A crowd gathers at the docks in Oak Bluffs, Mass., to view sharks caught in the Monster Shark Tournament on July 18, 2008.
Some residents of Martha's Vineyard, where "Jaws" was filmed, are tired of the rowdy crowds that accompany the annual Monster Shark Tournament.
The idyllic Massachusetts vacation island was the backdrop for Steven Spielberg's 1975 cult film classic about the menacing sea creature that wreaks havoc off the shores of a New England beach resort. It's also for years been the home of the annual shark tournament, where fishermen come from across the country to see who can haul in the biggest shark.
This year's Monster Shark Tournament, now in its 27th year, opened Friday. It could be the last at the location if residents of the town of Oak Bluffs, the tourney's home base, get their way.
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In April, town residents voted 225 to 186 to approve a non-binding referendum declaring that the shark tournament after this year's must be catch-and-release, meaning no sharks would be killed and displayed at a weigh-in before hordes of spectators back at the harbor.
Tournament organizer Steve James told town selectmen at the time that such a tournament wouldn't draw many participants or spectators.
"Nobody comes to an all-release tournament," James said.
ANIMAL-RIGHTS PROTESTS
Many supporters of the referendum said they were tired of all the trouble and hassles caused by rowdy, drunken spectators. Last year, police made 21 arrests, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Times.
Others said the sharks — not humans — need protection.
Bloomberg reported that animal-rights groups have protested the tournament. It noted that Nigel Barker, a former judge on the television reality show "America's Next Top Model," weighed in on the matter in 2008 when he wrote on his blog: "The sharks are unceremoniously hanged, drawn and quartered in a public display of butchery that mirrors medieval public executions."
Tourney officials dispute the claims of inhumane treatment of animals.
"Those of us who are directly involved in shark fishing are the ones that are truly concerned about maintaining and rebuilding the shark fishery stocks!" officials said in a list of tourney "facts" on its website.
Contestants have historically released more than 97 percent of the total number of sharks that are caught during the two-day fishing event, the website adds.
James, owner of the Boston Big Game Fishing Club, which runs the tournament, told Bloomberg the three types of sharks that contestants are allowed to catch — the thresher, the shortfin mako and the porbeagle — aren't endangered and only 16 were taken last year.
"They try to make it seem like there is a dead shark hanging on every pylon in Oak Bluffs," James told Bloomberg.
Due mainly to rising security costs at Oak Bluffs, James has said his group is considering hosting future tournaments at private harbors in Newport, R.I., according to Patch.com.
Oak Bluffs' selectmen plan to assess how this year's event goes before acting on the catch-and-release referendum.
WRONG MESSAGE?
What would "Jaws" author Peter Benchley have thought about this sharp-edged dispute?
His widow, Wendy Benchley, president of the board of the New York-based Shark Savers conservation group, is pleased by the island's shift in stance.
"We love our monsters," Benchley told Bloomberg. "But the culture has changed. To have a kill tournament at this time in the life of the ocean just sends the message to the public and the youth that it is OK to kill our apex predators that are in trouble around the world."
Agne Beleisyte jumps over a 399-pound shark caught in the Monster Shark Tournament in Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard, Mass., in 2008.
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