| Shark Tourney Under Fire By Humane Society |
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By:Susan J. Greenberg 06/11/2008 Suffolk Life, NY Despite the protests of animal rights activists, this year's shark tournament at the Star Island Yacht Club in Montauk will proceed as it has for the past 22 years, according to the yacht club's general manager, Richard Janis. Instead, what is in question this year, he said, is the club's custom of donating the shark meat caught in the contest to local food pantries. "It is really a sad thing," said Janis. "They [the protesters] are putting pressure on food banks to not accept this food, which people in need count on every year from our tournament." According to John Grandy, Ph.D., senior vice president of Wildlife and Habitat Protection for The Humane Society of the United States, his organization has written to local food banks in the area, asking that they not partake in donations, due to what he characterized as potential endangerment of the species and US Food and Drug Administration warnings about high levels of mercury in shark meat that are hazardous to women, children and nursing mothers. Sharks are threatened with global extinction, said Grandy, citing statistics he garnered from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a global organization with headquarters in Switzerland. "They have determined that 11 species of shark are at high risk for extinction and five more are showing dangerous signs of declining in numbers," he stated. "In addition, shark meat is laced with mercury. Both the FDA and the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] say that women who are pregnant, will become pregnant, or have just had babies, and children should not eat it." |
