Captain Bill and fans protesting FWC’s call to put the great hammerhead and tiger sharks on the protected species list

SHARK PROTECTION AND CASEY ANTHONY VERDICT—BOTH DEFY
LOGIC!

I‘m Captain Bill Goldschmitt, nearly 61 years old. I’ve been studying shark attacks for over four decades and am still baffled by shark protectionists hell-bent on claiming the world’s top predators (sharks) as misunderstood and near extinction! They have no proof of shark stocks declining — the facts simply don’t support such a claim. In fact, in Florida waters, catch totals documented by actual  fishermen, commercial and sport, clearly indicate that shark populations of Atlantic and Gulf-of-Mexico sharks are dramatically up since 2001. These “save animal” eco-fanatics also claim that one hundred million sharks are killed each year. Hmmm . . .  must be a lot of sharks swimming out there.

The National Oceanic and atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Dr. Bobbie Hueter, Director of Shark Research at More Marine Lab in Sarasota, Dr, Neil Hammerschlag, Founder of University of Miamis’ R.J. Dunlap Shark Conservation Program and a slew of anti-shark-fishing organizations like The Pew Foundation, Wild Aid, The Humane Society, etc., keep brain-washing the public with bold lies, covered in a fog of smoke and mirrors. All meant to push their profitable, “protect the sharks’ agenda.” This defies logic!~ It’s a known fact that sharks have been attacking and killing humans for hundreds of years!

After staging my own protest against an FWC meeting in Sarasota which plans to declare open season on bathers by adding the great hammerhead and the tiger sharks to the protected species list, I sat in front of the television with a beer to ponder the future of an outdoorsman’s’ rights. I watched as most of Florida was stunned by the “not guilty” verdict blasted across our news. The trial lasting nearly a month or more showed a young woman as unfit to raise her child, who lied to authorities of the whereabouts of her daughter. She basically covered up her daughter’s disappearance for 31 days’ long enough to destroy all incriminating evidence. Does this case defy logic? Sure it does. But several defense attorneys, like the shark protectors, baffled us with theories and unfounded accusations (smoke and mirrors) such as Casey’s father molesting her so she’s excused from lying. But an innocent child is dead and justice is not served. I know, the jury can’t convict unless the evidence proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt . . .  I’ve got the answer: Mr. Plum did it and the detective lost the evidence while kissing the maid!

Captain Bill

Did this great pioneer and outdoorsman see into the future before that fateful battle when he returned from Washington to his beloved home in the wilderness? Is it possible that he was disheartened by Washington politics after his fellow Tennesseans sent him to Congress in 1826? Did he believe that bureaucrats would sell out the rights of those who he was elected to represent – fellow countrymen who believed in a strong America, known around the world as a new land of Freedom, and home of the brave.

If alive today, he would see a different country from the one he gave his blood to defend. He would see hunters and fishermen from coast to coast, border-to-border, losing their jobs. Today’s America has become Land of the Lobbyist and Home of the Special Interest Group.

If Davy Crockett could’ve seen into the future from the Alamo,  he would see: Under the ruse of environmental safeguards, regulations would be put in place to bury the commercial and recreational outdoorsmen. Meanwhile, wealthy oil companies will run rough-shod over our government, resulting in the biggest environmental disaster in our country’s history. (A million commercial fishermen couldn’t do the damage that Deepwater Horizon did to Louisiana’s Gulf Coast). The public would be fed propaganda that declares, “Crisis for the world’s natural resources,” and “Doom and gloom for our future,” and unscientific theories would be pandered as fact to support their theories. The reality of back-door politics would serve many special interests for fanatical eco-organizations hellbent on self-preservation. While the country is in the midst of financial melt-down, Congress will spend their valuable time closing a loophole in commercial shark fining, an industry non-existent in America, instead of focusing on the real issues at hand.

As an outdoorsman and fisherman of four decades, I’ve withstood the never-ending claims of “the sky is falling.” I’ve seen my way of life, and the life of millions of Americans, disappear while other countries laugh at American Greed. I think Davy Crockett is turning in his grave.

