Shark Smart Marinas!

The following is a post written by Captain Len Belcaro of the Big Game Fishing Journal magazine. If any of you have not heard Guy Harvey has teamed up with the likes of PEW and other organizations to encourage marinas to turn into Shark Free Marinas. Myself as many other recreational shark fisherman consider this to be yet another threat to one of our fisheries. Captain Len's idea of Shark Smart Marinas will encourage marinas and their customers to only keep what they will eat, promote good conservation tactics and promote respecting the sharks as gamefish.

I used to be a big fan of Guy Harvey, but this movement of his will only hurt recreational shark fisherman.


Shark smart marina

---

I would like to run this by you guys to get an idea what you think. In light of the push for Shark Free Marinas currently being made by Guy Harvey with the help of Sportfishing Magazine editor Doug Olander, AFTCO tackle, the Humane Society of the United States and the Pew Environmental Group, I believe we must counter this attempt to back door us with another fishery shutdown.
I believe that Guy Harvey has been misguided by Pew and HSUS and truly does not understand that the American shark fisherman is the most conservation minded fisherman in the country. His claims recreational shark fisherman kill 100's of thousands of shark is is completely untrue.

The Big Game Fishing Journal believes a movement must be created to counter this attempt to close down recreational shark fishing at a national level. The Journal would like to sponsor the SHARK SMART MARINA movement. To become a registered Smart Shark Marina you must agree that your marina shark fishing ideology is as follows:

1) Eat what you kill.
2) Practice good conservation tactics.
3) Respect the gamefish.

Marinas registering will receive a metal sign that says,

SHARK
SMART
MARINA
We Are
Pro Fishing

They will be listed, website and phone #, on our Shark Smart Marina page in every issue of the Journal.

I believe we need to nip this movement in the bud. Tell me what you think.

Len Belcaro
Big Game Fishing Journal