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Sharks are the top predators of the oceans. To some fishermen, catching them is the ultimate test of skill. Food connoisseurs prize their meat and fins. But some environmentalists and other groups are concerned these creatures may be fished into extinction.

The Humane Society of the United States, a large animal-protection group based in Washington D.C., and Fishpond Inc., a Colorado-based fishing gear company, sent protest letters in December urging two Cape May tournaments - the South Jersey and Cape May shark contests- and six other tournaments in Maine, Maryland, and New York, to stop killing the animals.

The letter said many shark populations are declining worldwide and recreational tournaments are contributing to the problem. Many sharks caught in tournaments are "hooked, bled, suffocated or gaffed" and suffer a high death rate for prize money, according to the letter, and the data scientists receive from sharks caught at these events isn't sufficient. The groups advocated for "catch-and-release" programs and for marinas to prohibit shark landings from their docks.

Rick Weber, a South Jersey Shark Tournament director, said in an interview last week that the annual summer event follows the state and federal government's strict fishing laws and it "well represents the conservation ethic that is inherent in the recreational fishing community."

Weber said the Cape May tournament is effectively "catch and release" because about 90 percent of the animals caught in the 2008 and 2009 tournaments were let go and the ones that were kept were eaten. The 2009 South Jersey Shark Tournament drew 144 boaters, 589 sharks were caught, 546 were released and $298,670 in prize money was distributed.

"A tournament is nothing more than a group of people doing an otherwise legal activity," Weber said. He added that finning - the practice of removing and selling the lucrative shark fins and dumping the rest of the body - is not an issue in recreational fishing.

Chuck and Mary Hinchcliffe, the Cape May Shark Tournament organizers, did not respond to phone calls and e-mails for comment.

John Grandy, the Humane Society's senior vice president for wildlife and habitat protection, said the society started campaigning to end shark tournaments across the country in 2005 after a record-setting 1,190-pound tiger shark was caught and killed in a tournament on Martha's Vineyard, Mass.

Grandy said that group "was appalled by the brutality and cruelty it represented." The group later found out that up to one-fifth of the 547 species of sharks and rays in the world face possible extinction, according to a 2006 study done by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a global environmental organization headquartered in Geneva.

"All of these things have come together, and that's why you've seen us since 2005 taking on shark tournaments and trying to spread the message that sharks don't need to be caught for recreation and cash prizes," Grandy said. "They need to be respected and conserved and protected."

Grandy said other Humane Society protests in 2007 and 2008 ended shark tournaments in Destin, Fla., and Marina Del Rey, Calif.

Fred Kisby, a Northfield electrician, long-time fisherman and former clammer, believes shark fishing can get complicated.

Kisby, who has gone shark fishing three times, said he thinks the bigger problem is the industrial fisheries in Japan and other countries that "take everything out of the ocean and just cut the fins off and throw the whole fish back."

"It's not these little tournaments in Cape May, where everybody kills one shark, if that. That has such a small impact on the fishery," Kisby, 42, said. "But when you're talking about tons of just fins, that's a lot of dead sharks.

"I'm not against commercial fishing because I used to do it. I'm against waste," Kisby said. "As far as tournaments go, if the meat's being put to use and not wasted, I'm OK with that. My other feeling on this is (shark) tournaments like that are good for our local economy. Right now we can use all the help we can get."

Karyl Brewster-Geisz, a fishery management specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the regulatory agency has no problem with shark tournaments as long as they are registered and follow the recreational fishing regulations. Recreational boats are allowed one shark of at least 4.5 feet per trip and one Atlantic sharpnose and bonnethead shark per person per trip.

Brewster-Geisz also said shark tournaments can be helpful to scientists because they collect a variety of sharks that can be studied for biological information.

Monica Allen, an NOAA spokeswoman, said the agency occasionally comes across fishermen who violate the law, but most of them follow the regulations.

Commercial shark fishing is a relatively small part of the total Atlantic Ocean and Gulf Coast fishing industry. Sharks meat and fins generated $2.9 million of the $36.7 million Atlantic highly migratory species commercial catch in 2008, according to NOAA.

The Humane Society is running two other shark-protection related campaigns. The organization filed a petition on Jan. 21 to get the porbeagle shark - a common commercial and tournament catch - listed as an endangered species. The petition said porbeagles are overfished and considered endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Another environmental group, Wildearth Guardians, based in Santa Fe, N.M., also filed a similar petition. Porbeagles ranked fifth in commercial Atlantic shark landings in 2008 with 5,259 pounds caught, according to NOAA.

