Help End Cruel Shark Tournaments

[andreaC]

As an earlier poster mentioned, the 20th Annual Monster Shark Tournament in Martha's Vineyard is taking place from July 20-July 22 and will be covered by ESPN. At shark fishing tournaments, which happen in coastal communities on both the west and east coast in the U.S., sport fishermen compete to see who can catch the largest or the greatest number of sharks. These grisly spectacles promote hooking and bleeding, gaffing or suffocating a shark to death for trophy prizes as heroic, when in fact it is cruel and ecologically irresponsible. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) will be demonstrating against the shark tourmanent in Martha's Vineyard and will be pressuring the town selectmen to permanently end it. For more information on how to stop shark tournaments such as the Monster Shark Tournament, visit www.protectsharks.org If you are in Massachusetts, please consider joining the outreach efforts in Martha's Vineyard during the tourmament, email wildlife@hsus.org for more info.

 

[Doc Harry]

I wrote to the Boston Big Game Fishing Club regarding their shark tournament. Here's the reply that I received:

Harry

If you have some how acquired more insight into fishery management issues
than the National Marine Fisheries Services, I ask that you share it with
them!

If not, spare me of what you "think" you know about the Monster Shark
Tournament.

Perhaps you should take a good long look at this web site for the real HSUS
before you get used as tool any further:

http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/136

You are being sold a bill of goods from the masters at this game.

Regards,
Steven E. James​

 

[andreaC]

Thanks for writing to them. Wow, that's such an arrogant response. There's so little facts that he can use to defend this tournament that he resorts to attacking the group opposing it. The website he gives is sponsored by the Center for Consumer Freedom, a restaurant, alcohol and tobacco industry front group.

 

[deeper thoughts]

I also sent them a letter and expect the same ignorant reply

 

[gangrel441]

Are we going to through this all again? Most sharks in tournament are catch and release. Sharks kept as well as data from released sharks used by shark researchers at Woods Hole. Tournament is ecologically sound and does minimal damage to the environment or the shark populations. I love sharks, and hope we can educate the world to view them differently. This tournament, however, is not part of the problem.

The HSUS, however, is part of the problem. Many of you are confusing these frauds with the American Humane Association. http://www.americanhumane.org/site/PageServer

Please don't. These guys are out for their own self-interest. They are worse than PETA and Greenpeace combined.

Try this: http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/jun06/060601j.asp

Or this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCP3NqR_554&mode=related&search=

 

[gangrel441]

andrea

You're a brand new member, and your only two posts have been to start and respond to this thread. Are you a member or employee of HSUS by chance? If so, I would say that would be a relevant piece of information to disclose...

 

[gangrel441]

http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2004/07/20/monster_shark.php

After calibrating its weight, Greg Skomal, the state's leading shark fisheries biologist, began reading off the numbers: 548 pounds, not only more than enough for the win, but also a new Massachusetts state record for a thresher shark.

Mr. Skomal praised the tournament as a vital component of shark research. Keeping track of the thousands of sharks caught during the tournament provides him and his staff with crucial data needed to track shark populations.

"The release forms tell a story of over a thousand sharks caught and released this weekend, and that helps us paint a picture of what is going on with certain species," he said. "Only 50 sharks may have been brought in, and the data acquired from them is invaluable, but the sharks that didn't come back give us just as much useful information."

Mr. Skomal noted the abundance of thresher sharks in the waters off the Vineyard this year. In past tournaments, makos have increased in numbers and been the most prominent shark at the weigh-in. This year, however, close to 30 threshers made their way to the scale. "Last year saw a spike in threshers weighed in with 16. I never thought that would be matched," he said.

Mr. Skomal also said that all parts of the sharks brought in were employed in a useful way. All of the shark meat was donated to the Long Island Council of Churches to be distributed among charities throughout the region.

But I suppose some animal rights organization masquerading as a humane society knows more about what is good for the sharks than a Woods Hole marine biologist and the state of Massachusets' leading shark researcher. :shakehead

Don't believe the resources? Do a google search on Greg Skomal and Woods Hole.

 

[Doc Harry]

Tournament is ecologically sound and does minimal damage to the environment or the shark populations.

http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2004/07/20/monster_shark.php

Tell the shark hanging from his tail in the photo that the tournament does "minimal damage."

 

[tankboygreg]

We should be worried about species preservation not the individual animal rights. It's a lot easier to target your local sportfishing tournament than the real problems like habitat destruction and overfishing by commercial interests. As far as I know no animal species has gone extinct due to hunting or fishing for sport.

 

[H2Andy]

i agree, Greg... i don't like to see sharks caught, but realistically speaking, the
sports fishermen are not the problem. commercial fishing (over fishing), loss of habitat, and climate change are the real threats.

unfortunately, they are much harder to target