Don scientists study the sharks caught in tournaments to learn about their populations?
Tournaments are about sport, not science. The Canadian Shark Research Lab at Dalhousie University published a study of research on blue sharks. Scientists concluded that, because tournaments target the largest sharks, measurements and samples cannot be considered representative of the population. They also found that most sharks sampled in tournaments are from the same shark population caught by commercial fisheries, so we learn little more from tournament sharks than can be learned from sharks killed by fisheries. To understand shark population abundance and population dynamics, we need a representative sampling that tournaments simply cannot provide. Shark tournaments don’t, and can’t, collect the most important information needed to understand and protect shark populations.
