Ocean Sentry
(From thenational.ae) The smell of dead fish meat mixed with diesel fuel was almost overpowering but did not bother the people crowding around as a shark hung from its tail was weighed on the dockside.
Half of the shark’s intestines were falling out of its mouth as proud fishermen and their children were photographed next to it. The theme music from the Steven Spielberg movie Jaws played on a loudspeaker.
Welcome to the 38th annual Montauk Marine Basin Shark Tournament, a two-day event held on the last weekend of June in which about 80 boats compete for a top prize of US$280,000 (Dh1.03 million).
The little village of Montauk on the eastern tip of Long Island has become synonymous with shark-fishing, but also a growing controversy over the sport’s ethics.
The battle pitches animal rights groups seeking to protect increasingly endangered sharks against fishermen and locals who say they depend on the sport to make a living.
In reality, fishermen catch and kill smaller sharks. Although these smaller sharks do not qualify for the tournaments, species such as mako are prized for their meat and the “kill stories” they generate.
On the first day of the tournament, for example, one boat named Tough Guy hauled in a 44kg mako, well below the 68kg minimum. “I weigh more than that,” muttered one of the scientists, who was at the dock to encourage greater tagging by fishermen as well as to sift through shark meat as part of research.
