Shark fishermen and swimmers on the same beach?
Opinions? will PETA be protesting soon?
By: Pete Thomas,
Monday, March 11, 2013 11:05am PDT
Florida anglers liven up spring break by reeling sharks onto beach
GrindTV.com
Thousands of sharks migrating off Florida have made headlines recently, mostly because of spectacular aerial footage showing the predators cruising through aquamarine coastal waters.
But over the weekend a group of Palm Beach fishermen decided to take advantage of the phenomenon and themselves made the news by reeling two blacktip sharks onto a beach crowded with college students on spring break.
Fortunately, the area in question--Midtown Beach--was one of many in the area closed to swimmers because of the great shark migration, which typically coincides with spring break.
They probably were extra-glad to be ordered to stay out of the water after enjoying an up-close look at the sharks and their mouths full of teeth. (Blacktips measure to about eight feet and have been implicated in attacks on humans. Blacktips and spinner sharks are the predominant species in the migration.)
Fishing on the beach is legal, so lifeguards and police did not stop the fishermen.
"Well, they're here anyway you know. So it's not like we're attracting them," Tom Kieras, one of the fishermen, told WPTV.
Jeremy Stanley, a lifeguard, did not appreciate the anglers reeling Jaws onto the beach, saying they could have been bit if a shark was pushed a certain way in the surf or if it lunged unexpectedly.
Others did not appreciate that the anglers were harming the sharks, but Joshua Jorgensen, one of the anglers, said they were collecting swabs from inside the mouths of the sharks for research.
"Some people got opinions and they can have their opinions," he said. "But the law is the law. And the law says we're allowed to be here."
http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/...ks+onto+beach/
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Originally Posted by bababooey