God bless him and his Tennesseans!

Signed,

Sharkman of Cortez

(if you want to know the real story about sharks, read my book)

My blogs are usually long, too long my wife says. This one… well, read all my previous blogs and essays, especially KILLER SHARKS DERAILING PROTECTIONIST’S PROPAGANDA (see link on the bottom of the home page of Sharkman of Cortez) and I’ve already said it all!! I’d love to go on and on as usual about how rediculous the envios, scientists and tourist dollar-drivenEgyption  authorities are about their shark attacks, but I have a book signing to go to, where I tell everyone the truth about sharks. Sharks are dangerous, they kill, end of story.

Later

Captain Bill

I’m Captain Bill Goldschmitt, and I captured live sharks for many of these public aquariums for nearly two decades. But I’m not a welcomed guest anymore. Why? Because they couldn’t convert me to their philosophy. I wouldn’t subscribe to this reckless deception and brainwashing of children and impressionable others. Fact is, viewing harmless shark species like nurse, zebra, bonnet head or dogfish — sharks that couldn’t bite through wet slices of pizza — hardly represent the reality of meeting a killer face-to-face. Even 3 or 4 foot black-nose or sandbar sharks, with their non-aggressive disposition, aren’t the same as an encounter with savage predators the likes of tiger, bull, lemon, oceanic white tip, Galapagos, reef, great hammerhead, or white sharks. These sharks have been responsible for human deaths. The list of other dangerous man-eaters could go on but I’m short of space.

What’s important is truth represented by facts, enabling those entering the world’s oceans to understand the actual risk. Unfortunately, eco-protectionists have their agenda and it’s not to distribute the truth. Their beliefs are based on the need to protect sharks from humans. They downplay any danger sharks pose against people while upgrading shark stature as almost god-like. One marine biologist working at an aquarium in San Francisco was filmed sporting an almost intoxicated expression as his group of merry men dumped a great white shark back into the Pacific. Fearing it would die in captivity, this lunatic decided to release it back into the wild and he was nearly in tears at the thought of being a shark savior. (Straight jackets please!) Get the picture? Shark savers, employed at these public aquariums are a growing cancer, distributing harmful propaganda they say is necessary to re-educate a confused public. Oh, really? Our children deserve a better education, not fantasy dealt out by emotional extremists.

The reality is our oceans are filled with risk. Drowning tops the list. But anyone swimming in the water, enjoying a day at the beach, could meet their worst nightmare. Not one of those harmless pizza-eaters displayed at the local aquarium but the REAL DEAL. (Sorry, Chamber of Commerce and Tourist Bureau). Ask the parents of little Jessie Arbogast or Jamie Daigle, both victims of attacks near Pensacola, Florida, what losing a child is like. Or ask Natasha Baulina what it was like when she and her fiancé, Sergay Salucino were attacked while swimming off the east coast. Natasha was quoted in the hospital after surgery, “The shark was circling around us, taking chunks out of us. It was really meaning to eat us.” No mistaken identity there. Gary Harkin, a rescuer who pulled a dying Sergay from the surf recounted, “His foot came off in my hands and his leg was gone. There was so much gore and blood I was sickened and scared.”

These attacks ARE reality, not fantasy! One might also investigate the shark attack on ten year old David Peltier off Virginia Beach. This attack, like the others, is a heart wrenching tragedy. David’s father Richard was bitten as he tried in vain to protect his son by putting the boy onto his long (surf) board. Fighting the savagely attacking shark, his heart pounded as David cried, “Daddy, help me.” Mr. Peltier was quoted after his son received a complete, though futile, transfusion, “I knew my son was going to die.” Tears dripped from his face as he whispered “goodbye” into David’s ear. Again, quoting his father, “They (the experts) can say all they want about (attack) statistics. The odds mean absolutely nothing when it happens to you in real life. When it’s your child that takes his last breath. My son is dead.” Folks this is raw emotion coming from those who have suffered what protectionists or shark savers lightly refer to as “unfortunate accidents”! I don’t believe Mr. Peltier or any of the aforementioned shark victims travelled to Washington to lobby Congress for stricter protection of sharks. I believe the public can see through that eco-obscenity.

