15.5 foot Tiger Shark caught in Queensland’s Shark Control Program

Surfers’ relief as monster tiger shark caught off Yaroomba

 
By Peter Hall, The Courier-Mail,
January 11, 2013

A MONSTER tiger shark that has been spooking surfers on the Sunshine Coast has been caught a few hundred metres from shore.

The 4.72m giant was reeled in from a drumline off Yaroomba near Coolum Beach.

Shark catcher Paddy Dimond, doing his rounds yesterday morning as part of the State Government’s Shark Control Program, said it was the largest shark he had caught in the region in his five years in the job.

Mr Dimond and deckhand Lachlan Tuckwell could not drag the 500kg-plus creature aboard.

He said the pregnant female was believed to be the same shark that had sent boardriders racing to shore after recent sightings. “This is the biggest shark I’ve seen up here. It is probably the one local surfers have been talking about.”

The tiger was destroyed, measured and dragged 5km offshore. As guidelines dictate, it had its stomach contents examined, revealing several baby sharks.

Fisheries Queensland’s Shark Control Program manager Jeff Krause said it reaffirmed the need for drumlines and netting.

Source: couriermail.com.au

UPDATE 12. January 2013

Photo credit goes to Glenn Barnes

50 Comments

  1. S.Stern

    pregnant and they STILL killed her???  what the heck is wrong with people!

  2. Avril

    That is DISGUSTING.  Sharks should be protected not killed!!! 

    • Bec

      This is terrible we have no right to do this to these wonderful creatures, the ocean is their home they don’t come up on land and kill us because we enter their water and kill them. Also do we go around Killing each other because one of us could possibly be a killer the answer to that is NO!! We have no right and without our sharks our oceans its creatures and us are in big trouble wake up people!!!!
      http://www.facebook.com/fullreelfilm

  3. Sharon Roberts

    Paddy Dimwit more like.

  4. katchou

    Completely inhuman!!!!!! Sharks are home in seas and oceans, and some human beings dare to feel home there too… These people have no right to decide where sharks can swim, nobody has this right!!!!!!! SHARKS DESERVE AND NEED TO BE PROTECTED, DEAR IGNORAMUSES! (^^^)

  5. Cat

    These sharks are being hunted to extinction – it takes many years for a shark to reach breeding status. Human beings disgust me. If it must have been killed why wasn’t it used for food – what a complete waste of a life of a valuable apex predator. The oceans are on the brink of collapse & this is what people do, we do deserve this planet we live on.

  6. Congratulations Queensland! You destroyed a beautiful shark for no other reason that the fact that it was big. Nice way to promote your area!

  7. karen

    Cant believe this pregnant shark was killed, what a brutal waste of a magnificant creature stay out of the sea if you dont want to cross paths with them, its their home not ours!!! 

    • Paul of Honolulu

      I couldn’t AGREE WITH YOU MORE!!! THEY ARE MURDERERS……NOT THE SHARKS IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT!!!! DO YOU REALIZE THE SIZE OF THIS TIGER SHARK IS ALMOST 18 FEET ….WHICH ALMOST BREAKS A RECORD FOR LARGEST TIGER SHARK EVER FOUND?!! AND SHE’S PREGNANT TOO!! AND THEY KILL HER PREGNANT!!!!! STAY OUT OF THE WATER 200 LONG LONG YARDS OUT TO SEA….SCREW YOUR SURFBOARDS!!!!!! LIKE YOU SAID, “ITS “THEIR” NATURAL HABITAT, NOT FREAKING OURS, YET THEY’RE KILLING THEM BECAUSE THEY LIVE IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT AND ARE ALMOST EXTINCT FROM THE  BRUTAL SHARK FINING MASSACRES OF CLOSE TO 100 MILLION SHARKS A YEAR, EVERY DAMM YEAR.!!!!!! THIS IS THE BY FAR, ABSOLUTE BIGGEST ALLOWED MASSACRE OF ANY LIVING CREATURE ON THIS PLANET EARTH AND ALL OF THE GOVERNMENTS HAVE BEEN ALLOWING THIS BUTCHERY FOR WAY WAY TOO LONG NOW, WAY WAY TOO LONG NOW!!! WE MUST UNITE WITH THE SHARK SAVING PROGRAM PEOPLE AND MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD “LOUD AND CLEAR”!!!! i WILL START THE PAPERWORK IF YOU AND OTHERS ON THIS PAGE WILL JOIN ME ON THIS?!!!!

