Shark Hunter Tournament

[Dan Thiem]

Has anybody been watching this on the tube?

[Ralph Wiggum]

Watched it last night. It was awesome!

[mnsnowdaboy]

Nice to watch but can't they catch any other sharks other than blues and threashers. I like to see them catch a giant Mako or a Great white like jaws.....da dum...da dum...da dum...da dum da dum da dum da dum dadadaaaaaadum...

[Ralph Wiggum]

I saw them catch a 1200 pound Mako on Wednesday. They were like 10 minutes late for weigh-ins though I also saw a couple of Porbeagles.

[OUTDOORNUT]

I want to fish with Team Oz!!!!! They put Big fish in the boat and fast. My wife watched her first show last night and now she wants to watch the rest!

[Riverratpete]

Makes me wonder why I get so excited about a 20 inch wally? Love the show, spent some time out there while in the Nav..fishings great!

[FOOT]

Saw it for the first time last night.

My questions are:

1) How many sharks are they killing each tournament ?

2) What do they do with the sharks after they weight them, besides take pictures ?

3) Do they really have to kill the shark ?

Don't confuse me with a tree hugging PETA person. BUT I find wanton waste of any animal to be unacceptable and this sure looks like waste to me. I might have missed something since I only watched for about 10 minutes so if someone knows the answers to my questions I sure would appreciate an enlightenment.

[WxGuy]

From what the biologist guy said on the show, they keep around 80 of 1200 fish, and the rest are released. The biologists have them tag the sharks that are released, too. We only see the hook in the brain of fish that are kept, weighed, and then processed (I have no idea what they do with kept fish). Is shark good eatin'?

[hanson]

I think the show is awesome!

Makes bluegill fishing look like a joke!

Anyway, from what I understood, they have a team or research biologists at the weigh-in who are measuring, photographing, and dissecting every fish that is brought to the weigh in. They showed the biologists measuring and photographing many of the organs and other parts of the sharks. From what I gathered, there was alot of very useful scientific information gathered from the killing of a few of these animals. And like was previously mentioned, there are hundreds of sharks that are tagged and released to provide future information for the researchers.

If we want to talk about wanton waste, I think we need to look a little closer to home and fight the battles that we have here in our state such as gross overlimits, netting, and poaching in general. Just my 2 little cents.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Yup, I saw the biologists dissecting them, too, Hanson. You hit the nail on the head.

[WxGuy]

I'd love to see what comes out of the stomachs from some of those big guys...of course everything is probably well-digested fish, but there's probably the occasional piece of jewelry.

[Mr Special]

I watched it last night and they said the meat is donated to the homeless.

Yes, shark meat is good eats, so are their fins too.

Did anyone see the size of the gaft's that they use? Holly hana

[Chris Haley]

I'm pretty sure they are not wasted. Mako is great and the high class oriental cooking uses a lot of shark products.

[83walleye]

It's worth it. My 12 year old stays up past his bedtime some nights to watch the end of the show.

[mnsnowdaboy]

I hope they didn't kill a whole shark just to use their fins to make "Shark Fin Soup"....

[Chris Haley]

Here's an excerpt from a web site I found:

SHARK CUISINE

I have not yet dared talk about gastronomy in connection with the shark for I am French and the French are always fastidious on this subject, but it should be known that the shark is a highly sought-after food in Asia, where at least twenty-five classic ways of preparing it exist in Japan alone. In the Yucatan, fillet of young shark is one of the dishes most in demand by the descendants of the Aztecs, and dried salted shark is sold everywhere in Mexico. In the USA, the frozen fillets of white fish that are found in supermarkets under the name of "cod" or "swordfish" are very often actually shark. Nearer home, the popular British fish and chips very often consist of shark rather than true bony fish, and in particular of Porbeagle, which is very abundant, especially in the Irish Sea.

