Aussie boy lands world record tiger shark

[jeff_dudas]

Alex Johnston with the shark

[Silvershark]

I think this whole thing is sad...that tiger shark, and the other fish he caught and killed purely for trophies, should be swimming in the sea not being paraded around. This kid should be ashamed that he is slaughtering such animals for fun, especially as many are declining! Never heard of Catch and Release?
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[SouthPaw]

I don't want to get into an argument but what is wrong with fishing (or hunting for that matter) as a sport? I spent a few years in Guam as a teenager in the mid 80's & my uncle had a fishing boat. One of the most exciting day's of my life is when we caught three Marlin on one trip. There were also certain days where we would catch as many as 60 to 70 Wahoo & Mahi Mahi in one day. My uncle was a very successful businessman & he was just happy if the fish we brought in & sold covered his gas for the trip. He would also give a lot of fish away for free to the locals. I think it is horrible when certain species are over-fished or people kill sharks just for their fins but for the average "Joe" to go out & fish & catch a tiger shark or a blue marlin or any other fish is not putting a dent in the population in my opinion. I highly doubt that catching this tiger shark or the one in the Monster Shark Tournament will put a dent in their population. I am sure there are just as many big ones still swimming out there. The earth is 2/3 water . . .

[Silvershark]

Marlin and other members of the family are in severe decline as are many species of sharks. If 100 "average Joes" who did sea fishing took "just one" that would be 100 fish removed from the population. It all adds up and although the main problem is the fisheries, catching the few that do manage to avoid maturity and reach adult hood is not helping the population. Added to this these were "record catches" for the age group. The fecundity of female fish is dependant on their size. The larger the female the more eggs she can produce, so removing these large animals is even more detrimental to the population because they are the ones that can contribute most to the future population.

Blue Marlin have already been and continued to be severely overfished and it is reaching the stage where there are very few of them out in the oceans today. Every one is important to the population right now, and people like this kid are not helping to stop the decline.
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[Kurtster]

They were feeding the Marlin, which was a couple of kg's short of being a record, to the sharks when he hooked this big tiger which will likely be disposed of in the same fashion as the marlin? I have no problem with sport fishing as long as it's catch and release, not much point in it otherwise, catch it, weigh it, get your picture taken with it,then dump it's carcass back into the sea, for what?

[Deep Ocean Planet]

I am from this area and this is the mentallity that we deal with. These guys don't give a s**t about conservation. They are just a bunch a less than intelligent person's with obviously no concern for the future of our oceans, something i fight every day to protect.
Very very sad
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Diving with a difference

[bernardo]

Yes, this is a very sorry thread. And I'm even sadder for the 13-yr-old whose attitudes to humane issues have probably been set for life. No creature deserves to die for the sake of human gratification and blood lust ... it's not sport, it's slaughter for self-engrossed boofheads. the boy's parents should know better. we can but shake our heads in utter disbelief at this appalling ignorance. i don't think humanity has come very far. I would urge others to express their abhorrence.

bern

[jeff_dudas]

David and Goliath: Alex Johnston is dwarfed by his world record catch. With him are his father Graham (left) and deckhand Kenton Greer.
Picture: Aaron Francis

[GWLover81]

That is horrible!!!!! I feel SOOO bad for that shark and the kid!!! He is being taught that this is ok!!! Shame on them!!!!
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[dkp]

Obviously this boy is in a sad position. His parental guidance is that killing creatures, in the ocean, for sport, is acceptable. Dont get me wrong, I will enjoy a fishing session as much as anyone for the peace and relaxation of it and the places you go to. But to kill a magnificent creature like this in the name of a sport seems to go against any of the parameters of a recreational passtime or sport. Killing is never a sport.
It is sad thing also, as no doubt there is an element of 'being a hero' in the fact that he landed it.
I hope he learns to grow out of killing for a passtime/recreation.
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[Stuart Newman]

This does go to highlight the needs for both education and legislation when it comes to conservation!
Particularly educating the next generation who are always supposed to be more enlightened than the previous the difference between killing a slowly reproducing top of the food chain animal just for fun and a trophy, or enjoying the sport but appreciating the animal and letting it go! or killing smaller more abundant animals in small numbers for food!
Unfortunately education of the reasons and effects will ultimately be the only way forward t be backed up with enforcements. but this is a slow process and along the way unfortunate incidents like this will happen! but people need to persevire and hopefully make this a thing of the past, lets just hope that it is sooner rather than later!
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Stuart Newman
Marine Conservation Masters Student
Wales
UK

[BrotherDolphin]

Ok i am new to this site and i believe it is ok to catch sharks, as long as you realease them,not for the kill but for the amazement to see thes exilerating creatures up close.