  8. Angel

    “Fisheries Queensland’s Shark Control Program manager Jeff Krause said it reaffirmed the need for drumlines and netting.”
    This is the most stupid thing I have heard.
    To justify the kill and to keep their jobs, people became mindless killers.
    As most of you said, mankind is not going anywhere. It is not evolving for better but worse. There is something wrong with some of us…

  9. Mark

    Email: callweb@daff.qld.gov.au. Attention all. Please feel free to email your disgust to the Queensland’s government dept of Agriculture fisheries and forestry. These are the men and women behind these short minded policies. We have seen two stories posted in as many days about a “kill to protect” policy. I’m as baffled as the rest of you on this. I’m curious to who proposes these policies and in turn makes them into practice. I would guess that it’s fear driven but more importantly money driven. Surfers around the world perform their sport with the thoughts of what’s under them in the water. I have yet to read an article or seen a video of surfers rising up to say, kill the sharks. The article seems to imply that the surfers somehow welcomed the catch. I doubt that’s the case. This is politically driven and it’s about time these politicians, whoever they are, start to hear from us en masse on our true disgust. There are better ways. The easy road is to kill the shark(s) but that is no longer acceptable or to be tolerated. 

  10. Angel

    Mark; I agree with you %100 with every word.
    The reason I did not write the details and thoughts you put was the general approach from the readers of this wonderful web site. Since you brought it up, I want to add a different discussion to the problem.
    If you read all the comments, most of the people who actively comment on any subject are almost the same. I look at the articale view numbers, which are hundreds but opinions wrtten is mostly 1-2 in some cases 20(very few). So most of the readers does not take the time to write thier opinions for us to better understand what actually everyone thinks. That is important for me personally because discussions brings better ideas, brain storms and the feeling of not being alone. It is good to know that there are other people who cares as well. This type of a detailed and broad range web site(thanks to Helmut) can be an enormous power of lobbying. I think we, all together should do it.
    We need to be herad all around the globe so that people with ideas can join in. This is true for prootection efforts, scientific knowledge share and localization. We have member all around the world that may be a huge source of local information. They speak native language of their country and know the local traditions better than any one of us.
    For example, I am %100 sure we have members, that are Australian, surfer and wants to protect the oceans. Who can be more resourceful than him or her ?
    We need this gathering.
    What do you think ?

    • Mark

      Angel your passion definitely shines through in your words. I am very new to this site and have just started posting comments a few weeks ago. I can’t respond to numbers of the “repeat” commentators. I would suggest that most people are conservative in nature so posting their opinions at first might not be why they came to this site. At the same time when we are discussing human life and shark life it should and will invoke a very passionate response. I don’t want to go down the road of name calling and the sharks are more important or valuable than humans. The old saying, “the road less travelled…” is what I’m getting at.  I completely understand where Kevin is coming from on his post, however I dissagree with it completely. So how do we increase the number of people into this dialogue?  That’s a great question. I’m landlocked in Kansas and almost everyone I know thinks sharks are mindless killers. Why wouldn’t they?  I educate who I can but it’s just not anything people care about around here. Our journey is new and full of obstacles and preconceived notions determined by movies and folklore. Dr. Erich Ritter recently went to a shark fishing tournament to protest and was ridiculed. He’s one of us and one of the best and brightest. I’m willing to try anything that’s legal and responsible. I try like hell to make shark fans out of anyone who will listen.  Many props to el gee and Paul, I completely agree with both of you. 

  11. Kevin

    The posters on here saying they should not have killed that shark have something wrong with their brains – for real!  That shark was a “problem shark” – a repeat menace that kept returning to near-shore areas full of people. It was HUNTING people, you knuckleheads! 

    While I do not favor hunting sharks for sport or killing them for their fins, problem sharks that act aggressively towards people must be killed. Peoples’ safety before sharks! I can’t believe I even had to say that. 

    My God, people!

