BajaNomad - Why hug a shark?

Why hug a shark?

Sharksbaja - 4-2-2008 at 09:55 PM

There are plenty of reasons.

There was a day on this board where shark and billfish killers were balanced by shark and billfish huggers.

Seems those days are over(sigh). Outnumbered again. Usher

There also was a day when gamefish like Blue Marlin and Mako Shark enjoyed greater numbers.

Those days are over for them too and an increasing number of other apex predators. There certainly are others as well that need some amount of protection or regulation from commercial interests and that of the sportfisherman.

A greater number of charter boats are requiring rather than requesting that shark and billfish in particular get returned alive. Controversy exists on the motality numbers of released fish but obviously most survive if properly caught and handled properly.
Many fishermen enjoy the fight of the fish, sacraficing unneeded fillets for a chance for the fish to thrill another time.

If the need to understand the importance of saving large animals like these is not addressed it could be only a decade away from a collapsed fishery.

The time is now to adjust your mindset. Help Baja retain a world class fishery.

Many resources are available to help the layman understand the need.

End of sermon :saint:

Osprey - 4-3-2008 at 07:33 AM

Sharks, don't be discouraged. The resorts here in Palmas bay set the charter rules for over 300 cruisers/superpangas and they treat sharks like billfish -- that is release all that can be released alive and able to swim away. The NOM 029 puts 1.5 million extra hooks out there and that's what spells their doom. Some years ago 2 of our local commercial guys when out to their shark buoy, found a 1,600 lb great white, sold it for $1,600. To them it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to make their hard, dangerous work pay off a little. It could happen again today and none of us could change it. Only one big hook, a big fish or fish head on a buoy cable was enough so just think about the 1.5 million others out there. We need all the huggers we can get. Why don't you come down, sell fly fishing gear, teach the discipline, save the fish? Maybe as the sport grows so will the fishery.

Don Alley - 4-3-2008 at 07:59 AM

Please Join

The Billfish Foundation

motoged - 4-3-2008 at 03:57 PM

Good for you guys.... :light:

Fisheries are depleted worldwide....so "hugging" a fish is a good idea....sharks are becoming an endangered species...balance is difficult to achieve, but worth the try...

Ged

vgabndo - 4-3-2008 at 05:09 PM

The problem is endemic. The solution is enforcement. At San Nicolas they don't even worry about hiding the tools of their self-destructive trade. I watched a boat with a net come in and they had a load of Parrotfish. The boat with the SAS was on the beach all day and gone at night.

[Edited on 4-4-2008 by vgabndo]

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vgabndo - 4-3-2008 at 05:11 PM

Spearfishing at night on air...

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vgabndo - 4-3-2008 at 05:14 PM

I think this is a big reason why we get skunked so often any more when we troll inshore.

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vgabndo - 4-3-2008 at 05:18 PM

Polly wanna gill net?

[Edited on 4-4-2008 by vgabndo]

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Pescador - 4-3-2008 at 09:03 PM

Well if the Totuava is any kind of an indication of how Mexico manages here fisheries, then it was clear a long time ago that things are on a downhill slide to nowhere.
I also know and respect the idea that I am in a foreign country, as a guest, and all the "peein and moanin" has very little if any effect. It never ceases to amaze me how we conquer and want to bring our managerial skills to the table even when we are "guests". Don Alley may be the closest to any kind of workable solution with the idea of the Billfish Foundation but I have yet to see any results on Shark Norma and where was the billfish foundation when they boarded a boat in Cabo last week with 10,000 dead billfish on board and "found that all the paperwork was current and correct"?
Two days ago I witnessed out of area pangas that had been camping at San Marcos Island wrap and kill about 1000 kilos of spawning yellowtail and while it makes me sad, I also know there is very little that I can do to effect any change to this practice. The park rangers at the National Park in Loreto were advised of this practice and pretty much told everyone that it was their responsibility to manage and set the laws and that they did not really appreciate the "foreign interference" telling them how to do their job.
So I admit that something needs to be done and the biggest frustration is not knowing what to do.

Sharksbaja - 4-3-2008 at 09:34 PM

So very true what you say. The Mexican govt turns a blind eye to so much that goes on out there.

