Shark tourney draws a crowd on Vineyard

By Tania deLuzuriaga, Globe Staff

Shark fishermen are contending with high winds and moderate seas today at the Oak Bluffs Monster Shark tournament.

Seventeen sharks were weighed in Friday at the tournament, including one that weighed nearly 400 pounds. Today is the second and final day of fishing for the approximately 200 boats that are competing.

The boats are after three species of sharks: makos, porbeagles and threshers. Makos have to be 200 pounds to keep in the tournament and threshers and makos have to weigh at least 250 pounds. Fishermen get a point per pound if the fish is over the minimum weight and are penalized if it’s more than 25 pounds below the minimum weight.

Of the 17 sharks weighed Friday, 11 were big enough to earn points. In the lead is the crew of the Waterbury, out of Brewster, which brought in a 399-pound thresher.

Among the thousands of spectators who gathered at the Oak Bluffs marina yesterday to watch the weighing were a handful of protesters from the Humane Society of the United States, which has long criticized the event, saying it demonizes sharks and is cruel to them.

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