    • el-gee

      Hi Kevin, I understand your point of view and I believe you show maturity and intelligence when you separate this culling from the mass shark finning around the World. These are indeed two totally separate matters. Indeed, although I am a big shark defender, scuba diver, holiday shark-watcher and (non-professional) conservationist, I don’t think histerical “save-the-shark-who-gives-a-damn-about-the-people” posts in here help our cause. I’m more in line with rational people like Angel and Paul, for example, and it is their opinion that I would like you to focus on.
      You see, Kevin, that tiger shark was not a bigger threat to humans that any other of thousands of tiger, bull, and great whites that are around our beaches constantly. My point, and of some other people here, is that you don’t solve the problem of shark/human cohabitation by killing the sharks. You kill this one, then more will come. This is not a “problem shark”. There ARE NO “problem sharks”. There are no man-eaters. That’s in fiction, in “Jaws”. All there is is big sharks out there, who MAY attack a peson who, at that person’s own risk, goes to the water. I think that we shouldn’t kill an endagendered species just based on suspicion, I think we should rahter advise people to be careful when going into predator habitat, just like the masais are careful of lions in the African savannah, or Indian tea planters of tigers, etc.

      • Kevin

        el-gee, I appreciate the tone of your response. But even though like you, I consider myself a shark conservationist – we still disagree on a couple of points.

        First, that tiger shark that they killed was not the same as every other tiger, bull or white shark. By witness testimony, it is believed to be the same shark that had repeatedly chased surfers from the water on previous occasions. So it was hunting the same, human-filled beach over-and-over, which made it a “problem shark.”

        Second, “problem sharks” DO sometimes exist, though how often I honestly don’t know. I suspect not too often though. But I have no doubt at all that sometimes a large shark – generally confined to adult tiger and white sharks, will return to the same area year after year, and sometimes at much shorter frequencies, to hunt the same area. And sometimes that same area is a spot frequented by swimmers and surfers. One dead giveaway for such a spot is an increase in missing persons at sea there. In some cases such sharks have been hunted AND CAUGHT, and the attacks stopped, and the missing persons greatly reduced.

        By-and-large, I do not think culling is an effective or moral solution to reduce shark attacks on people, but when it becomes apparent that a particular animal is targeting one beach area, or is targeting people, then ABSOLUTELY that shark must be killed, as soon as possible.  

        • Angel

          It is normal to disagree on points and details.
          Sometimes we mean the same thing but use different language skills and words to mean similar things.
          There are some points I want to highlight.
          1- Most of the general public have no problem with sharks being killed.
          2- Even ocean goers that claims the nature protection and respect for ocean kills sharks (like fisherman, sport fhishing community, shark tournements)
          3- There have been horrible attacks in the past especially in South Africa and Australia repeatidly.
          4- The movie “Jaws” was the worst thing that happened to shark. People think that there are real Jaws type of sharks around the beaches. I clearly remember the times when movie was shown first, virtually nobody was swimming for weeks.
          5- Shark finning is what will drive the sharks to extinction, not beach protection and control systems. Dealing with shark finning issue is so hard but better shark control practice can be implemented.
          6- People mostly have no idea what sharks mean to the Oceans.
          7- People only protect what they love, we only love what we know and we only know what we are tought.(great words). We are not teaching shark protection, ocean conservation to anyone.
          8- This is a long journey. Nothing will happen over night. Being histerical makes you depressed and gives you a lot of enemies. You have to stay calm as much as you can. 9- Even the so called protecting nations kills sharks under the name of shark control programs.
          10- Politicians does not care about sharks at all. With a few exceptions, they are in favor of any type of shark killing. Fishing industry in general is a good vote source for politicians and they do not want to mess with them. 11- Most of the less develop nations can make better differences about sharks than the developped ones. 12- Protecting sharks and the ocean does not mean that the protector has to be a vegan or a wierdo 🙂 13- This is never a competetion between the sharks liffe and human life. This is a try to make it better for both at the same time. No one gets killed, no shark is killed without a legitimate reason. That legitimate reason is the major point of discussion. If we kill a shark becasue some people like to swim or surf safe at that particular time, we need a balance between fun and killing. 14-
          Shark protection and control systems, kill more animals than sharks only. They are a killing machine for marine life.
          15- We need more government investment on science to keep sharks away from the beaches without killing them. The money spent on killing under the name of protection is tens of million USD per year. If that money is spend to deter sharks from the beaches research, we should have working results decedes ago. 16- Tagging and realtime following GWS may work temporaliry for protection. 17- Real deal will be an eloctronically deterring sharks from public beaches without killing them. This way we can protect both the species and the human life. Any incidents out of these protected areas should not result in killing the shark.

          • Kevin

            Angel, you wrote a lot – too much for me to respond to now as I have very limited time presently. But I wanted to mention quickly that repelling large sharks with electrical current has been, and continues to be tried, with mixed results. Magnetic fields is another area they are looking at for possible shark repelling with mixed results so far. 

