TO ALL SHARK LOVERS

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TO ALL SHARK LOVERS
The Shark Safe Logo on Tuna Cans

By Capt. Ben Maughan Jr. (November 06, 01)
Active Commercial Fishermen (over 55 years)

Once again we have some people trying to make a name for themselves, at the expense of the commercial fishermen.

Sharks are deadly killers, you see on T.V. wet suit divers go down to the bottom of the ocean to feed these sharks. Why don’t they swim on the surface and feed them? Let me take these divers to some of the places I know, and you’ll see how long those divers last.
I’ve been in the ocean with a variety of different shark species. Blue sharks to my knowledge are not as ferocious as other shark species. I’ve been in the ocean with 50 to 100 blue sharks at one time. I was trying to clear a purse seine net from a boat’s propeller with blue fin tuna entangled through the net. The blue sharks were all going crazy and I was asked to go over to this vessel and clear the net from the propeller. I had only a facemask, no air supply, only what I could hold in my lungs, and a large knife. The blue sharks would come very close to me, but I would fend them off, so they wouldn’t bite me.
Another time in Puerto Angeles Mexico, we made a set, and cut the purse cable with out propeller, and after finishing our set and taking all the fish on board we started vessel up, the vessel vibrated terribly. The captain asked me to dive down and see what the problem was, and what damage we had done to the propeller. There was still a lot of blood in the water, and many sharks, (black tips). I asked the captain to move the vessel several miles away. We did this so I went down, I saw no sharks, I was looking at the propeller, luckily I turned and looked down and seen this big black tip shark coming at me full speed, I looked like Superman, up and into the skiff with no help, he just barely missed getting me.
I’ve fished all over the world, in all the Oceans that have tuna. From California, Baja California, the whole Mexican coast, all the way down to Chile, from New York to Brazil, from Dakar to Mossamedes Africa, from Bombay India, to Seychelley Islands, all through the Western Pacific, and all Indonesian waters and Islands. The most sharks I’ve encountered would be in the Eastern tropical Pacific warmer waters, Mexican coast from Cabo San Lucas, to Cabo Blanco Peru, and many other places I’ve fished, the shallow Banks, Navigator Bank, Cadillac Bank, Brito Bank, Gulf of Panama, these are a few places where the sharks are so thick you can walk on them. If you fall over board in these areas, you’ll be chopsuey soon. Don’t ever think, that sharks will become an endangered species, there are to many of them.
Sharks are not like Porpoise (dolphins). Where dolphin may have one or two offspring per year. As where the sharks (females) have one to 17 per birth. Before World War II, we were anchored at Clipperton Island, a few hundred miles of Mexican coast at that time I was 13 years old. I caught a big shark, I cut it open and it had 17 babies in it. You never see every shark, every place you stop to drift. Sharks gather around the boat, and can be thick in the water, you can jump into the water and make a big splash and the sharks will swim and disperse. But you had better get out of the water fast because they will be right back.
This subject needs years upon years of monitoring, before you can say what is happening to the sharks. I’ve fished around many logs in Western Pacific, made hundreds and hundreds of sets, and I would have to say if I caught a hundred sharks I would be fibbing. I also was an Instructor on a Philippine Seiner, working in Indonesian waters on anchored Pajao’s (Fads) over 100 anchored in Savu Sea, caught very few sharks.
So you’ll know, and have your facts straight, mahi mahi, is usually fillet and frozen, and sold to markets, hotels, wahoo is canned, and smoked. Whatever IATTC, NMFS, NOAA, says or tells you, only believe a little of it. The Chinese have been eating shark fin soup before any of us were born, you will not take their delicacy away from them. These government agencies have never told you how many sharks are in the ocean, there are billions. Your can of dolphin (porpoise) safe tuna, is one of the biggest jokes that ever hit the market. You say the mortality on-set made on dolphin today is down to 2000, this is the biggest lie ever told, more like 10,000+, you only hear what they want you to hear, not the truth Mr. Henk Brus so get your act together, don’t believe every thing you read.
The U.S. Commercial Tuna Fleet is on its way out into distinction, by the likes of you, Green Peace, (save the dolphin), I am for saving dolphin, but not the way it was done. In the next year the tuna industry will be controlled by foreign countries, there are only a few American flag vessels left that are privately owned, these are now trying to be sold, goodbye to a great industry, to a great American fleet its owners, and American fishermen. One of my best friends lost his son, while he was helping take a dolphin out of a net, a shark took his whole stomach out, he died aboard the vessel. The American Commercial Fishermen, were the ones whom fixed their nets to save the dolphin, they cut down the mortality rate. They had to save the dolphin, to ensure future catches, and by working like they did, they ensured the dolphin that they would never become extinct. If the U.S. Government, Green Peace, NOAA, NMFS, and all the loving good doers really wanted to help the tuna industry out, no fishing on schools of dolphin (porpoise) at anytime, this will allow the tuna to grow and help the industry, the only dolphin safe tuna caught now is in Western Pacific Indian Ocean, Africa, and boats that don’t set on schools of dolphin, the boats that set on dolphins are killing more than 2000, so its not dolphin safe, so when people eat dolphin safe tuna, your eating a lie.
To make a label on tuna cans stating shark safe is ludicrous, the fishermen will keep the shark population down, they will never become an endangered species, to many of them. Millions upon millions of them in the oceans. They will be made an endangered species by people who know nothing about them and think they are helping preserve a species that will eat your arms and legs off and kill you.
Look at Florida, many shark attacks, no shark fishing allowed? There are many shark tragedies that we don’t hear about, remember when you want to take your family, children, and grandchildren to the beach for a family outing and have one of them loose a limb or worse their life to something we know is dangerous and a preditor. And one last thing remember the U.S. Navys Crusier Indianapolis, the sharks ate and chewed them up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When you go into the water where there are sharks, you are the endangered species.

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