HACKED BY CYBER-ATTACK - ALPERENBTN

[carlb]

I was looking for Poker on ESPN tonight Tue 10/5/2004, but the baseball game ran late, then they had SportsCenter, then they had some guys out on a boat fishing off the East Coast. Cool! A Fishing Show!

But then I found out it was the "Monster Shark Tournament", the objective of which appears to be to catch (and kill, since you have to bring it back to the dock for weigh-in) the biggest shark. In the few minutes I could bear to watch, I saw a 434 lb. shark brought back, only to be topped by a 437 lb-er.

Disclaimer: I did not see the whole show. I did not hear where the sharks are donated to charity, harvested for scientific research, culled to improve the fishery, or removed from a recreational area as a "threat/menace". From what I saw, it looked like "kill the biggest shark and you get a prize".

I can only contrast this with the Shark-A-Thon (CPR: catch, photo, release), the sample-tag-release programs encouraged by TPWD, and the other Catch-and-Release practices employed by a large fraction (hopefully the majority) of anglers in the Coastal Bend.

Did I miss something? Is there some conservation/scientific/charity/safety purpose behind this contest? It almost seemed to me like that scene in "Jaws" where the wacko out-of-town shark-killers went out to slaughter any/every shark with crossbows, guns, dynamite, harpoons, and the occasional rod and reel. As it turns out, they killed the wrong shark.

If there isn't a justifiable purpose, I note that the sponsors I saw on the few minutes I watched were: Progressive Boat Insurance; Bombardier ATVs; Citgo; and the main sponsor, Miller Hi-Life (makes me glad I'm a Flour Bluff Stout person). If they can't justify this to my satisfaction, I'm gonna do some serious e-mailing.

Help me out here. What's going on?

Regards,

Carl B.

[Torpedo]

Its all good!

Here is a snipet off the web....

"A National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) scientist was also on hand. The NMFS gains a great deal of data about the shark stocks and the fishery from the tournament. Each shark brought in undergoes an autopsy, and each boat is required to log its releases. According to Connelly, more than 1,500 sharks were caught and released during the tournament."

and also....

"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."


Wait until you see the finish! Its worth watching! It should be on the the following two Tuesdays on ESPN. If you can't wait or bear the video just do a Google search, the tournament was in July.

Hint, the crew that caught this 16 footer placed 6th.



Heck, for $130, 000 Grand Prize I almost wish they had one down here!

[tyler]

I like fishing shows but I could not believe what I was seeing. I finally turned it off close to debate time because all I kept seeing were thresher sharks bleeding profusely on the back of a boat.
I don't mind keeping a shark but they called this a monster shark tournament and "monster" this and "monster" that. They even tried to spice it up with an old New England guy saying something like "they're dangerous and the only good shark is a dead shark, etc".
Now if they had mentioned or shown the shark tagging and the benefits this tournament has to the fishery I might have though otherwise but I doubt it.(maybe they did but they lost me before that part)

Tyler

[repofish]

Looks like everyone here should be backing the sharkathon tournament. The future of sharkathon depends on the people who are going to get involved. Some of you may not want to be associated with any event until you see the positive impact it is going to have. There are not many catch and release tournaments and sharkathon is just the beginning to what we are trying to promote within the surf fishing community. We are trying to not only promote this as an opportunity to win a cash prize but also an opportunity to do something positive for the environment. This is a not-for-profit tournament. Everyone organizing this tournament has voluntered their time and alot of money to get this going. Lets all step up to the plate and get registered.

[Big John at Work]

What we need to do is send our remarks and opinions to the shows producers so that they include footage of tag and release catches as well as a segment on the benefits the tournament has. This way, those who watch understand that it is not okay to just catch and kill sharks and fish for a tournament to win a prize, but that there is more to it all.

You know that several of those surfcats (they probably aren't all like this) saw the same show and thought there was nothing wrong with catching and killing a shark purely for the purpose of winning a prize.

Maybe had they seen the catch and release part they would have a different take on how they operate their tournament too.

