Why does The Humane Society of the United States care about shark tournaments?
Shark tournaments are bloody and ecologically irresponsible spectacles in which some of earth’s most ancient predators are hauled out of the ocean and hung up for bragging rights and gruesome pictures. Some of these animals belong to species in decline, and shark tournaments are contributing to the ongoing declines in shark populations. Tournaments cause more sharks to suffer and die than is immediately apparent. The managers and promoters of some tournaments defend their events by claiming that they consist mainly of so-called catch and release, but few studies have looked at the fate of those sharks that are hooked and subsequently released. One study by researchers at Dalhousie University in Canada found that up to 20 percent of blue sharks probably died after being caught and released in tournaments. At least one international fisheries body has estimated a similar rate of mortality. The greatest cause of death is the swallowing of hooks. Sharks also die from serious injuries—such
