Shark Safe Sportfishing

• The Great Hammerhead shark is listed as
  Endangered Worldwide
  
  
  
  
  Photo courtesy of Todd Cameron
  
  
  Issues:
  
  Shark Safe Network does not oppose responsible and ethical sportfishing. We believe that an educated recreational fishing community can be one of our biggest and most powerful allies in conserving sharks and our ocean's resources. Shark Safe Network is, however, opposed to the following unsustainable and wasteful fishing practices:
  
     * Killing sharks for fishing records
     * Killing sharks for trophies, such as jaws and "live mounts"
     * Kill shark tournaments
     * Killing any shark from a threatened shark species
     * Irresponsible catch and release fishing that results in high mortality and unnecessary injury and stress to the animals.
  
  
  
  Video courtesy of Lawrence Groth
  
  
  Goals:
  
  1. Persuade Kill Shark Tournaments to change to 100% catch and release.
  
  2. Protect pregnant female shark by persuading organizers to not hold tournaments in shark breeding and pupping areas during the summer months.
  
  3. Promote the use of more appropriate fishing gear and techniques (and contest rules for tournaments)
  
  4. Provide positive shark education to fishing clubs, at shark fishing tournaments and to communities
  
  5. Work with the IGFA to encourage them to promote shark conservation to their members.
  
  6. Keep up the pressure on the IGFA to remove records for all IUCN listed shark species, and to change the requirements for remaining records so that sharks do not have to be killed to qualify for the record.
  
  7. Persuade shark fishermen to release their trophy catches and don't be taken in by charter captains who try to push clients to kill sharks for "live mounts". They're getting a commission from the taxidermy company and they don't want to give the fisherman a chance to change his/her mind. They can make the mount from a picture and measurement - they don't need the dead body!
  (Gray Taxidermy no longer accepting dead sharks for mounts! July 21, 2009 http://www.justnews.com/news/20128612/detail.html)
  
  8. Involve communities - show them how "kill" events and trophy killing fishing in general does not present a positive image for their community.
  
  9. Involve scientists in catch and release shark tournaments to collect valuable data from LIVE sharks
  
  Action Plan:
  
  Sportfisherman Action Plan:
  Tournament Action Plan:
  
  Materials:
  
  Additional Information and Resources:
  
  Current Sportfishing Campaigns
  
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