            But NOTHING works with regular, reliable continued results yet. My point is, sometimes, just sometimes, the idea of protecting both sharks and humans is a fantasy. I truly hope someday it becomes a reality.

        • el-gee

          Under the assumption that a given shark is a maneater (like the lions of Tsavo) and that he presents a threat to human life because of being a maneater and not just because he is a shark who made the unlucky decision to go hunting seals on a surf beach, I agree with you that all should be done to remove the animal from the beach, eventually maybe fishing it. Although I see Angel’s point on ideally wanting a win-win, I do consider Human life prioritary over shark life. Where however we have to be very careful (and there Angel raises very good points) is with the fact that most people on the street, as well as most politicians, will have little qualm in tagging a shark as a “maneater”, and therefore in authorizing its culling. You see, it is much easier to be ignorant, play safe, and cull that shark, than to give it the benefit of doubt, prove he is indeed dangerous, and then act. For this reason, I am against culling of sharks, except in exceptional circumstances. In this particular case of this tiger shark, was he one of those rare maneaters? Or was he just swimming too close for comfort? Of course he “chased” surfers out of the water – just by being there! Everyone leaves the water when a tiger shark passes by. What I question is the decision-making process that led whichever experts to determine that this particular shark (as opposed to all others who hang around the area several months per year) was a bigger threat to Humans than all others.

          • Kevin

            el-gee, in this particular case, we’ll likely never know for sure what the motives of that tiger shark were. In fact, I’d say in the VAST MAJORITY of cases like this, we won’t know for sure what the shark’s motives are! But we must make as best an estimation as possible – as intelligent as possible, and make a decision, when peoples’ lives are at risk. 

            Will we always get it right? Of course not! But it’s up to all of us to try and make sure we get it right as much as possible. 

            In this case, I still maintain that the tiger shark they killed may have been more of a problem than you think. Tiger sharks are shallow water cruisers – but mostly AT NIGHT. During the day they tend to stay further offshore, unless they are specifically hunting something in the shallows at the time. This shark was in the shallows among surfers during the daytime, several days on end – not necessarily the actions of your typical tiger shark. 

            It seems we both agree that deciding to cull sharks somewhere without much thought or for convenience or for political showmanship is NOT what we should support at all. I know I don’t support that. But at the same time, when peoples’ lives are at stake and it appears, through the available evidence, that a shark truly is, or is LIKELY to be a “problem shark,” then that shark must be fished/killed without hesitation. 

            To put it as simply as I know how… Protect the sharks whenever possible, because they are crucial to the oceans and they are worthy of our respect and protection. But NEVER put sharks before people.

        • Kevin, you state that this Tiger Shark has been in the area for days and therefore is a danger to the surfers. I’ve been diving with and observing sharks for the last 12 years and the one thing I noticed is that if a shark wants to attack something, it will not wait for days and swim around openly. Sharks are ambush predators and don’t tend to mingle with their prey. The mere fact that the shark has been around for days without attacking tends to make it less dangerous. We have a saying when shark diving. It’s not the shark you see that you have to worry about, it’s the one you don’t see.

          • Angel

            That is my experience as well Martin.
            Diving with sharks for over 25 years thought me one thing. If a sharks decides to attack and show preditory behavior, you can not stop it and you can not see it.
            The attacking shark becomes almost invisible under water and the speed of the attack is undedectable.
            So if a shark is surfing around swimmers, it is very hard to think that it has an attack potential.
            For Kevin:
            I am not talking about individual devices that divers and surfers use.
            I am talking about a magnatic field deterrent for the whole beach using one device. Actually there has been some experiments that works on dolphins and whales. I do not know if it is tested against sharks. (navy(. But with all technology we have, with enough funding, I am sure positive results can be achieved. Meantime, until somebody hears it out, we need to try to make sure that no human or shark gets killed for no reason.
            Nature has its ways to balance things out and I doubt mother earth kept the sharks alive for 200 million years for humans to wipe them out from the face of the earth in 50 years. We all have a responsibility to make sure that they stay on board for the future of the earth. You may save 1 life by killing a shark today but if sharks become extinct you are risking millions of lifes if not billions. Everyone needs to understand the balance sharks bring into our oceans thus the worlds eco system. So we better move before it is already too late.