It was said that being a good example could have positive effects with charter crews. With that said, why would it be inappropriate to insist on releasing a fish just because the charter does not appear to adhere to catch n release.

I digress, it's up to all of us to practice intelligent management and stewardship regardless of how screwed up the policies and lack of enforcement is.

Quite honestly imo I think it is irresponsible to those that understand the plight of certain species but yet continue to kill them.

That may not sit well with some. My father taught me to always eat what I kill(save rattlesnakes) and not to kill for fun. It's a good practice I think but I wouldn't assume that because it's free and out there that I can take what I want without consideration for the waters it came from.

It's all about conscience. You are the one who decides what you actually need. If you take more because there are people who will take it then you put yourself above what is right and fair for the waters.

Like my accountant says "be a pig, but don't be a hog". I guess that pretty much sums it up. Take what you need and leave a small footprint behind.

Now back to our regular programming.

[Edited on 4-4-2008 by Sharksbaja]

Pescador - 4-4-2008 at 07:51 AM

I totally agree with you. On a national level I know I am but a visitor in a foreign land, on a personal basis things are a lot different. Because I fish a lot and am fairly visible in our local village, I know when I do certain things that it has some effect. I have been approached by some of the local fishermen who saw me releasing yellowtail and they indicated that I did not need to release but instead could give it to them. That opened the discussions and I was able to explain that during this time of the year when we are coming into spawn that one released fish might lead to having 1,000 extra fish next year. So they laugh at the dumb gringo, who may have planted a seed, and ask me if I want to come over for turtle tacos tomorrow night.

Don Alley - 4-4-2008 at 09:09 AM

Maybe some of the resorts are becoming pro-active in promoting releasing fish, but many Loreto sport captains are not. Some make it very difficult to release fish. I once had an angry captain hired on a private boat essentially go on strike over a marlin, "Okay, release it yourself!"

I have a friend and neighbor who loves to fish, but seldom can fish from a boat. Last year in a dorado tournament he caught his first marlin. Our captain, who has no problem releasing fish and knows I release billfish, released it at boatside. Since then I cannot convince Jose Luis that he has, indeed, caught a marlin. "No, no, that fish got away."

Jose Luis' marlin

If/when he gets another it's going to be problem releasing it...

vgabndo - 4-4-2008 at 11:24 AM

Sharks...your father was a wise man.

"My father taught me to always eat what I kill(save rattlesnakes) and not to kill for fun."

Too bad he couldn't have had an influence on the programming of the "Outdoor Channel".

I recently saw a show with some ditzy blonde in a gushingly orgasmic state of bloodlust and religious ferver as she killed one Prairie Dog after another. I'll bet you anything that she didn't taste even one.

This is a VERY POOR example to be plastered all over national TV.

I'm reminded of our Texas Panhandle Nomad who invited us all down to his neck of the woods to kill Bobcats. I asked him for his recipe, but he never responded.

Surprise suprise.....

Sharksbaja - 4-4-2008 at 11:46 AM

National Geographic Mag on TV has a series that promotes the taking of large shark and billfish. I find that incredibly inappropriate and it changed my feelings about the company and what they represent.

I guess anything for ratings.

Skipjack Joe - 4-4-2008 at 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Don Alley
Last year in a dorado tournament he caught his first marlin. Our captain, who has no problem releasing fish and knows I release billfish, released it at boatside. Since then I cannot convince Jose Luis that he has, indeed, caught a marlin. "No, no, that fish got away."

Exactly! Here it's just stated out in the open.

But many anglers either consciously or unconsciously feel that way. That is, a fish isn't caught unless it's been killed. The trip is a 'failure' if you haven't caught fish.

Sharksbaja - 4-4-2008 at 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Skipjack Joe

Quote:

Hell yes, it sucks when you get fish to the side or shore only to lose it! That's part of the game.

It is hard to make that change. I can tell you I have caught many sharks in the past. I just really didn't think much about hugging a shark rather than eating it. Some are freakin' delicious!
Eventually I learned things and adjusted my mindset. I have not served nor eaten shark for 20 years. It doesn't seem that long but I suppose I have saved the lives of a good number in doing so.
The point really with my unending diatribe is that although a person feels it's insignifigant with his single fish. It isn't.

