Fishermen gather for Vineyard 'monster shark' tourney

July 17, 2008 09:18 AM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Globe Staff

Undaunted by questions raised by an animal welfare group, scores of fishermen who plan to spend Friday and Saturday hunting the seas for sharks are beginning to gather on Martha's Vineyard.

Registration is today for the Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament. More than 200 boats are expected to participate, fishing for mako, thresher, and porbeagles, said tournament organizer Steven James.

Great white sharks have been on the public's mind recently because of an unconfirmed sighting on the Vineyard and because the carcass of a small one washed ashore on Nantucket. But James said no great whites will be landed in the tournament because fishing for them is prohibited.

The Humane Society of the United States has criticized the shark tournament. And this year, selectmen in the town banned any use of town land for it.

John Grandy, senior vice president for wildlife and habitat projection at the Humane Society, said, "We think there is no possible excuse for having such an event, given the cruelties involved for the sharks and the status of the shark species."

He said US regulations on fishing for sharks aren't stringent enough and the fish hunted for the competition are "threatened with global extinction."

But James said the humane society is simply on an "antifishing jihad."

"US fishermen fish under the most stringent regulations of any country in the world," he said. "Those of us that are in the fishery are the ones that are most concerned about maintaining the stocks."

He also said that the methods used to fish for shark are no different from those used in angling for other fish. He also noted that only 24 sharks were caught and kept last year by the 262 boats that participated.