          • Kevin

            Martin, this is an excellent point, and I appreciate you bringing it up. I had simply not considered this before. I may have to rethink my position that this tiger shark was deliberately stalking humans at that beach. 

            But here’s the thing: It WAS still coming into shallow water within close proximity of many people, day after day, and was not responding to attempts to make it go away. So the choice was to either wait to see what it would do (a real risk – esp. given the spate of recent shark attacks in Australia), or take the action that they did. My understanding is that they can not FORCE people to stay out of the water there (I live in the U.S.). 

            So given THOSE facts, even if the shark may not have been stalking people for sure, I would still have made the same decision that the authorities made in that case. 

            Tell me where my logic is wrong.

    • Bender

      You’re a fucking moron

  12. Andrea

    I can’t believe it! Feeling so sad!!! And they are proud of what they have done – killing not only one shark – NO!!!! – a whole new generation. I don’t wanna think about it anymore. Men are so stupid!!!!

  13. Paul

    Lets face it, most politicians don’t really know or care what the masses want or need. All they care about is power and money and its these two things that will be the end of us as a race. Our meteor is power and greed and they will one day finish us.
    I agree that we (like minded people that actually care) need to be heard more and more and I see this happening all over. Social media is the weapon at our disposal currently and we need to use it more to spread the word. Once enough people with the same views to change get together, further action can be taken to convince those in power that we won’t stand for it.
    I’ve been a protector of sharks my whole life. Most life on earth is fragile and we seem to take that for granted. Sharks want to eat us, that’s all the general public see and believe, so of course its an easy target to just kill one. Not realising that without sharks our world could well crumble without them policing the seas for us.
    I agree totally that NO surfer would warrant the murder of a shark. We all know the risk when we enter the water, its their playground. I surf & Kayak but understand it has some risk attached. I’m happy with that risk… Leave the animals in the sea alone.

  14. Rah

    THIS IS DISGUSTING!!!!!! There is only one word for the people who conduct this barbaric, human centred, unnatural bullshit and that my friends is WANKERS!!!!

    • Kevin

      What, we should do “shark centered” things first, at the risk of human lives? 

      Who ARE you people??

      • Angel

        The people who want to protect the human life and the sharks life at the same time.
        If killing was a solution to the shark attack problem South Africa and Australia with long decades of shurk cull for Great Whites should have sloved this problem. But they did not, did they ?
        They had nets, drum lines, professionals making their living by killing sharks in both of these Countries. What is the result. ? Unfortunately dispite all the efforts, they lost more people to sharks than any nation.
        I do not mention all other sea life, like turtles and mamals like dolphins they killed in thousands during this practice.
        We are those people who is trying to find ways to find other solutions than killing the shark while protecting swimmers.?
        Are we asking too much ?

      • Bender

        again…Kevin is another fucking moron…small-minded cunt

  15. Angel

    Great post Paul, you said it all.
    Anyone using the ocean should know and bare the risks that is involved.
    Tiger sharks are shallow water species. They usually fool arond surfs and mostly sandy buttom shallow ocean. What do these people expect her to do ? Change her nature so that the beachgoers feel better ? She has no where to go or live in, other than the ocean. And we kill her for what ? Just because she is doing what she is created for.
    This has to change, the politicians have to change. They should be there to protect the future for next generations to come, not to destroy the future.

  16. Susan

    So sad. We have a shark spotters program in Cape Town in South Africa where we get out of the water if the sharks are around.

  17. Mark

    What is the entitlement of our swimming or else in the ocean?  Money dictates that it’s important for tourists or local to swim so that’s the driving force behind these “protection” policies. Everyone posting here seems to be balancing human and shark life in their opinions. I’m new here so I don’t want to assume anything. Your experience with dives and wealth of knowledge is impressive.  I can’t get past the fact that shark attacks would be to the point of no one entering the water if we were a food source. They would eat us up.   What becomes the determination of a “hostile” shark?  I’m getting the feeling that the policy makers are not necessarily shark fans or even educated in the slightest to shark behavior. It seems reasonable to me that we can save human and shark life at the same time…hard,hard work but very possible. I’m pretty damn motivated. 

  18. Mark

    Kevin in response to your 4:51 post.. I still can’t figure our entitlement to swim or surf in the water. If the shark was on the shore attacking people I would understand but that’s not the case. We as humans have a mindset of “this is our planet”. I don’t want a swim at your own risk policy that sees loss of human life but maybe there are circumstances of stay the heck out of the water. Let’s say a family makes their money and lively hood on the ocean. If a large shark puts their ways to support themselves at risk we begin to put a value on life. We are playing God to some degree. The almighty dollar shouldn’t have anything to do with policy of life. That third GWS shark caught in Taiwan fetched a measly 3400 USD at the market. 

