Long Island Tournament Turns to Catch and Release

John Mitty Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Montauk has long been host to a shark catching tournament, but in the past, those tournaments ended with a lot of dead sharks.  This year, for the first time ever, fishermen agreed to a catch-and-release policy, and none of the sharks caught in the tournament were killed.  Shark fishing in Montauk has been a popular past-time since the 1970s, popularized by the film “Jaws.”  Frank Mundus, a local fisherman in Montauk, served as the inspiration for the character Quint.

Sean and Brooks Paxton, the founders of the competition, have been advocating a catch-and-release model for the tournament for over a decade.  “We realized after a while that we could still enjoy the sport, but do it in a more sustainable way,” explained Sean Paxton.  “Sharks are very much in trouble,” added Brooks Paxton.  “Certain numbers, certain species are down 80 to 90 percent since the late ‘60s, early ‘70s.  They need some help.”  The decline in shark species is largely due to a high demand for shark fin soup in Asia, but the brothers believe that revolutionizing sport fishing by making it a catch-and-release sport could slow the decline in shark populations.  “It’s a wasteful practice,” stated Sean, speaking on the old tradition of killing the sharks.  “… and one of the biggest causes for the declining population.”

jmitty@longislandyellowpages.com

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