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Great new campaign from the Shark Crew of www.sharkdivers.com. A lot of people say that recreational fishermen should not be made to pay for the problems caused by commercial fishing. But sport fishermen catch 500,000 sharks a year in the USA alone. It all adds up. Shark-Free Marina Initiative to reduce worldwide shark mortality
Tuesday 19th May, 2009, Press Release
The Shark-Marina has a singular purpose, to reduce worldwide shark mortality. Today the not-for-profit company launches its strategy which intends to prevent the deaths of millions of vulnerable and endangered species of shark. The initiative aims to win over the fishing community by working with game fishing societies, tackle manufacturers, competition sponsors and marinas to form community conscious policy.
In the last five years over a half million sharks on average were harvested annually by the recreational and sport-fishing community in the United States alone. Many of these were breeding age animals and belong to vulnerable or endangered species. Research has shown that removal of adult sharks from the population is occurring at such an extreme rate that many species stand no chance of survival, severely damaging the delicate ecological balance of the oceans ecosystem.
“There’s a lot of talk about the atrocity of shark fining and fishing worldwide” says the SFMI’s Board Director, Marine Biologist Luke Tipple “but not a lot of measurable action towards reversing the damage. The time has come to stop simply ‘raising awareness’ and start implementing sensible management techniques to protect vulnerable species of sharks from inevitable destruction.”
The Shark-Free Marina Initiative works by prohibiting the landing of any caught shark at a participating marina. By promoting catch-and-release fishing the sport of shark fishing can actively participate in ongoing research studies and collect valuable data. The initiative is based on the Atlantic billfish model which banned the mortal take of billfish in response to population crashes in the 80’s.
Visit the Shark-Free Marina website at www.sharkfreemarinas.com
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."
This is a repost from the Shark Safe Project. Click here to read the whole post for more information on the protest. What century are we in now that shark kill tournaments are still deemed as acceptable? We're not cavemen, why are such shows of "manliness" still condoned in civilized society. Shark Kill Tournament Protest Demonstration in Fort Myers Beach FL
Wednesday, May 6, 2009 Shark Safe is organizing a protest demonstration against the “Are You Man Enough Shark Challenge” in Fort Myers, Florida. This shark tournament is boasting “Bring Back the BIG ONE” shark kills. The tournament organizer Jack Donlon has been contacted by many shark conservationists and prominent shark researchers from the state of Florida in an attempt to discourage them from taking or killing sharks for the sole purpose of proving the “Manhood of the Fishermen”. Thus far, no adjustment to the rules has been made as Mr. Donlon has simply disregarded these pleas.
Shark Safe is opposed to all killing of sharks however we are EXTREMELY opposed to tournaments such as this abomination! Here are some unbiased and logical reasons, which have been presented to Mr. Donlon, why tournaments such as this one are so terrible for sharks:
- Most of the large sharks being targeted are on the IUCN list of endangered species.
- Populations of large shark species have been reduced by over 90% in the past 30 years (over 100 million sharks killed per year worldwide -- mostly for shark fin soup).
- 80-90% of all shark populations just in the Atlantic have been reduced to levels that scientist believe can never recover.
- As apex predators, sharks are absolutely vital to the ocean's ecosystem -- they maintain the balance in the oceans. Without sharks the oceans die.
- "Kill" shark tournaments promote the outdated and inaccurate image of sharks as vicious man killers that need to be killed.
In addition to these obvious problems, the current format of the tournament encourages killing of the largest and likely sexually mature sharks. And since each team is only allowed to bring in one dead shark to be weighed, it promotes catching and killing sharks such that at the end of the tournament, each team will only keep the biggest one to be weighed in, while discarding the rest of the sharks back into the water deceased.
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