    • Kevin

      Mark, you bring up some great questions that point to a much larger, but important group of issues, and I’m not qualified to solve them in any meaningful way. I can only give you my personal opinions on some of them. 

      The way I see it, I tend to agree with you that killing sharks or other animals should not be the “go to” solution when money or peoples’ livelihoods are being threatened. Life should always trump money – at least in a perfect world. But I also think we have to be careful with such statements in that to some people in certain circumstances, even a small loss of income could mean no food on their table for their kids, or losing their roof over their heads for their families, and if no other solution is at hand for them, then killing a shark might not seem so out of line to them at the time. I’m talking about EMPATHY… not for sharks, but for other people. Good people have it, sociopaths do not. 

      But again, short of that kind of extreme situation, I do NOT favor killing a shark for profit sake, which is why in many countries they have things like protected species lists for threatened animals. 

      As for the “this is our planet” mindset, I don’t see this as relevant to the issue. It’s not ANYONE’S planet. The issue is, do we protect other human life when its in our power to do so? To me, the answer is simply “yes.” That does not mean we don’t prosecute people when they break the rules and put other people and life in danger by their own stupidity or arrogance, but you DON’T protect the life of a shark at the risk of killing a person. That seems do damn basic to me… but maybe I’m the crazy one!

      • Bender

        Sharks don’t control the human population by taking out our pregnant mothers….Kevin, you’re argument is about as ridiculous as the gun owners here in America needing a 23 round clip chamber and a automatic assault rifle to kill a fucking deer.

  19. Angel

    No Kevin, you are not the crazy one. Actually you think like over 90% of the world.
    The problem is, that 90% of the world are the ones who brought almost all the problems we have today to the world as well.
    Thinking they should have everything. A better job, a better car, a better house, a better of everything. Lets see what results we achived so far ?
    The better climate we call “Global Warming”
    The better economic systems that makes 90% of the world born in debt even before they see the first light of their life.
    They used to have slaves materially, now they have slaves economically.
    They killed the whales for over 100 years for the same economic reason.
    It is sharks now, it was minks for fur and it will be god knows what for satisfiying that “Me” , “Mine” and “Should be mine” ego.
    That same 90% thinks they are above the law of creation.
    They start wars for money at the end defined by many excuses.
    The sharks are the tip of the iceberg. But it is just another being on the lsit that means nothing to that 90%.
    Humanity is weird. They spend millions to protect selfish swimmer that can not stay out of water for a few hours until the shark gets away when that millions can feed children die out of hunger in some part of the world.
    It is their money, they can spend it where ever but also they forget to tell who invented and used that money for power ! Power over other humans.
    The mind that can easily outpower a human can think what about a creature like a shark ?
    Who gave the humanity these great ideas of being superior ?
    Well this was defined through the history of the world. From relogion to kings, you may name it. What was all of it for ?
    Power and wealth.
    Never satisfied twins of human ego.
    Kill a shark, kill another… until there is none left in your sight to kill.
    But don’t woryy, that 90% will find other things and lifes to destroy.
    And they will do and say anything to justify that mindset.
    They think they have a god given right for it.
    Just like to old kings used to say. “It is my divine right to be the king”
    Now we have more kings than ever and they all think the same way…

    • Kevin

      Angel, people have a God-given right to Liberty and Freedom, nothing more. It is up to them to act responsibly enough to maintain that freedom in perpetuity, and people do not have a perfect record of doing so. It’s an awkward, clumsy learning process, but we’re getting there. 

      Our survival and ability to do MORE than merely survive – but to THRIVE, requires the use and management of resources, which would include the hunting of other animals, of commerce and of barter, trade and the desire for profit. The capitalistic system, though far from perfect, has proven far better and more moral than any other the planet has yet seen. It has given those who use it a higher standard of living than any other people on Earth, among other things. 

      But too many individuals are short sighted and go for the quick profit at the expense of the long term goals. The same can be said of many laws. THIS is the biggest threat to ANY resource, and is a constant battle in almost every economic and legal system of human beings. 

      None of what I just wrote changes my previously stated positions. 

