Saw it on ch3 news, pensacola. Some bunch of jerks were shooting them with there bow and arrow. Then they was just killing them and tossing them back. Some bleeding heart old crab videoed it and called the news. it has been a topic for over a month here. Now a state rep is trying to push a law making all rays protected in florida. Just what we need. We need to voice our opnion. I know folks who eat them and we all use them for bait. Since the net ban theyr population has expolded. They are rough on oyster beds. I do not agree with killing with no reason. What it is doing is a couple dummy's is gona cost us all our rights. Instead of making it illeagle to have some it should be illeagle to bow fish them. Let the ones at fault take the punishment. Why protect a species that is abundent. They have no comercial value and are all over the gulf.
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Land Based World Record #8 Tiger shark 928lbs
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Land Based World Record #9 Tiger shark 949lbs
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SFSC Panhandle Events Coordinator
God I hope not
Hopefully they will use better sense if they intend to pass a law to protect the rays.What they should do is maybe set a maximum take per day law.
Look at the Eagle ray they are of no commercial value to fisherman but are a fully protected species.I have seen the number of Eagle rays decline over the years and I can't figure out why.In the 1980's we used to shark fish Bimini Bahamas in April during the University Of Miami Research Shark Tournament put together by Dr Sonny Gruber and our main bait supply to target the big Bahamian Tiger and Hammerheads was Eagle ray.All we would snag was one or two big rays(60-120 lbs) for our three days of Bahamian shark fishing. We would sail over the shallow waters next to the blue dropoffs and find many Eagle ray schools to snag but now when we go there in April we don't hardly see any Eagle rays at all.Where have they gone??? You figure if there are less sharks around now there should be lots more Eagle rays but it's not the case.
Hopefully those knuckle heads killing the rays with bows for no good reason did'nt ruin it for the rest of us.
SOUTH FLORIDA SHARK CLUB -President SFSC-Founding Member est 1983 SFSC-Website Administrator BIG HAMMER SHARK TOURNAMENT -Founder Rene Memorial Sharkathon -Founder NMFS Shark Tagger
That is ridiculous what those idiots went out and did, I don't like needless killing but I don't think responsible fishermen should all suffer for the actions of a few googans. Nowadays everyone is trying to save everything, fighting for a cause just to have one.