I saw the first few articles pop up about this, and I thought nothing of it, but since then, this guy, John Camp, has gotten hammered by every “animal activist” on the internet. Not that anyone even reads this website, but still… I gotta try to help a fellow fisherman.
First of all, Floridians love and respect sharks, and they have from the beginning. But now, all of a sudden, the whole nation has taken it upon themselves to be the protectors of sharks, much like they became guardians of Cecil the lion a while back.
Now lets start with the facts. http://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/sharks/
This gentlemen has done nothing illegal, so the accusations and calls for arrest are unfounded and ignorant. It takes 2 seconds to look this stuff up, c’mon.
Sharks are legally caught everyday along Florida coasts, along with tons of other types of fish, in fact, many of those sharks are harvested as food…. what?!? call PETA!! you ate a shark? Yep, and it’s perfectly legal… and when prepared carefully, shark meat is delicious.
But what about over-fishing? Yes, over fishing is an issue, but this is not caused by people catching sharks from the beach. That’s a whole different story that will most certainly pop up occasionally on this site.
There are many surf fisherman that specialize in catching sharks, and wildlife biologists utilize these fisherman by having them measure, tag, and log their catches. This information is used for shark studies around the world.
Here are a few articles that have surfaced recently:
http://www.fox4now.com/news/shark-fishing-video-goes-viral-raises-questions
and my personal favorite:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/24/man-bun-moron-wrestles-shark-for-selfie.html
“Man bun moron”? Are you kidding me!? I don’t read or follow “The Daily beast”, but apparently this particular marine biologist, oh wait sorry… this particular journalist from New York, James Joiner, really has no problem flaunting his ignorance as he masks it with petty name calling and stereotypes. He left out the whole “fishing” thing, which was obviously an attempt to make this story seem somewhat related to the recent story about the rare baby dolphin in Argentina that got selfie’d to death. The dolphin story is very sad, and has touched the heart strings of millions of americans, but its even more sad that the media is monetizing it this way… but then again, what else would they do? Tell honest, unbiased stories? Haha!!! Dont be silly.
Again, the blacktip shark was legally caught while fishing, and honestly, I would have taken a selfie too… Nice shark John!