In response to last week’s column, I received some interesting information from a group heading up “The Shark-Free Marina Initiative.”
The Shark-Free Marina has a singular purpose, to reduce worldwide shark mortality. 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.
The Initiative states that 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 80s.
“Although the number of sharks killed by recreational fishermen each year is dwarfed by commercial catches, the current crisis facing shark stocks requires action wherever possible.” says marine scientist and SFMI Advisor Edd Brooks “We are not asking fishermen to stop fishing, only asking them to start releasing their catch.”
“As shark populations are decimated on a global scale we as a species are obligated to pay attention and reduce our wasteful destruction of an incredibly important resource,” the Initiative states.
Visit the Shark-Free Marina website at www.sharkfreemarinas.com or contact staff@sharkfreemarinas.com
The following data is sourced from NOAA’s FishWatch and the IUCN’s Redlist of Threatened Species. Currently listed species: Blue Shark, Bull Shark, Great White Shark, Hammerhead Shark, Lemon Shark, Oceanic Whitetip Shark, Shortfin Mako Shark, Spiny Dogfish, Thresher Shark, and the Tiger Shark.
Another side of the story: As for the Humane Society of United States (HSUS) that sent the letter I quoted last week to the Cape May shark tournament directors, a reader directed my attention to www.activistcash.com which presents another side of HSUS.
CALENDAR: Feb.4-7, AC Power Boat Show and Fishing Expo
Feb. 24, noon, RFA will rally on the steps of the Capitol in an organized demonstration against the unintended negative impacts of the Magnuson Stevens Conservation and Management Act (MSA).
Be sure to send your fish stories to cmiller@cmcherald.com. This column appears first online at capemaycountyherald.com
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
