By DAVID FLESHLER
Sun-Sentinel Staff Writer
Updated: 6:41 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012
Posted: 9:02 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012
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Rosie O'Donnell and her family caught huge hammerhead sharks in fishing trips off South Florida.
Now the TV personality is catching abuse from environmentalists, irate at the killing of ocean predators that are considered overfished around the globe. Florida banned killing them Jan. 1, long after O'Donnell's fishing trips, which took place over the past two or three years.
Mark "The Shark" Quartiano, the famous Miami Beach shark fisherman who guided the expeditions, recently posted a photo of O'Donnell next to a dead hammerhead on his website as "This Month's Celebrity Angler." Since then, as other photos of O'Donnell's shark-killing expeditions surfaced, environmentalists have attacked her via Facebook and Twitter, accusing her of going after species that are struggling to survive.
"Right now sharks are the most endangered animals around," said Erik Brush, a Sarasota marine conservationist who helped start the campaign against O'Donnell. "This is basically an endorsement. It sends the message that it's an OK activity. And this is not an activity that we want celebrities endorsing."
O'Donnell's publicist did not respond to requests for comment.
Quartiano defended the trips, calling O'Donnell "a great angler. She's very conservation-minded. We've caught a lot of fish and released a lot of fish. We've also caught fish for eating and trophies."
As for O'Donnell's reaction to the controversy, he said, "She's amused by it. She wants me to go on her show."
He defended killing hammerheads, saying the few caught for sport were dwarfed by the huge numbers taken by commercial fishing fleets. "These conservation guys are hitting the wrong target," he said.
No one accuses O'Donnell of doing anything illegal. But they say a celebrity known for her philanthropic work, particularly for children, should have been aware of the conservation implications of her actions.
Samantha Whitcraft, conservation biologist with the non-profit group Shark Savers, said she contacted O'Donnell through Twitter, offering a calm, non-confrontational discussion.
"She emailed, What do you propose?" Whitcraft said. "I said I'd take to her to a shark research lab, to which I thought her response would be Hell, yeah, but I never heard anything back. To be fair, I think by the time I had reached her she had been unbelievably harassed. I saw her Twitter page and a lot of overly aggressive hazing."
Among those criticizing O'Donnell are marine biologists, diving organizations and members of environmental groups such as Shark Savers, Planet Ocean Alliance and the Australian Anti-Shark-Finning Alliance.
"Rosie O'Donnell just went HAMMERHEAD fishing with her family?!" tweeted a woman in Seattle. "Apparently not aware of our sharks reaching extinction. LET HER KNOW!!"
The state of Florida imposed a ban on the killing of great hammerheads, scalloped hammerheads and smooth hammerheads, which took effect Jan. 1. The scalloped hammerhead is being considered for the federal endangered species list. Hammerheads are in trouble worldwide because of the demand in East Asia for shark fin soup, for which hammerhead fins are considered ideal.
O'Donnell, who has a home on Miami Beach's celebrity-packed Star Island, has taken her children on several shark-fishing trips with Quartiano, who her blog refers to as "Rosie's favorite shark hunter."
"Rosie and her kids have gone fishing with Mark the Shark and have caught 3 or 4 HUGE sharks not far off the shore," she wrote in one blog entry.
"She's a sweetheart," Quartiano said. "She loves children.'
A Facebook site targeting both is called "Stop Rosie O'Donnell & Mark the Shark Hunter killing our oceans."
The sharks in two of the photos include a great hammerhead, the largest of the family, and either a great or scalloped hammerhead, said Neil Hammerschlag, director of the R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program and research assistant professor at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. He said the incident showed a failure to appreciate the importance of marine wildlife.
"She wouldn't go out hunting tigers. I don't see her pictured in front of some tiger strung up," he said. "Yet these are the tigers of the ocean, they're a top predator and they're in serious decline. Yet we kill them for sport.
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
idk why she is catching so much shit for killing a few sharks over the past few years. as long as she did it for food she was withen her legal rights. granted she should have released them but she chose to eat them. its the same thing as going out in the woods and shooting a deer. 90% of people wont shoot it just for the head/rack they will do it for the rack + all the meat. i am very big in to catch and release as every one i have fished with can vouch for. but i will kill a black tip like once a year to stock my freezer unless i have some one ask for some meat then i will go try to get one for them. but thats it.
One of my friends fishes with her in her backyard... she does have conservation in mind and has even created a small reef behind her house for snappers and other fish to find protection, she harvested the shark legally but the media blew the event up as it always has with anyone and anything.
Just an average fisherman.
it is incredibly annoying when someone kills a shark and all these tree huggers freak out. they dont realizes that we dont kill every shark we catch we kill probably less then 1% they are so concerned by what local fishermen do with there catch but they dont care as much about commercial fishermen killing hundreds of sharks
it is incredibly annoying when someone kills a shark and all these tree huggers freak out. they dont realizes that we dont kill every shark we catch we kill probably less then 1% they are so concerned by what local fishermen do with there catch but they dont care as much about commercial fishermen killing hundreds of sharks
Unfortunately Mark 'The Shark' does kill every shark he catches and makes a very public display of it, and regularly broadcasts his callous attitude to the wildlife his livelihood depends on. It's not Rosie O' Donnell that should be getting the flack, it's Quartiano. The guy is a menace and a poor ambassador for our sport. Legally killing the odd shark is one thing, killing sharks in their hundreds every year hunting for glory is another (including illegal species in the case of Mark the shark).
My two cents worth... 
im saying that when he kills all the sharks he catches he give us a bad name. i think you just misunderstood what i was saying
granted she should have released them but she chose to eat them.
And nearly everything else that comes in her path!