ESPN unspeakable show

[hecker-the-wrecker]

The point I was trying to make was, "fight the fight for ALL creatures, and resources" (not just what you see on t.v) If you think raising beef for consumption is more humane than the "fishing slaughter", go take a visit to a slaughterhouse. It might change your mind about eating meat. In no way was I trying to imply ESPN was not wrong in what they did, I just wanted to express the fact the problem is bigger than one shark fishing tournament.

 

[Wildcard]

Tell ya what partner, when you risk your life cutting loose as many sharks as I have becouse there was no need to kill then, then you can talk to be about being uneducated. I spent five years fishing for a living from california to Alaska and have turned lose literaly thousands of sharks (if you count dog fish) as well as sleeper, thresher mako and white sharks. Ate and sold a few too. So some sportie does something questionable and now the sharks are in decline due to longliners? Just a question for all you tree huggers, have you ever seen a longliner in action? Im guessing that you view the liberal garbage on TV and accept it as fact. It's not.

Ahh the rant of the uneducated...

It sounds unbelievable but unfortunately true.

Try this link www.sharks.org
And thats just a start.

If you call yourself a diver perhaps you can learn a little something about the environment you visit.

 

[Mike Veitch]

Tell ya what partner, when you risk your life cutting loose as many sharks as I have becouse there was no need to kill then, then you can talk to be about being uneducated. I spent five years fishing for a living from california to Alaska and have turned lose literaly thousands of sharks (if you count dog fish) as well as sleeper, thresher mako and white sharks. Ate and sold a few too. So some sportie does something questionable and now the sharks are in decline due to longliners? Just a question for all you tree huggers, have you ever seen a longliner in action? Im guessing that you view the liberal garbage on TV and accept it as fact. It's not.

In fact i had the distinct pleasure to live in several tropical Pacific islands for the last 5 years. I cannot tell you how many Taiwanese long liners came into the harbour with thousands of shark fins hanging on the rigging. And thousands more in the holds. Nary a fish to be found. Sat at the dock and watched 5 of these boats come in within a 30 minute period one day. The customs officials decided to board on that day. Not one stinking fish on 5 boats.
Thankfully that country has completely banned commercial shark fishing! Palau if you want to know.
I commend you for cutting loose thousands of sharks, well done. However, that is a very limited action i'm afraid. Longliners throughout the world target nothing but sharks. You're view is rather sheltered if you cannot see past your own personal experience and view the world at large.
Fortunately several countries have taken measures to protect sharks, see the recent protection of Great Whites, but far too many don't.

Sharks have been in decline long before this show came out. The problem is ESPN choosing their programming irresponsibly and glamourizing a "sport" which threatens a population of animal that cannot support its own degradation.

 

[Wildcard]

So you expect me to believe that a boat can target nothing but sharks? No financial chance in hell. It just dosent work like that. Sharks are bycatch. Im aware of no boat anywhere that fishes just for sharks.....AND, if you saw so many boats come in loaded with shark fins, that would lead one to believe that there are plenty of them out there.

I do not condone finning or waste of any resource for that matter, however different cultures have diffrent standards. When populations of a fish drop, different fish are targeted. It's a mater of money....So what we have here is a bleeding heart with nothing better to do than whine about something that was shown on TV. If she or anybody else wants to do some real good, go out and claen up a stream bed that your neigbhors have been dumping crap into for the last 50 years, or donate your time to some good cause that is far more reaching than one silly fish being caught.

 

[Mike Veitch]

So you expect me to believe that a boat can target nothing but sharks? No financial chance in hell. It just dosent work like that. Sharks are bycatch. Im aware of no boat anywhere that fishes just for sharks.....AND, if you saw so many boats come in loaded with shark fins, that would lead one to believe that there are plenty of them out there.

I do not condone finning or waste of any resource for that matter, however different cultures have diffrent standards. When populations of a fish drop, different fish are targeted. It's a mater of money....So what we have here is a bleeding heart with nothing better to do than whine about something that was shown on TV. If she or anybody else wants to do some real good, go out and claen up a stream bed that your neigbhors have been dumping crap into for the last 50 years, or donate your time to some good cause that is far more reaching than one silly fish being caught.

You are not understanding the international aspect here. In the fishing zone you worked in yes perhaps shark was a bycatch. In fact, the US passed a law in 2000 that banned shark fishing for fins only, the whole shark had to be brought on board. The large size of sharks somewhat deters fishing for them as they take up a lot of space. However, in other areas of the world this is not the case. The longliners chop off the fins and drop the living shark back into the water to slowly drown.
Not viable financially? Shark fins sell for around $100/pound wholesale. What was your per pound price when commercial fishing? Yes, i agree wholeheartedly it is about the money. Tis not so much that other fish stocks have dropped, but rather a large country which is getting richer can now afford this specialty and are driving up demand to levels never seen before.

