PHILIPSBURG--A group of local shark fishermen claim they fish for sharks for the benefit of research by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Following an article that appeared in this paper in which St. Maarten Nature Foundation condemned shark-hunting, the shark fishermen came forward with their take on the situation. According to them, the sharks are caught, tagged and released back into the water.
However, St. Maarten Nature Foundation Manager Tadzio Bervoets points out that in the video that surfaced on video-sharing Website YouTube, the fish were not tagged and no tags were visible in the photographs.
The fishermen who responded to the article claimed they were not associated with the shark-hunters seen in the video, but rather were "representatives" of NOAA. "We as fishermen are anglers in the true sense of the word. We do not believe in killing apex predators," the group stated in a letter to this paper.
However, Bervoets noted that NOAA, as a U.S. organisation, did not have legal authority to tag animals in the Netherlands Antilles. He said the group needed to provide photos as proof that the sharks actually were being tagged. In the meantime, the fishermen have agreed to sit down with Nature Foundation to discuss regulating the practice of shark-fishing.
As the group noted, fishing is not illegal in St. Maarten, but Bervoets explained that it should be regulated for the protection of these animals and, moreover, fishing should be structured so that it does not become a hazard to the regular beach-goers.
Bervoets indicated that fishermen throughout the island had contacted the foundation since the article, stressing that they were not associated with the practice of shark-hunting as seen in the YouTube video and were willing to discuss regulations for the practice of shark-fishing.
The fishermen added in their letter: "We do not want to see our sport or sharks damaged by pollution, over-fishing or stupidity by individual anglers who seem to think everything ever caught has to be killed."