While watching several of those smiling sharks circling the tank at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota last week, and listening to the eco-aquarist lament about the poor sharks, I overhear one visitor remark to his wife, “It’s a f—-’ n fish for crying out loud. And they are dangerous. I know that!”
Good advice? …you bet.
Captain Bill Goldschmitt

6 foot great hammerhead is mature enough to give birth to 22 pups

            So one might ask, “Why does the eco-hysteria soap opera continue?” Shark fiction over truth is fueled by eco-hypocrisy. The jaws of State and Federal Governments such as, the National Marine Fisheries, NOAA, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission restrict fishermen (commercial and recreational) from their American birthright to fish. They created biased and unjust regulations, claiming, “the need to protect” while ignoring the facts (sharks are dangerous) and bolstering ridiculous propaganda dealt out by shark protection extremists. This is science at its worst.

            Despite evidence of increasing shark populations and shark attacks on humans worldwide, they deliver the same basic message year after year: “We must save the shark.” These agencies are dominated by eco-lunatics who don’t believe in the sustained utilization of the world’s natural resources. Eugene Lapointe, the president of IWMC World Conservation Trust, a coalition of wildlife experts, has authored an excellent book on this subject.  He, as well as many others, promote credible science that seeks truth, not the common speculations that deprive all fishermen from providing food for humanity and fishing for sport.

            As a retired commercial shark fisherman, and co-author of Sharkman of Cortez (my memoir), I have, for nearly a decade, proclaimed that these agencies and these so-called “shark experts” be held accountable for shark attacks. They are the ones responsible for restricting shark fishing, ultimately endangering public safety. Furthermore, the eco-nonsense dealt out by two of the most vocal shark protection extremists, George Burgess in Gainesville and Bobby Hueter of Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota is downright dangerous brainwashing.

These two, known by most fishermen in Florida as the Laurel and Hardy of Shark Savers, claim shark species are increasing in local waters due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Fact is, bull, hammerhead, tiger and blacktip sharks have been dramatically building in numbers well before this tragedy. Clear documentation of their numbers has been registerd for the past seven years.

Russell Hudson of Daytona Beach, Director of Sustainable Fisheries states, “Sandbar sharks, (a protected species) are so prolific, they are eating hooked red snapper and amberjack before anglers can reel them in.”

Charter Captains from Tampa to St. Pete to Boca Grande fear releasing tarpon after hook-ups due to the large schools of bulls and great hammerheads during May and June migrations.

Hueter claims whale sharks appearing off Sarasota in May was “very unusual,” yet, local divers, like Marty Martell of Dive Services, have photographed these large plankton feeders near the “cuda hole” off Sarasota for nearly twenty years. His photos can be seen in tackle shops around town. (So much for “very unusual.”) Hueter goes on to say that sharks are slow growing, some need 20 years to mature sexually. He also says, “Quantifying exact shark numbers is not possible.” Then he says, “Florida sharks are down 50 percent since 1975.” Contradiction??

As a commercial fisherman, I’ve captured great hammerheads that can grow to 18 feet yet, I’ve dissected six-footers carrying 20-30 pups. Sexual maturity in 20 years? I don’t think so. Both Burgess and Hueter claim sharks are headed to extinction but I seriously doubt those two could estimate the number of virgins in the local whorehouse!

Both self-proclaimed experts wield influence over the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, which claims to be the National leader in shark conservation. Is it a coincidence that this state leads the world in shark attacks? Is anybody getting this?

Bobby Hueter was quoted, “They’re (sharks) thought to be on the same level as rattle snakes and mosquitoes. They’re something we don’t want around because they bite and eat people.” Damn! This guy could be a rocket scientist! He goes on to say, “People (Sharkman of Cortez maybe?) want to play on that myth (MYTH??) and trump up the fear factor on sharks.” Are you kidding me? Howabout asking those families devastated by shark attacks in 2010 alone if they think it’s a myth.

