What Shark Tournament?

It appears the bloom is fading on the Monster Shark Tournament that has been the cause of so much controversy in recent years, and that is probably a good thing.

Participation in the tournament, which attracts big game fishing hunters to the Island for the largely spectacle sport of landing the largest shark, is well down this year, partly due no doubt to the state of the economy. But it also feels as though the shark tournament’s place in the world of game fishing, where conservation and catch-and-release are the prevailing mores these days, may be slipping. Fishermen are for the most part environmentally and socially responsible, and the act of killing large creatures in the sea more for sport than food seems wasteful and somehow out of step with these prevailing values.

The shark tournament will be held this weekend in Oak Bluffs. About a hundred fishermen will join the contest and hundreds more will be on hand to watch — some with fascination, others with horror — as contest winners hang their bloody prizes from large hooks on the dock on Saturday afternoon.

Protestors from the Humane Society of the United States, who have been loudly opposing the tournament for the last few years, are in evidence again, although even they sound a little quieter this time around.

And while the tournament does provide a boost to summer commerce for the town, it has never been clear just how much. On a side note, the at times abrasive and antagonistic attitude of tournament organizers has been difficult to manage and glaringly unpleasant on an Island where people know how to disagree vigorously and still go out for a beer when the argument is finished.

Reports are circulating that the tournament may move to some other location next year.

If that happens, the town of Oak Bluffs — and the Vineyard — will be no worse off for it.