So it is not necessary to be in a life-and-death situation to feed on shark, and you may perhaps be happy to know a few basic preparation methods for the day when you wish to justify your catching a lovely shark to your ecologist admirers.

First of all you should know that not all sharks taste the same, and that the following six species are considered to be the tastiest: the Great White Shark, the Mako, the Porbeagle, the two kinds of thresher and the dogfish; after this come the Small Dusky and the hammerhead sharks. The flesh of the huge Basking Shark for instance is too flabby to be eaten. No shark is poisonous, however their livers are to be avoided, often being much too rich in vitamin A, although unlike those of the swordfish, they do not contain high concentrations of mercury.

Another elementary principle is to know that shark's flesh very quickly takes on an ammoniacal taste, and so it must be prepared and chilled as soon as possible after the animal is captured. It must be cleaned and gutted like any fish, the skin removed along with the dark flesh that is found just beneath it, and the fillets not cut too thick. The latter should be coated with flour and placed in the refrigerator for at least one night, again to avoid the taste of ammonia.

If you are on an island, an uninhabited coast, or an isolated boat, shark meat is ideal for smoking, but you will need to be patient: six to eight hours in a special oven at 115°C, 25 to 30 hours in the open, for fillets 3 centimetres thick which you will have salted and basted in margarine beforehand.

As for recipe details, I prefer to refer readers to the specialist works, although I will point out that this fish cannot be steamed or braised like many bony fish with a very delicate flavour. You should also be very generous with the green lemon, the onion, the garlic, the salt, the Cayenne pepper or chili powder, the paprika, the olive oil, etc.

The fins soaked in brine for two days and then dried are highly prized as raw material in oriental markets. When boiled, their cartilage releases a smooth gelatin which gives body and taste to soups. Note that for this preparation only the dorsal and pectoral fins are used.

And then, if you do not have the courage to prepare shark meat for yourself, you can always cut it into into big pieces with the skin still on, as it makes the best possible bait for crabs. You can also feed it to your cat or dog; it is one of the main food sources for domestic animals and livestock in many countries.

If dietetics will convince you, you will be happy to hear that shark meat contains 7% protein, very little cholesterol and is very nourishing.

Now the Dog fish they talk about is the Blue's that are caught in the tourney.

[FOOT]

WxGUY & HANSON, thanks for the info. I guess I didn't watch enough of the program to see the wildlife biologist.

It was just my initial reaction.

Hanson I would agree with you that we need to fight the battles here at home to stop the poaching etc: but there is no reason we can't weight in with our support in other states/countries as well.

[jig n' jerk]

The show is really cool to watch!! And yes shark is very good eating I caught a small atlantic shark( 50 lbs.) while I was in South Padre and it was very good. Has a very meaty texture. White flesh and stringy like chicken almost.

[fisherman]

..

[fisherman]

Quote:

---

I saw them catch a 1200 pound Mako on Wednesday. They were like 10 minutes late for weigh-ins though

I also saw a couple of Porbeagles.

---

I pretty sure that was a tiger shark not a mako, unless we are talking about different episodes. I was also thinking that it might be this shark on a previous thread. It was also a world record for a Tiger.

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB43&Number=601208&Forum=

[GottaGo]

I saw this show and thought it was pretty cool. As for what they do with the sharks they catch, according to the ESPN HSOforum:

"Known as the nation's most environmentally regulated shark competition, most sharks landed during the tournament are released. The sharks that are brought to the docks for weigh-in, are fully utilized, with shark steaks being donated to senior centers and food pantries and the non-consumable portions of the fish refined into organic fertilizer.

The landed sharks also provide scientific data for the Apex Predators Program, the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries, and the National Marine Fisheries Service"

[Ralph Wiggum]

Yes, I could be wrong. It may have been a tiger.

[Hibbing]

What Channel?

[Dan Thiem]

Discovery I think.

[wooly1]

Just to clarify. It was between 400-450 lb mako.

Also, it was on OLN, Outdoor Life Network