And finally, a quote from George Burgess on shark protection, “If sharks can be saved, we’re going to have to hope that our sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters are going to carry the torch for the next couple of generations.”

I say Heaven help anyone lost or adrift and desperately praying for rescue in Florida waters. If this shark protection continues, in these state waters, you might prefer drowning!

Captain Bill Goldschmitt

 Circle Books on St. Armand’s Circle, Sat., July 3 from 3-5pm

O’Leary’s on the Bayfront Sun., July 4, 12-4pm

Hubbard’s Marina, Madeira Beach, Sun., July 11, 12-4pm

Casey Key Fish House, Osprey, Sat., July 17, 5-8pm

The Broadway Bar, 10th Street Sarasota, Sat July 24, 5-7pm

Island Bazaar, Siesta Key Village, Sun July 25, 12-4pm

The book is available on our website (“Buy the Book”), at Circle Books, The Sea Hagg in Cortez, Island Bazaar, Mr. CB’s Bait and Tackle on South Siesta Key, Captain Curt’s Gift Shop, Sea Pleasures and Treasures in Venice and more!

                Fantasy theories of doom and gloom and near-extinction of sharks has successfully brainwashed young or misinformed animal lovers. But make no mistake, when a shark attack gets headlines, especially when there are eye-witness accounts, the Eco Freaks find themselves face-to-face with the truth: sharks bite! And worldwide, humans have died! But they’ll sugar-coat the obvious with their spin: “It was mistaken identity.”  “The shark must have been provoked.” “The water was cloudy and the shark was chasing a fish.” And if a victim’s body isn’t found, he must have drowned of course. It goes on and on.

                For rational thinkers, here are the facts: Professional protesters or animal saviors create very organized, well-oiled fund-raising machines capable of peddling their views beyond their numbers. They pander erroneous information, fabricated to support their agendas: “doom and gloom.” They create crises and push panic scenarios of extinction. They’re duping the public, while raising tons of easy money. One need not look far: newsletters, magazine ads, posters, celebrities speaking on radio and TV, begging you to: “Send Money! We’ve got to save the whatever.”

                Whales, elephants, seals, sea turtles, cuddly panda bears, wolves, — all very charismatic species for their fundraising templates.  You name it, you fund it, they can save it! Even predator sharks have become humanized; “they don’t mean to kill humans, they’re sooo misunderstood…” By who? The Eco Idiots. True wildlife experts, with in-the-field credentials have proven: When predator protection through hunting or fishing restrictions are imposed, other food species die more rapidly. That’s right! Protectionist propaganda is preached in classrooms, nature shows and in literature. Eco Idiots claim animals only kill politely. Seals don’t chomp cod, wolves don’t tear apart moose, elephants don’t destroy trees by stripping the bark, and killer whales don’t toss seal pups around like rag dolls. Oh, and that captive Orca that killed its trainer at Sea World? They claim, “She had it coming, serves her right for its confinement.”

And don’t forget those misunderstood tiger sharks that consume seabirds and thousands of freshly hatched loggerhead turtles. Does anybody get this? Protecting sharks equals less turtle nests on the beach. Fact! Undisputable, but Mote Marine Lab., PETA, Wild Aid, Humane Society etc., all need your money to pay their salaries! Never mind sustainable conservation, just pander doom-and-gloom, get the bucks.

My favorite example of duping the public is the saga of Free Willy. Remember the movies: 1,2,3? 36 million dollars were raised during half a decade to save the killer whale. Animal rights organizations had one of the best cash cows ever, thanks to Hollywood. Yet most scientists knew freedom for the captive orca would mean certain death in the wild. That didn’t matter to the Eco Freaks. “Let him go.” “Give us your money.” Well, Willy died before the year was out. Millions of dollars were vacuumed from well-intentioned, brain-washed contributors, many were children. Oh, and the real cost to set poor Willy free? Less than one hundred grand. What happened to the rest of the loot??

                I know, conservation, of course! If you believe that, I’ve got ocean-front property for sale in Arizona-real cheap!

Captain Bill Goldschmitt