[carlb]

Rudy,

Thanks for the heads-up. I was having visions of herds of buffalo thundering across the plains that took days to pass, or flocks of passenger pigeons so vast that they blocked out the sun. Oh, wait! That was before we wiped them out.

If they are going to kill what are apparently the most successful members of the species (since they have to live long and smart to get that large), I would hope that they are somehow preserving the gene stock. At least it sounds like the shark populations are up despite the tournament.

Sorry, I don't think I'll be watching the finish. I don't feel good about their tournament, but thanks to your info I don't feel as bad.

Regards,

Carl B. <-- wondering what is the survival rate of their released sharks

[Magic]

I feel about the same as Carl since Rudy shed some light on this tournament. I just happened to see the same show and nearly went waco over killing all these animals. The seriousness of their catch and release rules eases the loss a lot but still the fishery has lost some very large specimens.

Shark research here in the Gulf does much the same with the long line sampling technique. Beach Bum has worked that activity and could do a good job in explaining the value of the data collected. I do know that they lose some sharks in the interest of science during the surveys.
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Magic

[Mike B.]

I am all for the concept of "Catch Photo Release", and I have caught some of the biggest fish of my life without a camera on hand but released them anyway. Let's get ESPN down to sharkathon, show them how it should be done!

[SurfMeister]

Of the folks who target sharks from PINS how many are tagging them and releasing them? And to go one step further if you have tagged a shark from PINS have you ever gotten any data back from the shark you tagged? I am curious if any research has been conducted on what the mortality rate of sharks caught and released from the beach are. Just because a fish is caught & released does not mean that it will survive the ordeal in the long run. I would be very interested in a study that examines how long a shark caught on the beach survives after being; caught, dragged on the beach, pictures taken, then revived and sent back into the water. I have a gut feeling that most don't make it very far. But I have nothing to support this hypothesis. SM :
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That's why they call it fishin', not catchin'

[Big John at work]

Last weekend, on our way back, we came to a young couple at the 16 or so. He was reeling in something really large. I noticed the tail of a bull shark pop out in the 1st gut in front of him, and I noticed she had nothing to help him with.

I got out and asked if he wanted any help and he said, very out of breathe, "Yes." I tail roped it and helped him release it. He was used to catching 4 foot or so blacktips, but not a 6 1/2' bull. Whole different thing. She swam off fine, and he learned how to better release a shark. I'll post up pics as soon as I get the roll developed.

My point is, I think if released correctly, and not kept out of the water too long, they do fine. That bull had plenty of energy left when I walked out and grabbed its tail to rope it. Beat the tar out of my arm with that tail!

With all the bull sharks being caught recently, I bet that is what is cutting off lines as described in another post!

[repofish]

hey surfmeister-I know of only one time that a tagged shark was caught this year. It was a 4 to 5 foot blacktip and was caught by a friend of mine in May. Apparently the shark was tagged off of Florida sometime last year and made its way all the way to PINS. That is an enormous journey for a small shark like that. He must have been on a mission. Maybe his name was NEMO? Oh no, his name must have been SUPER NEMO as he survived the tag and release and then to show all he swam all the way across the great big gulf to be caught, dragged up to the beach, photo'd, tagged again, and then dragged back into the water to be released. Hell, this one even escaped the mighty jaws of Pierce the local PINS drunk. LOL Seriously though I have no scientific data to back the catch and release mortality rate of sharks caught on PINS. This is only one example. Maybe the bigger sharks cannot handle it as well but I'll leave that up to the experts. Would be interesting to see some data though. As much as we go to PINS and drive the beach on a daily basis there has been few to none of the sharks being tagged found washed up on the beach. See lots of gutted and cleaned shark carcasses laying on the sand and even seen their fins cut off and stuck in the sand but never seen a tagged one laying there. Anyone got any more info on this.

[tyler]

The ones that aren't released are 100% dead. You might have some mortality as you do with anything that's released. It depends on how it was released and how long it was fought. I think Beach Bum had one or two of his tags come back. Skipper and I had one shark that bit off a leader come back later that day and hit another one still with the old breakaway rig in its mouth. Not really like catching and releasing but interesting to see that even with a mouthful of hardware it was not shy about wanting to eat again.

Tyler