There are many factors that will determine the ultimate fate of several species. I choose to reflect one by saving them to reproduce later.

Don Alley - 4-4-2008 at 01:59 PM

Mako Sharks

From the University of Florida:

Quote:

The world's affinity for shark fin soup and the delectable flesh of the shortfin mako has lead to a decrease in population numbers. Worldwide, the shortfin mako is not only subject to overharvesting by direct hunting, and they are often by-catch victims of the tuna and swordfish fishing industries. As a result, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has included the shortfin mako on their list of managed pelagic sharks. The NMFS has reduced the number of commercial and recreational shortfin mako catches allowed per year by 50% in an attempt to counter act its declining numbers. However, the NMFS regulations apply only to the United State's Atlantic and Gulf waters. Also hastening their population decrease is their slow reproductive rate. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) currently lists the shortfin mako as "Near Threatened" due to a lack of evidence that population levels have been sufficiently depleted to warrant a "Vulnerable" status.

They are a managed as legal sportfish off SoCal. I saw one caught on the sportboat Legend a few years back on an albacore trip. Apparently the waters off San Diego are where they give birth. There have been some contentious threads on the Allcoast boards about the harvest of these apex predators.

Most will recall this event.

Pompano - 4-4-2008 at 02:27 PM

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jodiego - 4-4-2008 at 02:32 PM

SAVE BAJA'S SHARKS AND BILLFISH

Something we should have been concerned about years ago. Hope it's not to late. Now if we can only convince the Japanese that sharkfins are not worth depleting the entire species. :no:

Santiago and the Mako

Skipjack Joe - 4-4-2008 at 02:58 PM

From a time when life was simpler, direct, and better. By a writer often ridiculed in our era by feminists and conservationists alike. Still a hero to me and no amount of criticism will change that.

They sailed well and the old man soaked his hands in the salt water and tried to keep his head clear. There were high cumulus clouds and enough cirrus above them so that the old man knew the breeze would last all night. The old man looked at the fish constantly to make sure it was true. It was an hour before the first shark hit him.

The shark was not an accident. He had come up from deep down in the water as the dark cloud of blood had settled and dispersed in the mile deep sea He had come up so fast and absolutely without caution that he broke the surface of the blue water and was in the sun. Then he fell back into the sea and picked up the scent and started swimming on the course the skiff and the fish had taken.

Sometimes he lost the scent. But he would pick it up again, or have just a trace of it, and he swam fast and hard on the course. He was a very big Mako shark, built to swim as fast as the fastest fish in the sea and everything about him was beautiful except his jaws. His back was as blue as a sword fish's and his belly was silver and his hide was smooth and handsome. He was built as a swordfish except for his huge jaws Which were tight shut now as he swam fast, just under the surface with his high dorsal fin knifing through the water without wavering. Inside the closed double lip of his jaws all of his eight rows of teeth were slanted inwards. They were not the ordinary pyramid-shaped teeth of most sharks. They were shaped like a man's fingers when they are crisped like claws. They were nearly as long as the fingers of the old man and they had razor-sharp cutting edges on both sides. This was a fish built to feed on all the fishes in the sea, that were so fast and strong and well armed that they had no other enemy. Now he speeded up as he smelled the fresher scent and his blue dorsal fin cut the water.

When the old man saw him coming be knew that this was a shark that had no fear at all and would do exactly what he wished. He prepared the harpoon and made the rope fast while he watched the shark come on. The rope was short as it lacked what he had cut away to lash the fish.

The old man's head was clear and good now and he was full of resolution, but he had little hope. It was too good to last, he thought. He took one look at the great fish as he watched the shark close in. It might as well have been a dream, he thought. I cannot keep him from hitting me but maybe I can get him. Dentuso , he thought. Bad luck to your mother.

No end to the sharks back then...so said the pangueros.

Pompano - 4-4-2008 at 03:05 PM

This is from another thread, but it's appropriate to put it here, also.
...............................................

This brings back bitter-sweet memories of Jesus Marie and Laguna Manuela. Shark fishermen co-op killed thousands for thier fins and livers...and left the rest to the birds.

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Ken Bondy - 4-4-2008 at 06:49 PM

Sooooo sad: