's Puget Sound are the biggest in the world, and their tentacles attract scuba divers from all around the globe.

Dive instructor and underwater photographer, Bob Bailey, has been admiring the octopi that live near Alki Beach for the past ten years, so he was horrified by what he saw at West Seattle's Seacrest Park on Wednesday.

"I looked over and I could see two divers surface swimming in and clearly, between the two of them, was a very large octopus.

It was kind of weakly writhing and obviously trying to get away.

They got out of their gear and dragged it up on the beach and then the one guy picked it up, and as he's picking it up I said, 'What are you guys doing ?' and he said, 'We're hunting.'

I said, 'Here ? This is a park ! This is the most popular dive site in Puget Sound !'"

The 19-year-old hunters, who have since been found on Facebook proudly posing with the dead octopus, were also seen punching it as they pulled it from the water.

But here's the thing: Hunting octopus is completely legal, and the hunters let Bob know it.

"It was, 'We know what we're doing. We're legal. There's nothing you can do about it.' And I said to him, 'You're about to become the most unpopular scuba diver in Puget Sound.'

And he said, 'I don't care.'"

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