Solutions are not Simple

The most powerful pathway to stop the tournaments is the community deciding they no longer want to see them in their harbors. Marinas, neighborhood boards, city councils, community organizations, chamber of commerce; all of these entities can make decisions to stop allowing shark-killing events. Members of the community and local newspapers are the ones that can promote these changes. No national petition, non-profit, or advocacy group can be as effective as the very people that live where the fishing tournaments are held.

Finding solutions can be a tedious process of give-and-take. While we must mobilize the public and show that killing for sport is no longer acceptable, we must go beyond protests and petitions. Outrage will ebb and flow, especially on social media. We cannot bank on that to create lasting change. We will make it our goal to develop a comprehensive strategy, collaborating with other advocacy groups, recreational fishing associations, and most importantly, with communities that host the tournaments in developing a strategy. We will also have to investigate whether local, regional or national legislation or rulemaking would be possible and what the best pathways would be to succeed. In other words - there is a lot of work to be done!

As an individual, you can make a difference by contacting tournament sponsors, organizers, and advertisers and asking them to stop supporting shark-killing tournaments. If you are a member of a marina, ask management to stop allowing such activities. Follow the activities of advocates and organizations on social media for information on tournaments and calls to action.

WHAT ABOUT CATCH-AND-RELEASE?

Sharks can get mutilated when they get hooked and fought on a line. They can end up with ripped jaws, hooks that cannot be removed, long pieces of fishing line stuck to the hooks and dragging along with the shark, and potentially entangling the animal. None of these situations are ideal. But the reality is that recreational fishing is massively popular in the US and in some states is one of the biggest economic drivers. The majority of recreational fishers truly care about the animals and want to improve the way sharks are fished. It is those fishermen that we put a great amount of hope and faith in to help the industry from the inside out.

Catch-and-release has been a successful model for the recovery of billfish. It may be the best chance we have to reduce shark mortality. Making shark tournaments catch-and-release only would save a good portion of sharks. It might also weed out the participants that are only in it to bring back a kill.