  20. Angel

    It is clear that to “Thrive” means different to us.
    I am not arguing the monetory systems.. Nothing close.
    I am arguing the power mankind thinks it has to outpower other beings using the systems.
    The god given freedom and liberty is a utopia. All they want you to think that you are free. Some of us actually buys it others may have a different perspective of freedom.
    That freedom you mentioned is not the free will to kill a shark for example.
    We all have one world to live in. Like the shark, which has nowhere else to go but still gets killed, some of us feel the same way, when others kill that shark. This not anybody’s planet. Nobody owns it. It is ours, all of us should have a god given right to live in it. What about the shark ? Who owns him ?
    The fisherman that hunts for it ?
    The politician that delivers the kill order ?
    The restaurant owner who serves the fin soup ?
    The customer who eats the soup ?
    Whatever government has the shark in its terratory ?
    The surfer who want to do it safe ? The people who wants to swim ?
    The beach owner who wants to make money ?
    The clothing shop which wants to sell ?
    One god created shark… toooo many owners and benefiters…
    It seems like the shark has multiple enemies. The funny thing is all of them are human. Not one single natural enemy !!!
    Name me one thing, just one. that humanity is not an enemy of. Including itself !!!
    So tell me, where should we go ? Whom we should talk to ? Do you think your or my better house or car or job or my money, whatever we own and earned can protect us ? Or our loved ones for instance ?
    We are like the shark..
    Who owns us ?, just keep asking the same questions that are good for the shark.. Add 200 more potential owners and benefiters to the list…
    We are here to learn and be better beings, people, on this planet…
    Not to kill and destory under any given excuse.. When you project an excuse, please keep in mind that the same excuse applies for your own destruction. Please try to see. Everything is connected !!

  21. Mark

    We have reached such a deep psychological point. I agree with Kevin in that God has granted us the right of liberty and freedom. If we are a good people we will eventually propose and inact good policies for all. I want to compare it to native American Indians.  They hunted the land with necessity to feed their families while showing a great respect for nature.  I dont believe that a 15.5 tiger shark should be removed so someone can surf. There is,undoubtably, no standard for “our” interactions in the water.  I keep referring to “human entitlement” in the water. I’m not referring to livelihood, but rather sport. We wouldn’t tolerate other humans intruding on us. I can’t imagine that an increase in debate and conversation wouldn’t  lead to something better than drum lines and indiscrimate killings.  I see it as a value in life. As humans we will always view human life as greatest. Right or wrong…I don’t know. 

  22. Angel

    As humans, we respect the human life as greatest.
    Do we actually ?
    If we respect the human life greatest, we don’t kill the shark. Because, the surfer or swimmer as we, respect their life the greatest and do not get into water when that shark is around for the respect to others and nature. For the future respect to new comers.
    What do we do instead ? Kill the shark. Kill the bear, Kill the wolf.
    We respect only our lifes as a race. Either our way of life or our own life.
    The indians did not get much respect as humans from us did they ?
    It is easy to talk about their good will and respect to nature today, after they are wiped out as humans. That is how much respect we have for other humans when we have a conflict of interest.
    The surfer and swimmer has a conflict of interest with the shark. There, all our respect for nature vanishes.
    This is not a race problem, nothing to do with Americans or Indians or any other nation or race. This is to do with human mind set. Those indians were much more advanced in earth sciences from us. I mean the respect and the knowledge of everything is connected. But it did not help them…
    As we speak, our troops are indiside of several hot zones getting killed or killing. Not a good way to show our deepest respect for humanity, I guess.
    This is an endless conversation. In general I want to make sure that all of us understand the fact that we are not politicians. Some of us believe what they are saying, some of us just want the see through the curtain they put infront of our eyes. It is not so hard to see to which direction this planet is moving to in terms of exploatation of resouces in all areas. Including humans we so much respect for. This has nothing to do with capitalism or democracy or where you live. These are not end results of industry. This is pure human greed and ego.
    That is why this shark is dead, that is why our rivers are polluted, our oceans are dying, reefs are bleeching. To fight it just respect for nature is not enough. We have the indians example.(we have tens of similar examples around the world) Education is not enough…, learning history and getting lessons are not enough…
    I suggest you to watch Captain Cousteu from 70’s when we started to explore the oceans for general public. It may help for enlightment…

