Shark Killed in Tournaments for Entertainment.
Shark tournaments came into being as a result of the movie JAWS. Now fifty years later, we know the film is utter nonsense but sadly, the tournaments continue. Scores of fishing boats wager thousands of dollars each to determine who can catch the biggest shark. These boats head out to sea on summer weekends and come back laden with dead sharks. The boat winners are paid in some cases $100,000 to $200,000 for the heaviest shark from the total pot. The losers are the sharks that end up in landfills; however, people lose out as well. There is a real environmental cost to these tournaments when sharks are removed. As crucial apex predators, they roam across the entire Atlantic Ocean keeping the marine environment healthy. You can read about the evils of these tournaments in my book, Emperors of the Deep-The Shark. https://emperorsofthedeep.com
So let’s end shark tournaments and the illegal gambling that goes along with it.