Even though you may know of no boat out there anywhere that targets sharks specifically, this is a reflection upon you, not the industry. Do a simple Google search on the term Shark Finning. Lots of info there and gory photos too.

Your comment about there being so many out there is sad and rather childish. Would you like to say the same thing about Rhinos? Tigers? Many species of whale? The cod stocks off of NE US and Canada? How about the Dodo bird?

Perhaps you should ask yourself this. Do you enjoy seeing sharks whilst diving? Would you like your kids to enjoy that experience too?
Unfortunately, at the rate the world is fishing out sharks this will not happen. Our advanced technologies vs their slow growth and low birth rates puts the shark at a distinct disadvantage.

I applaud your idea of going to clean up a stream, great idea, every little bit helps. I also applaud the fact that you do not condone unnecessary waste. My personal cause goes a little deeper, its called the ocean. I work for a living on and in the ocean. I donate money to different marine conservation programs. I am not concerned with one silly fish being caught, i am concerned with the entire species.

Please take 5 or 10 minutes and do a Google search on shark finning. I think (and hope) you will be appalled like anyone else who loves the oceans.

 

[archman]

Allow me to update everyone on the general science and policy consensus for shark fisheries, or at least what I can pull off the top of my head. I'm fairly current.

A. Commercial shark fisheries exist, and they are hardly minor. That shark cartilage fad of the 1990's completely denuded certain regions of sharks, and current shark fishing maintains this, even as close to the U.S. as the Bahamas.

B. U.S. commercial shark finning regulations don't actually stop finning practices, they merely make the boats retain the shark's bodies onboard... at least until you reach port.

C. Most nations don't have ANY regulations.

D. Most consumptive fisheries focus on apex predators or other high end consumers. These are your bigger fishes (tuna, billfish, sharks). When these stocks are reduced to non-sustainability, the fishery "drops down a peg" to the next lowest consumer species, and the next lower, etc... This is referred to as "fishing down the food chain", and is well documented around the world.

E. Recreational fisheries have become more and more significant over the years, and within the last few years have competed or even overshadowed commercial fisheries. Several U.S. states have reported this in their waters, with rising alarm.

F. The general paucity of sharks and other high order consumers in local waters, has over the years contributed to the "Shifting Baseline Syndrome" phenomenon. Simply put, the ecosystem has been do dramatically altered for such a long time, the public is unaware of it's original "pristine" state. Most Caribbean reef systems and the California kelp forests suffer from this. Regarding sharks, they are in fact supposed to be common in most areas where they currently are not.

G. Sharks and most other high-order consumers grow very slowly, and reproduce infrequently. This makes them highly vulnerable to overfishing. Oddly orange roughy and chilean sea bass suffer the same problem. So shutting down a fishery really won't make much immediate impact with these species, except in the long term.

 

[Mike Veitch]

Thanks for the post Archman, good info to know.

Mike

 

[justleesa]

Due to the actions of "Tree huggers" some species of marine life, plant life etc are still around and it is the balance of everything on the planet that keeps us alive. No matter how small or ugly something might be, they all serve a purpose.

 

[Nomaster]

It's a frikkin fish! 100 million a year? ROTFLMFAO! Do you just make stuff up as you go along all the time?

It's not just a frikkin' fish, it is a live animal and should be treated with respect. I have killed and eaten mammal, reptile, fowl and fish, but I go for as clean and quick a kill as possible, every time.
I wasn' thinking very rationally when I emailed ESPN, I shouldn't be allowed to write when I'm upset, I tend to write what I feel, and usually don't explain myself well, I really need someone to speak for me at those times.
This is what I wrote, so I'm sure they'll just blow it off:

"Curious to know your next he-man sports tournament;
"Pitchforking Babies" or some such rot?
I'm a sportsman, I kill and eat animals, but this sort of "sport" is not sport.

Tom"

I'm also concerned that the term "Tree Hugger" has lasted so many decades, even among well traveled people. When I was a teen, I was one who derided those 'fanatic hippy freaks'... then I got educated, traveled and opened my eyes a little more each of my years.
When studying ecology, my problem was still with "Tree Huggers" but by then it had changed to the uninformed activist who did more damage to the cause of saving our planet or what's left of it.

Tom

 

[Nomaster]

i have not noticed any shortage of cattle or trees lately. have you?

Well, yes. Trees, Primarily old growth in diverse forests, even second growth; but no, the corn rows of factory bred mono-culture trees are seemingly plentiful, and the forest products concerns would like us all to believe that they replace like with like... though they are careful not to actually say that's what they're doing (in their often televised propaganda spots) when they replant their tree fields.
I sure do like to hike through the occassional forest though.

Though it has been mentioned before in this thread, the thing that brought out my fury was the lack of respect for life, not the taking of life.

Tom