CaptBillB

Earlier week, I had a prolonged telephone discussion with Captain Steven James, owner and promoter of the Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament. This annual event, held on Martha’s Vineyard, MA, is once again under attack by the Humane Society of the United States whose anti-fishing sentiments were verbalized at a recent Oak Bluff’s Board of Selectman meeting. One of the points that he made was how ironic that the public position of the HSUS against the continuance of this tournament coincided at the exact time when the OBMST became a high profile, prime time show on ESPN several years ago. For nearly two decades there had been no controvery until the HSUS (like anti-hunting & anti-firearms groups) felt that the time was right to make its stance known while the OBMST was in the public's eye.
The three fundamental arguments that the HSUS used to justify their stance against the Oak Bluff’s Monster Shark Tournament was:
1) The tournament is cruel to sharks;
2) The tournament kills sharks which are near extinction and/or endangered;
3) The tournament does little to help Scientist understand shark populations.
According to James, “If one is to believe that shark fishing is ‘cruel’ in itself, then that line of reasoning leads one to the conclusion that the Monster Shark Tournament also promotes cruelty to sharks. Therefore, since any and all forms of ‘shark fishing’ would be deemed to be cruel, the techniques employed in the capture of tuna, bluefish, and striped bass (which are nearly identical when using rod and reels), then fishing for any species of fish must be cruel as well.”
According to the organization’s Senior Vice President John Grady, “The Humane Society's fundamental concern is not fish species populations, it's just recreational cruelty” (stated in an interview with the Cape Cod Times News Paper). Grandy was also quoted in another interview stating that, "I would say that catch and release is nothing more than torture for fun."
These two statements would seem to make it blatantly obvious that the HSUS views would brand it as an anti-fishing group bent on an anti-fishing crusade. They have attempted to use the Monster Shark Tournament’s success to propagate their extremist animal rights agenda (and as a fund raiser) while deceiving both the media and the general population who read their flawed rhetoric.
Steve related that, “ In regards to the contention that the tournament kills shark species which are near extinction or endangered, then it would behoove any representative of the HSUS, the MSPCW, or the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, to make public the specific data, scientific facts, or research that they’ve discovered which they feel is critical to shark fishery management and recovery plans. They should then direct those concerns to the National Marine Fisheries Service at once since this is the governmental agency that regulates both the bag limit and determines the state of any given stock of fish, including sharks, rather than using an emotional based argument to further their agenda at a local board of governmental official’s meeting. Why would anyone possibly waste this Board’s time, the time of the people in attendance at that meeting, and their own time as well, trying to convince a local government to intervene in a regulated matter they have no jurisdiction over? It’s a fact that fish, including sharks, that reside in Federal Waters are under the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Services rather than the Town of Oak Bluffs, the State of Massachusetts and, most certainly not, the Humane Society of the United States?”
“Is it possible to honestly expect the Oak Bluffs Board of Selectman to try to usurp the federal regulations and the due process of fishery management as defined by the National Marine Fisheries Service? “
The view that the tournament does little to help scientists understand shark populations is based upon the HSUS’s premise that this tournament exists solely for the gathering of scientific data. In fact, the Monster Shark Tournament existence is based upon the fact that it is a sport fishing tournament and not focused upon scientific endeavors. The fact that the Tournament’s organizers ‘allow’ the NMFS, the Apex Predators Program, the State of Massachusetts, and a plethora of other academic institutions to collect data and tissue samples at the weight station during the course of the event should be applauded.
“The gathering of a huge data base of scientific knowledge was never a prerequisite or an obligation for the tournament’s existence. Suggesting that this tournament or any other sport fishing tournament event is somehow required to help scientists understand sharks or any other species are faring is simply a fallacy as long as it’s a legal enterprise and the promoters and participants adhere to any and all state and federal regulations. Despite this fact, according to James, “The Monster Shark Tournament will continue to provide scientists and other research institutions with an opportunity to collect catch and release data, landings data, and tissue samples as they have always done” said James.
It’s ironic (as in the latest situation where tainted beef is being recalled) that the HSUS spends tens of thousands of dollars in newspaper smear campaigns, airplane towed banners, and web based harassment campaigns that are intentionally designed to mislead people by exposing them to false accusations, misleading photos and sheer junk science.
In fact, there’s little doubt, according to James that, “The HSUS devised a telephone and email harassment campaign that was directed at the individual Oak Bluff’s Selectmen, employees of the Selectman’s Office, the Martha’s Vineyard’s Chamber of Commerce, and many tournament sponsors.”
James also stated, “They’ve also insulted the integrity of the MA and NMFS’s Marine Biologists, the Tournament Organizers, and tournament participants in an all out effort to impose their extremist animal rights agenda. In addition, a HSUS representative had the audacity to stand in front of the Board of Selectmen preaching their cult-like animal rights propaganda under the guise of science, ‘wanting to work together,’ while the real architect of this campaign (John Grandy) was hidden away from public view. The HSUS attempt to play ‘good guy/bad guy’ with the Oak Bluff’s Board of Selectmen was a despicable game of deception. The HSUS organization is not only repugnant in their extremist ideologies but also appallingly unethical and absolutely vile in their tactics.”
(Perhaps, one day, Steve will really relate how he feels towards the Humane Society of the United States whose views toward shark fishing diverge from what he feels about those groups who attempt to impose their non-scientific based agendas on both local governmental agencies and the unsuspecting general public who often take their propaganda as fact.)

