Fort Myers Beach Shark Tournament Now No-Kill

May 21, 2009

Release from: Ryan Hiraki
News-Press.com

Every shark caught at a local fishing tournament the first weekend of June will be released now that shark advocates and local officials voiced opposition to killing the fish.

Jack Donlan, director of Are You Man Enough? Shark Challenge 3 on June 6 and 7 at Fort Myers Beach, said he decided Wednesday to make the event a no-kill tournament after he learned this week how passionate advocates are about protecting sharks.

"I'm not passionate about killing sharks," Donlan said. "I was just putting on a fishing tournament. This was the best move for our tournament. It's going to expand our ability to put on a bigger event each and every year."

Lawrence Groch, founder of Shark Safe, a nonprofit shark advocacy group in Fort Myers, was leading a protest this weekend on the beach against the portion of the tournament that would award $1,000 for the heaviest shark brought to shore.

"We were going to have a protest," Groch said. "Now it's going to be a victory party."

This year was the first time a festival was scheduled with the tournament, in which live music, a fishing seminar for children, a boat show and a mechanical shark that people can ride are part of the event.

It attracted the attention of the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce, which voted this week to push for a no-kill

tournament; and Lee County commission Chairman Ray Judah, who said at Tuesday's meeting that killing sharks is barbaric and that he planned to bring up the tournament for discussion next week.

"Good news, huh?" Judah said Wednesday.

The commission actually would not have been able to stop the tournament since the fishing will take place in the Gulf of Mexico, west of Boca Grande. Anglers would have been subject to state laws that allow one shark per person per day, or two per boat per day.

Violations typically are second-degree misdemeanors that carry a $500 fine or a maximum 60 days in jail, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

That's a moot point now.

"This is the way of the future," Donlan said. "I don't think the bring-'em-back division was going to help us."