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.”