Catching controversy, all 1,060 pounds of it

Sad news that people still want to do something like that. In exchange for 5 minutes of fame you killed an animal that was probably as old as yourself. Watch the video report of his shark catch here.

Catching controversy, all 1,060 pounds of it
Eric Ernst, Herald-Tribune, Friday, May 15, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.

He could have moved to the middle of the boat. Instead, he leaned over the edge with a gaff hook and set off another controversy.

When fishing captain Bucky Dennis of Englewood reeled in a 1,060-pound hammerhead shark from Boca Grande Pass last week, he was going for a world record on 80-pound test line.

Shark populations worldwide have dropped 50 to 75 percent because of overfishing, so news of Dennis' latest trophy set off derisive protests, some deserved, some not.

Maybe that's part of Dennis' public relations problem. The commercial fishing industry catches sharks, cuts off their fins for Asian markets, then discards the fish to die. Worldwide, the practice has decimated shark numbers far more than Bucky Dennis ever could.

But commercial shark fishing is a faceless foe. It doesn't pose at the dock for the cameras, so no one attacks it personally.

Dennis has other PR troubles, though. The record shark he caught in 2006, a female estimated at 40 to 50 years old, was carrying 55 pups. That was also a hammerhead record, according to Mote Marine Laboratory, which reluctantly accepted the fish for research. It refused to take Dennis' latest catch, which was likely pregnant, too, experts say.

Of course, not all fishermen endorse Dennis' practice of chasing records. I asked a friend, also a charter captain, for his analysis.

"They're a thing of beauty. You don't kill them. You move to the middle of the boat."

Now the hunter has become the hunted: warnings that the end is near for sharks

Now the hunter has become the hunted: warnings that the end is near for sharks
SOUTH AFRICA: Illegal fin hunters blamed for extinction fears, by Fred Bridgland in Cape Town
Sunday Herald, 14 March

NEARLY TWO tonnes of dried shark fins - from at least 100 sharks caught at sea - found in the hold of a Taiwanese fishing vessel in Cape Town harbour have shed light on a trade that is driving the top hunter of the oceans towards extinction.

The South African permit for the Chien Jiu, whose 26 crew members are being held pending trial, was for the acquisition of just 100 kilos of shark fin. Under international regulations, the Chien Jiu's skipper was also required by maritime officials to produce the entire body of each shark from which fins were taken: he was unable to do so.

"Our oceans are being emptied of sharks, and the scale of the problem is global," said Julia Baum, a scientist at California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She added: "We are looking at a high risk of extinction of some shark species over the next few years. The loss of top predators such as sharks can damage whole marine ecosystems."

In a quasi-legal trade, linked to Chinese Triad gangs, the fins - selling at US$700 a kilo - are exported into various corners of Asian affluence where bowls of shark fin soup, reputed to offer medicinal and aphrodisiac qualities, are dished up at $200 a time.

Great white and hammerhead sharks have been reduced in numbers by 70% in the last 15 years, while others, such as the silky white tip, have disappeared from the Caribbean, according to the late Dr Ransom Myers, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Compagno said shark species can take up to 20 years to reach sexual maturity and give birth to only a few young at a time. As the top predators at the apex of reef systems, sharks keep the ecological balance, he said. "By eliminating sharks, you pull the plug on the reefs, resulting in overpopulation, overgrazing and overfeeding by other reef dwellers."

Captive Bull Shark Kills Long-time Tank Mate | Georgia Aquarium Adds Two Great Hammerhead Sharks To It's Ocean Voyager Tank

Two different stories from sharks in captivity. Why are we continuing to take animals out the wild when we know so little about them?

Captive Bull Shark Kills Long-time Tank Mate
2009-03-02 15:22:43 CRIENGLISH.com

An aggressive bull shark exhibited at Shenzhen Xiaomeisha Aquarium claimed its latest victim, a lemon shark with whom it had shared a fish tank for ten years, on Sunday.

According to a Guangzhou Daily report, the 2.1 meter bull shark had a long history as a troublemaker. It began slaughtering other fish in the tank after being bought by the aquarium mistakenly as an ordinary shark in 1999. The killing spree continued for three years until it was finally recognized as a bull shark by a Hong Kong aquarium expert.

Georgia Aquarium Adds Two Great Hammerhead Sharks To It's Ocean Voyager Tank
Zoo and Aquarium Visitor

Atlanta, GA - The Georgia Aquarium released two new great hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarran) into the Ocean Voyager gallery, built by The Home Depot. The Aquarium now houses three great hammerhead sharks, giving it the largest collection of the species on display in North America and one of only two aquariums in the country to feature it.

Listed as globally endangered by IUCN, the great hammerhead shark is often subject to over-fishing. While their meat is rarely consumed, their skin is processed into leather and their liver oil is used for vitamins. With the addition of the two new hammerhead sharks, the Georgia Aquarium continues its mission to promote awareness and protection of aquatic animals.

Shocking images show scale of fin trade

I wonder how long people can remain ignorant about what is going on at their doorstep! We sit in our restuarants eating sharks fin soup while a stone's throw away in Bali fishermen are feeding this demand by destroying whole shark populations. People who eat sharks fin soup are responsible for this demand, regardless of whether you eat it because it's already dead, or because it's in front of you. If everybody left the sharks fin soup at weddings, the hosts will know that it's not worth the money because nobody is enjoying it! You have to take a stand mah!

A sad shark's tale: Shocking images show scale of fin trade
By Daily Mail Reporter 17th November 2008

An enormous haul of shark fins being readied for sale at Denpasar Fisheries Harbour on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Figures from the World Wildlife Fund and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, show that in for 2006 alone 98,250 tonnes of shark fins were caught and sold, making up 13 percent of the world market.

Renowned freelance photographer, Gunther Deichmann, 58, who photographed the shark fin haul, is adamant the world should confront the growing issue of shark fin trading.

Gunther noticed hammerhead and black tip sharks in the haul and was particularly struck by the knowledge sharks are thrown back into the water alive and tailless, condemned to a rudderless, painful death.

'The sad thing about the catch is that they will just pack up and go out and do it again. This is a multi-million dollar industry and will not be stopped until all the sharks have been eaten it seems. I really don't know what all the fuss is about. The soup doesn't even taste good in my opinion,' he added.

As shark fishing continues to increase, populations are rapidly going into decline. The bodies of the sharks are simply tossed back into the water from giant ocean going trawlers after being caught.

Illegal shark fishing on Shark Island

National Geographic Society video about how the demand for sharks fin is affecting even the protected sharks in Costa Rica's Cocos Island National Park as they are hunted by illegal fishing boats and poachers.