Posted by Maddie Dugan on April 25, 2002 at 16:35:07:
In Reply to: Shark Slaughter posted by Disgusted on April 25, 2002 at 06:57:27:
: The 12 ft long hammerhead shark that has been cruising the harbour for the last few months will be seen no more, thanks to the appalling actions of Mario Grant.
: The shark was hooked up 'for fun' by a thoughtless tourist and landed on the boat ramp by Valentines. This beautiful, graceful, and endangered fish was then shot in the head with a 12 gauge shotgun by Mario. When the once magestic shark was cut open she was found to be heavily pregnant. Inside her were 31 perfectly formed baby hammerheads with no more than a week to go until they would have been born.
: Thanks to the incredible ignorance of this man I will never again have the pleasure of seeing this shark swim around the marinas eating the fish carcasses discarded by the visiting sport-fishermen, and thanks to him I will never get to see her babies grow and develop.
: What a sight the lucky tourists witnessed - a barbarian needlessly slaughtering a rare and beautiful endangered creature.
As a scuba diver and avid sport fisherman, I have mixed feelings about the demise of the hammerhead shark.
It is a shame to see any sea creature killed if it is not going to be eaten, but as someone who was anchored in the cut on the south end of the Island bottom fishing last spring and had a hammerhead shark as long as our boat come up to the surface within inches of the boat, I am relieved that it is gone. I don't think it was killed senslessly as there will be more to take it's place and at least the shores are safe again for fishermen and swimmers alike. We too had terrible fishing in the Harbour this year and I can only hope that things will improve now.
I also think that the huge bonefish muds that we saw right off the government dock this spring were caused by the bonefish trying to hide from this shark; and now they too can rest easier. Don't be so hard on Mario.