  23. Mark

    Angel I’m not suggesting that the Indian way of respect of all life died or went away with them. I suggest that their overwhelming respect for life is a nice starting point for policy when it comes to these “kill to protect” policies. I’m personally sick of the almighty dollar being the driving force of policy and regulation.  For some reason humans have a poor ability to equate life to monetary value. Policy makers almost inevitably side on the wrong side of the argument, as far as I’m concerned.  A few years back we had a young boy attacked by a leopard at our zoo. There were actually talks of euthanizing the cat!!  How these people never consider personal responsibility of the parents or guardians or of the child to jump a guard rail and move to the cage is beyond me.  If I take my surfboard to seal island, I would do so at my own risk. In fact, I should be barred from doing so because the likely hood of an attack is too great. As our frustration continues to mount I wish I had some great epiphany.  I respect your opinions greatly and hopefully we will be commenting on some more positive stories soon. 

    • Angel

      CHIEF SEATTLE’S LETTER

      “The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

      Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

      We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.

      The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father.

      The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.

      If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.

      Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.

      This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

      One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.

      Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.

      When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?

      We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.

      As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.

      One thing we know – there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We ARE all brothers after all.”

  24. Bender

    Absolutely the wrong action. This is not how we should do things. Appalling.

  25. Angel

    Thanks Mark,
    I am so frustrated with all of these idiot things people do everyday.
    Actually tired of politicians and their endless bedtime stories as well.
    Talk but do nothing kind of people…
    It is like the song,”
    We have just one world but we live in different worlds… “

  26. PAUL

    : THANK YOU VERY MUCH MARK…FOR THE LINK YOU LEFT FOR CONTACTING THE MEN IN THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT THAT ARE 100% RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS “BUTCHERY” “BARBARIC BUTCHER SHOP” OF INNOCENT SHARKS JUST SWIMMING IN THEIR “O-W-N” HABITAT…..”N-O-T O-U-R-S” AND BEING SAVAGELY BUTCHERED AND MASSACRED FOR IT”!!!! THANK YOU MARK…..I “A-M” CONTACTING THEM AND PLEASE OTHERS….PLEASE DO THE SAME SO MAYBE WE CAN HELP IN TRYING TO GET THEM TO STOP THIS MASSACRE BEFORE ITS TOO LATE AND THE SHARMS BECOME EXTINCT “FOR REAL”!!!! 80,000,000 ARE BUTCHERED AND FINS ALL CUT OFF AND THEM ALIVE UNABLE TO SWIM…GET THROWN RIGHT BACK INTO THE SEA TO DEFENSELESSLY GET EATEN ALINE LITERALLY……BE EVERY SINGLE LIVING CREATURE IN THE SEA….INCLUDING CRABS….LOBSTERS ETC. WHEN THE SHARKS BODIES HIT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN…..JUST PICTURE THIS HORRIBLE TYPE OF DEATH HAPPENING TO US……SLOWLY TOO…WHILE WE,RE STILL ALIVE….WITH NO ARMS OR LEGS TO DEFEND OURSELVES!!!! PEOPLE…..WE MUST UNITE TOGETHER AGAINST THIS BARBARISM FOR THEIR STUPID ASIAN BOWL OF SHARK FIN SOUP…..OUR WHOLE OCEANS ECO-SYSTEMS ARE RIGHT NOW BEING DESTROYED….DEMOLISHED…..FOR A $100 BOWL OF SHIT TASTING NO TASTE FIN SOUP JUST BECAUSE OF THICK HEADED ASIAN PRIDE!!!! THIS MUST STOP!!!!!!!! 

    • Mark

      I hope you do choose to write them Paul. We all have a passion here for this cause. I would caution to curb your passion in your email to be just constructive. You will get a response!  I was surprised to get one. As mad as I was to tell someone to f off or go to hell I took the high road because I feel that an honest open conversation will get us further than being painted as angry or crazy, by our “threatening” language.   I must admit that I’m more proud of shark conservation than anything else in my life. The USA is a fricking mess right now. Communities are in a wreck all over. But these sharks dont know, don’t care. It’s just life continuing to go on. I hate that we impede our will over theirs for the sake of a few dollars. 

  27. Deben

    I have had a lot of experience pulling in and releasing sharks all over the world and I have one simple rule “stay out of the water, including fresh waters” cause I know what’s down there. People either have the delusion that they are on top of the food chain or that the world has to be made safe for them. How egotistical, the world is fraught with danger and you cant go destroying everything you happen to feel threatened by. What a poor world it would be without such magnificent creatures that have inspired legends and which strikes fear in the hearts of men.    

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