Shots In The Dark
Thursday, June 14, 2024
  And in Shark News
The Human Society is pressuring the organizers of shark-fishing tournaments to cancel them. I hope it works. These tournaments don't kill a huge number of sharks, certainly nothing compared to the hideous practice of finning, in which millions of sharks are slaughtered because Chinese people erroneously believe that their fins are an aphrodisiac. Because the shark meat isn't nearly as valuable—it's not considered an aphrodisiac—the rest of the animal is then generally dumped overboard. An eco-catastrophe.

But back to these tournaments....

Though they don't kill many sharks relative to finning, they still send the message to Americans that sharks are evil, awful animals which should be hunted for sport, merely so that some macho fisherman can get a good picture next to a corpse. (Most shark tournaments in the US commenced after the publication of Jaws, and author Peter Benchley came to decry that impact of his book.)

So the symbolism of these tournaments outweighs their statistical impact, and indeed, has relevance beyond the slaughter of sharks. They send a message regarding our relationship to all animal life: It's okay to kill for fun. It's the 21st century; we know better.







Oak Bluffs tiger shark 2005  184x265

A once-beautiful tiger shark
caught, killed, then thrown away
in a Martha's Vineyard
"Monster Shark Tournament."
 
Comments:
"Shark News": a good name for a tabloid newspaper!
 
Just as the "Chinese people" "erroneously believe" that shark fins are aphrodisiacal, so "American people" "erroneously believe" that buying Prius's, signing up for carbon credits to offset their iPod usage and campaigning against shark tournaments absolves them of responsibility for being the creators of the single biggest engine of eco-destruction the world has seen: the American economy. We all have our romantic myths. Yes, even us white people.
 
Sorry, 3:16, have you been watching China lately...they're going to make the American economy look like small potatoes when it comes to eco-destruction...and they're not buying Prius's, signing up for carbon credits for their iPods or campaigning against shark tournaments and slaughter.

lmpaulsen
 
Worse yet, that tiger shark was taken off Martha's Vineyard. Had he lived, he might have showed down on a Red Sox fan or two.

That would be worth some carbon credits. Many.
 
not like you to have spelling error....no coffee this morning?
 
oops. that would be A spelling error. :-)
 
Do the sharks at Harvard have fins? and are they afrodisiac?
 
Are we still playing Standing Eagle's parlour game of June 8, 9:53 a.m.? This may in fact be the first entry. To make it even slightly difficult:

A specific day in the second half of September, 1899
 
3:16, your mom is a romantic myth.
 
12:09 : your mom is good. really good.
 
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Name: Richard Bradley
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