Go out and kill something that is fictionally dangerous. Perhaps it goes back to our hunter gatherer days. Except now, hunting is about a trophy and high fives, not survival. As a former fishing guide I know the thrill of catching a big fish, but I got no thrill out of killing the animal, in fact I would encourage my clients to let anything big go (and loved when it was pure catch and release!).The tournament pictured here gives penalties for keeping sharks that are too small. This is backwards! Big fish are your breeding stock! They are the ones actively making little sharks, they have proven they can survive (ie. good genes), and there are fewer of them. The tournament organizers know this and don’t care. They want pictures of big fish hanging so they can get more plantain money.
A Thresher shark like the one pictured here (and other species that are targeted like Mako and Tiger) are cut up and the meat is given away. Blue sharks, however, are towed out to sea and dumped because no one likes their taste. It is such a waste of a beautiful animal. Obviously, they are not caught to feed starving people. The ONLY reason to catch and kill blue sharks if for the measly prizes and the machoism that comes with the “epic battle between man and beast”. I hope they feel really manly. Hey fisherman, I have literally seen children swim with these sharks safely, no cage. They are not scary, you are catching a shark from the safety of a boat, give it up!
Reading the waiver the fisherman have to sign, I don’t think the marina who puts on this travesty will be too happy we took pictures: “Further, I agree that I will not photograph, film, or video tape any portion of any tournament for commercial use or public display and that Snug Harbor Marina shall have sole and exclusive rights to photograph, film, or video tape the events of the 2011 Snug Harbor Tournament Series, my vessel and all participants for such commercial use, public display or other such purposes as Snug Harbor Marina may see fit.” You see, they know how wrong this is, so they try to hide the ugly reality. They keep it going because it brings them money. They limit the amount of sharks caught and enforce size limits only because they have to.
Of the 4 species the tournament gives prizes for: Mako and Thresher sharks are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list of endangered species with Tiger and Blue Sharks listed as Near Threatened. It is time to shut this down. It is 2011 and we now know how important these sharks are.
ARTICLE CONTRIBUTED BY: ANONYMOUS
