And I would like to get this published...

Latest Fishing Shows Go Over the Top

If you’re interested in watching blood, big hooks, big fish and big-time winnings then
Shark tournaments, the latest televised non-mainstream sport, may interest you. Shark tournaments have all the bells, whistles, hooks topping 12/0 and chum you could ask for.

The closest comparison for offshore fishermen might be a gaffed kingfish poised for the icebox. But the blood is more excessive when the cameras a rolling. It is shark mangling as pure entertainment.

Two of the most recent tournaments are the Shark Hunters from Point Pleasant, N.J. and the Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament from Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. These shows target Northern coldwater species like the Blue, Porbeagle and Mako sharks. The victor usually comes in with a mammoth Thresher or Tiger shark.

Setting the Scene
Cheers of excitement fill the air as a helicopter hovers over the fishermen, or "Shark Hunters" as they're called on TV. The TV crew gets the decisive moment as a gaff sinks a final hole into the fish. A steel leader manufactured for airplane fabrication and a chunk of fish carcass have overpowered the shark.

Colossal sharks topping 1000 pounds are dragged back to port, tail-first, to be weighed and for spectators to ogle at their sheer size. They hang from giant scales by a heavy-duty hangman's noose. Blood still drips from their mouths. The meat dries in the sun as the T.V. cameras and spectators get their chance to feel like they were part of the slaying.

Attracting an Audience
In an ever-increasing world of graphic entertainment, it’s no surprise to see fishing shows become more graphic as well. Classics, like the Bill Dance Outdoors shows, have been replaced by shark-hunting tournaments. But do the evolving fishing shows attract more fishermen? Do fishermen need blood and heroic narrating to be attracted to fishing? Or do they live it every weekend?

Is it possible the shows attract viewers for purely entertainment purposes? Shark tournaments may attract those uninterested in fishing much in the same way certain people may shun boxing for wrestling. Attracted to the physicality of an event, they go for the most savage, thereby missing the allure of the original event’s purpose.

For the Conservationist
There is something disconcerting to avid fishermen about these Shark Tournaments.Shark Tournaments, although completely legal in their rights to take sharks from the sea, lack the conventional wisdom of an ecologically aware fisherman. A conservational fisherman knows what’s good for the ecosystem. Take only what will be eaten. Leave the aged, bruisers for another fisherman and another mate. Leave all the staring and goggling to pictures.

North Atlantic sharks have seen drastic declines in population mostly due to over fishing. Studies in 2003 have statistics showing there may be declines of up to 75% of population in certain species like the Thresher shark.

In the South, a recent 14-foot long pregnant hammerhead shark was caught out of Boca Grande Pass. This fish broke previous hammerhead shark records topping out at 1,280 pounds. None of the its 55 shark pups will be able to help future shark populations.

A notable shark that can't be harvested is the Bigeye Thresher, a cousin to the one found in the New England area. The Bigeye Thresher is endangered while the common Thresher shark is seen commonly hoisted up for the public in these events. But it begs the question, why?

It seems ironic sharks are already under heavy pressure from landlocked America for their reputation as “savage killers.” But isn't that exactly what the Shark Hunters are doing?