[Thud222]

My girlfriend and I are absolute fishing nuts. We have been fishing since we were kids and we fish for food. I also come from a hunting background, and only ever hunted for two reasons; for food (I only kill what I can carry out) and to reduce the feral animal population. I am certainly not one of these people that believes that meat comes only from a supermarket. A couple of years ago we developed an interest in and pursued the sport of land-based shark fishing. We did the research, bought or built the equipment and began to fish for sharks. With advice from others we have some good catches. We eat the sharks that we catch if they are small enough. When there is meat in the freezer we don't take any more. We release virtually all the rest. We fish with barbless game hooks to enable easier release. We also know that if we lose a shark to line breakage the hook will come out by itself. The only time we keep a larger shark, not intended for the table, is if it is worthy of weighing. My girlfriend won the landbased section of a shark fishing tournament last year and donated the carcass to the University of Queensland, who were conducting research on shark populations in the area. The carcass supplied samples to other, medical-based, research projects as well.
Just to confirm that we are not your typical "self-engrossed boofheads" I already have a science degree, majoring in biomedical science with a fair component covering animal biodiversity. My girlfrind is currently studying at university as well.
I mentioned that we had conducted research into shark fishing. We came across a website compiled by Doug Mizzi: http://bluemako.customer.netspace.net.au . He has included a page on this site with some interesting points:

"I feel that we need to clear up a few misconceptions here.

Several Laws have been passed in Australia that have banned the capture of Great White and Grey Nurse Sharks. In line with these very strict laws it must be noted that I have never caught or intend to catch these sharks. The law has protected these Apex predators and any reference to these, especially the great white were prior to Federal Government protecting them.

I have had some less than desirable email from so called would be conservationist that tell me I am cruel etc etc. that is however their opinion and I accept and respect that. However they all seem to be based around mentioning the great white and their slow reproduction rate. Let me reiterate once again for the hard to understand, we do not condone or catch any protected species. It seems that most would be shark lovers don't know a whaler, from a nurse to a mako or a white, much less seen one other than on Discovery Channel.!!So here is a lesson in shark reproduction.

The sharks that we target are primarily whalers and tigers. Whalers have 28 pups each year, year after year after year, each pup has the ability to fend for itself from the moment it is born. Tigers give birth up to 54 pup Each Year, and continue to do so for up to 20 years. There are no shortage of both tigers and whalers around our Australian shores, as there are no shortage of blue sharks. There are no commercial fisheries in Australian waters for these sharks mentioned, Game fishermen of all kinds regard these as a threat and may shoot them at will if they threaten more high profile species like marlin. (that's something I bet you never heard on Discovery channel!). Most sharks in Australian waters are regarded as vermin and only a handful of really dedicated shark fishermen have the passion to chase these fish. They are extremely hard work to catch, most people never catch any good ones anyway as they are extremely dangerous.

Now with between 28 and 54 sharks being born per pregnant female each year, allowing for natural attrition of the young to other predators, the fact that literally a very small percentage of the game fishing industry actually fishes for these sharks, the numbers taken here in Australia are extremely small compared to the re growth of the species being caught in question. I am not fishing myself out of a sport, far from it. In fact being an advocator of scientific tag and release I have personally caught tagged and released more sharks than most of you "greenies" and at the very least, at least my efforts have done more for shark tracking and understanding than most foolish people that email with their wisdom on sharks. Again another fact, is that the shark population of both whalers and tigers are increasing, not decreasing, this can be seen by again more re interaction with game fishermen, especially over the past 10 years. I myself including my personal crew would take no more than 5 sharks a year, these are always utilised for food, at times when we have caught more than we require, as can be seen with our photos, the sharks are released, I personally can't see the reason for killing any fish, not just a shark for no reason.

I must say that I deplore the technique of fining and unaccountable slaughter. DO NOT put me in the same category as these bastards as that pisses me off. I am more accountable for my shark fishing if nothing else than to protect my sport. Incidentally this figure of 100 million sharks being caught a year refers mainly to school shark and tope around a metre in length. these are mainly caught around the Gulf of Mexico and around central America and S E Asia, these third world countries have no morals and ethics, not myself - one shark fisherman catching sharks off the jetty.