FYI-
Humane Society of the United States

Humane Society of the United States Quotes

Humane Society of the United States Connections

Attached Images

Mike's Mako-2.JPG (32.3 KB, 3 views)

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Bill
www.billfishcharter.com

fishcounterbob

Thanks for such a quality post

Possum

Tree huggers. Bah. Fishing for sport will always exist, and there is little the HSUS, PETA, nor any other militant organization can do. Extremism in any view, is detrimental to their own cause.

Great writing Bill, and appreciated. OBMST is just are target due to its' televised popularity. What about the other dozen or so major tournaments up here (not just shark) that all employ the same techniques? Oh yeah, they're not televised.

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gman

you had to see them I actually have pictures of the planes towing the signs and people were harassing Anthony and I at the weigh in station

jahootie

You can be my voice, f*&k the hsus see you at the captains meeting

lets take that guy fishing and introduce him to mr.mako

CaptDom

WHAT HE SAID!!

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CAPT. DOM PETRARCA
COASTAL CHARTERS SPORTFISHING
NEWPORT, RI (401)-862-0358
www.coastalcharterssportfishing.com

Captain Curt

look whats next!!!!! don't they have anything better to spend all this money on like feeding the hungry



Targeting Meat and Dairy
In 2004 HSUS promoted long-time vice president Wayne Pacelle to the position of President. Along with Pacelle’s passionate style and his experience navigating the halls of Congress, HSUS got its first strictly vegan leader.
One of Pacelle’s first acts as HSUS’s new chief executive was to send a memo to all HSUS staffers articulating his vision for the future. HSUS’s new “campaigns section,” Pacelle wrote, “will focus on farm animals.” For Americans accustomed to eating meat, eggs, and dairy foods, the thought of an animal rights group with a budget three times the size of PETA’s targeting their food choices should be unsettling. And Pacelle has hired other high-profile, unapologetic meat and dairy “abolitionists” since taking over.
In 2005, former Compassion Over Killing (COK) president Miyun Park joined HSUS as a staffer in its new “farm animals and sustainable agriculture department.” Around the same time, HSUS hired COK's other co-founder, Paul Shapiro, as manager of its derogatorily named “Factory Farming Campaign.” COK’s former general counsel Carter Dillard shortly afterward, as did vegan doctor and mad-cow-disease scaremonger Michael Greger. Like Pacelle, these new HSUS hires are all self-described vegans. Their arrival in the world’s richest animal-rights group signals that HSUS is giving anti-meat campaigns a prominent place.
In October, just a few months before he became an HSUS staffer, Shapiro told the 2004 National Student Animal Rights Conference that “nothing is more important than promoting veganism.” And Shapiro noted during an August 2004 animal-rights seminar (hosted by United Poultry Concerns) that after just 10 weeks at the helm, Pacelle had “already implemented a ‘no animal products in the office’ policy ... You know, they're going to have actual farmed-animal campaigns now, where they're going to be trying to legislate against gestation crates and all this stuff.”
Americans who enjoy meat, cheese, eggs, and milk may soon come to regard HSUS as a new PETA, with an even broader reach. Shortly after taking office, Pacelle announced a merger with the $20 million Fund For Animals. The combined group estimated its 2005 budget at “over $95 million” and also announced the formation of a new “political organization,” which will “allow for a more substantial investment of resources in political and lobbying activities.” Domestic Deception

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Capt.Curt Maxon
www.relentlesscharters.com

RI Popper

Capt Brown, It's the same with that group every year they hit all the tournaments. It's a shame that they don't try to get involved in the saving of gang members being senslessly murdered every day in the inner cities instead. But hey they are only people dying? Take them with a grain of salt and ask them to eat their vegatables LOL

Armand

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"Fish are a gift from God, by way of a good Lure"
www.atlanticoffshorelures.com

CaptBillB

Hey, Armand.. after over a quarter century of chartering... I've dealt with more than my share of 'environmental- save the seals, sharks, whales' whackos. However, one of the most surreal things that I've ever experienced was being lectured about the evils of killing sharks by Lorraine Gray (Mrs. Brody in JAWS) while standing on the deck of the BILLFISH in Slip 19 in Oak Bluffs Harbor. roughly 10 years ago. After she railed at me for about three minutes.. my reply was that it was just a little hypocritical of her to be breaking my stones as she live the 'Good Life' on MV due to the fact that a book, made into a movie that she starred in, was reponsible for the death of more sharks than any other causation in the history of man.
Benchley was a bigger sack of fecal matter as he became a 'shark conservationist' after making millions off his book and the movie. I used to throw that little tidbit into my Westerly Sun column once a summer.. as he was a Stonington, CT resident, and I heard through the local grapevine that it irked him to be publically ridiculed for being such a hypocrite.

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Bill
www.billfishcharter.com

CaptDom

Way to tell like it is...nothing worse than hypocritical zealots with too much funding! Imagine if they spent all that money trying to stop the finning procedures still at work in other countries!!!

__________________
CAPT. DOM PETRARCA
COASTAL CHARTERS SPORTFISHING
NEWPORT, RI (401)-862-0358
www.coastalcharterssportfishing.com