Marta Nammack, the National Marine Fisheries listing coordinator, said the petitions will be reviewed to see whether they have substantial merit. If the petitions have merit, porbeagle shark stocks will undergo a year-long analysis to see whether the shark should be listed.

There are no sharks listed as endangered or threatened in the United States. But several sharks are considered overfished and fishing for 19 species, including the white, whale and basking shark, is prohibited, according to the NOAA.

The Humane Society also has an anti-finning campaign and it is urging support for the Shark Conservation Act, a bill to close a loophole that allows boats to transport illegally obtained fins. Shark fins are used in a Chinese soup traditionally served at weddings and holidays - the delicacy can cost upward of $100 a bowl.

The House of Representatives passed the shark conservation bill last July and it is being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd, and U.S. Rep John Adler, D-3rd, voted for the bill. The politicians said through their press officers that they support local shark and other sport fishing tournaments and consider them beneficial economically and as a pastime.

Len Trigiani, a lifelong fisherman who summers in Ocean City, said he can see both sides of the argument about ending shark fishing.

Trigiani, a Cherry Hill resident and a retired Campbell Soup human resources vice president, said he has gone shark fishing on and off for 20 years and he described it as "hours aboard, interspersed with moments of sheer madness."

But Trigiani, 68, said he keeps only the mako sharks he can eat and releases the others.

"I think the indiscriminate killing of fish, all fish, is wrong," he said. "I believe in catch and release. Only keep what's for the table."

Trigiani said the fishing regulations on recreational shark fishing are already strict, and the Humane Society should focus more on efforts to stop finning and should help develop better scientific research to monitor sharks.

"Sharks do take a lot time to reproduce, and they're not as prolific as other fish," Trigiani said. "Nonetheless, if you eliminate all recreation shark fishing, I don't think it would have as much of an impact anyway because of what's happening on the commercial side (with) bycatch and those countries and commercial fishermen who intentionally target sharks.

"I really think it's a laudable goal," Trigiani said about the Humane Society's attempt to protect sharks. "But not one that will be achieved through eliminating recreational fishermen."

Contact Michelle Lee:

609-272-7256

MLee@pressofac.com

5 comments:

• straightshooter (113) posts 9:40 am

  i love fishing and will never stop, even if its against the law someday. to peta members, i'll eat one for you...

• bigjack609 (72) posts 8:47 pm

  These people are just friggin crazy!!!the money they raise to line their own pockets and the way they take your money and don't tell you where it is going is wrong,all the build a bear stores are owned by the hsus and I would say about 1% of the people know that.Their main goal is to have all animals run free no pets or zoo's no cattle ranches etc. they are just flat out soy drinking tofu eating wack jobs.To try and stop an event like this that does way more good then harm is idiodic. As for the fish pond org. when you have sharks in Colorado then you can open your mouth until then put a sock in it ..not a wool sock though God forbid you shear a sheep.A real problem we have in New Jersey now is black bears too many too close, it is time to reinstate the bear hunt the Douch' bag Corzine stopped,it is not just a North Jersey problem either I have seen bears in Cape May County as far back as 7-8 years ago,the bear hunt needs to restarted for the safty of humans and to keep the bear healthy with smaller numbers the food supply will be able to support the bears and keep them off the streets and back yards.We all know the state needs cash so all who want to hunt black bear have it on a lottery basis with 100 tags available with an enty fee of $25.00 and say $50.00 for the permit,granted it wont solve all the money troubles we have but it will be used as all hunting and fishing licences to pay for conservation and to purchase and up keep on our wild life management areas.Shark and all other fishing tournaments should be left alone as should the fisherman who fish them.

• Hillary4Animals (1) posts 5:21 pm

  I work at the HSUS and our organization readily acknowledges that shark tournaments are not the only factor threatening shark populations. That's why we strongly support domestic and international legislation to prevent the cruel and wasteful practice of shark finning. Check out our CEO's blog post on this topic at http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2009/10/shark-finning.html. And for more information about our international work to protect sharks, visit http://www.hsus.org/hsi/oceans/sharks/.

• avidfisherman (1) posts 10:28 am

  I could fish every day for the rest of my life and still not do one tenth of one percent of the amount of damage an irresponsible commercial fishing boat does in a day. The opinions of these animal rights groups are mis-informed, ill-informed and quite frankly naive. If these groups really want to do some good they need to target the international fisheries that fish just out side our waters.

• CaptAllen (1) posts 7:29 am

  Either catch and release or catch and eat; do not catch just to kill... Lifelong member of PETA - People Eating Tasty Animals!

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