I wonder how many of you really know much about sharks before you jump up and down, how much is what you have seen on the TV or what you have seen in real life. I doubt it is the latter. Before you are quick to email me with your conservation point of view, ask yourself which sharks are actually being fished out and by who, I can tell you I am doing nothing to decrease any protected or anywhere nearly protected species of shark. I must also state that sharks are no different to any other large pelagic fish such as marlin, tuna, broadbill, kingfish, etc, so please if you are really interested in abusing us, email a generic letter to all these fishermen, not forgetting the IGFA (International Game Fishing Association) but before you do that, just think how much money people like myself and these guys put into protecting their fisheries, I can tell you now I have put more dollars through licensing and club fees / donations to fisheries protection than most do gooders. Without the fishermen who is going to keep detailed records of capture, charting migration patterns, tagging and tracking data, I can tell you its not your government, they don't give a damn about spending money on this research, most real dollars come from game fishermen. That's not to say that private research teams don't put in, of course they do, But there is a lot of data out there to collect and that is not going to be done by one group alone, so bear a thought that in your wisdom , game fishermen like myself are more interested in species protection, in order that we can pass this down to our kids rather than take and plunder, like most professional fishermen do.

If after this point of view you still decide to email me with regards to a negative attitude on what I have stated here, than don't bother, go and find yourself a fining site or medicinal shark cartilage site and email them as they are the ones taking from the ocean without regard for replenishment NOT ME.

Any Flames will be disregarded automatically so don't waste your time. Also all email addresses will be data based and if your email is particularly offensive your address will be donated to several marketing companies for such items as hemorrhoid creme as I am fed up with pain in the arse people who don't know jack scat about what I am doing."

As you can see, Doug has probably researched sharks in more detail than most of you. He has a valid point regarding the reproduction rate of tiger and whaler sharks compared to those of Great whites. Take note Stuart Newman, you should know better than to mislead others with comments like; "killing a slowly reproducing top of the food chain animal..." I once was engaged in a conversation with a work colleague about shark fishing, when the conversation was interrupted with a loud claim from across the room; "SHARKS ARE PROTECTED!" It turned out that the woman who made this comment was the environmental "expert" for the company. The blatant ignorance of this woman was highlighted by her desire to "inform" everyone of her opinion.

There are very few people who target sharks as recreational fishermen. There are a lot less who are successful. Basically shark fishing, especially land-based, is difficult, expensive and often uneventful. We all believe in protecting the shark populations. Friends of mine, who also release their sharks as they don't even like to eat them, have had overzealous and ill-informed greenies deliberately damage their equipment in protest. We have had our lines cut on several occasions.

The people who disgust me the most are those of you who believe in picking on small groups or individuals to gain satisfaction for your efforts. You are too unorganised or gutless to take on the commercial sector or the illegal fishermen who are responsible for the decimation of all fish populations. Most of you still probably eat fish from the markets or at a resturant. We have thousands of illegal fishing boats, from Indonesia, raiding the waters of the Northern Territory. Most of them are actively engaged in finning. The federal government is slow to respond to this. The navy should be using them for target practice.

If you want to make a REAL difference, Tackle the REAL problem, or is it just easier to spout off in your usual fashion and continue to harass the small fry?

[Stuart Newman]

I do apologise to Thudd22 for any offence caused, that was certainly not my intention and certainly not to suggest any type of link to commercial shark finners as these are a set of people all on there own!
I take your points and did wish to deliberately mislead anyone! i was trying in the main to point out the fact that this kind of trophyism (for want of a better word) goes on and that incidents such as these go on to glorify this needless kind of killing, which will affect other species as well!
There is also the point of if sport fishing does not take to many then its ok, is a little like saying well what im doing as one wont make any difference, but then of course how many people think like like that, it can all be about thinking small sometimes!
I do understand some points, i am and have been a keen angler in this country although have very little oppurtunity these days so these views are not without sympathy!
I can also assure Thudd22 i am certainly not 'greeny' as i do look for the real options and am sensible about what can be done and the need to compremise to achieve targets!
As for the tigers i should have said more along the lines of as top predators in their environment they will have relatively low fecundity for this environment when compared to others there, rather than amoungst shark species, and that they are relatively healthy for shark populations as are only classed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List.
Mainly what i was trying to highlight was more the attitudes and behaviour towards conservation amoung people that can still exist and that the only real way to change things and promote better attitudes towards natural life and ecosystems in general is through education and understanding!
Once again i do apologise for any offence caused!
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Stuart Newman
Marine Conservation Masters Student
Wales
UK