17 boats 135 fishers and 48 sharks caught. 1 mako 216 lb.
Tournament was a huge success, sunny skies temperature 24 degrees.

First place Ian Mcnicol 429 lbs on Matador (Captain Perry Amirault)

Second place Tracy Doucette 425 lbs on James and Wilbur (Captain Mike Nickerson)

Third place Daniel R Muise 378 lbs on Rebecca Lynn 1 (Captain Stephan d’Entrement)

This year, most of the participants will head out Wednesday night (Aug 15th) after the captains’ meeting and late entries Thursday (16th) by 5 pm. The vessels will start coming back over the 3 days. There will be tshirts and hats available starting Friday night (17th). On Saturday the 18th there will be an inflatable pirate ship in the parking lot for the kids around 10 am. There will also be facepainting and suckerpull, etc. The weigh-ins start at 1 pm Saturday Aug 18th. The award ceremony will start at 6 pm.

Yarmouth Shark Scramble began 15 years ago when Bob Gavel approached John Boudreau with an idea to have a shark derby. They both thought it was a good idea, having been in derbies in other ports. This gave them an advantage as to how they would like to run their derby. John and Bob are proud to be recognized as having one of the most successful and professional derbies in the Maritimes. Sponsorship had a lot to do with that. The businesses in Yarmouth step up to the plate year after year.

Yarmouth Shark Scramble is a fishing tournament where teams compete to catch the largest total weight of sharks or largest weight of a single shark. The event is used as a fundraiser for local charities, with all catch information reported to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for scientific research. Several Canadian record holders have caught sharks during the Yarmouth Shark Scramble.

Yarmouth Shark Scramble is in its 15th season, as of 2012. Each year the tournament has an average of 20 vessels and 150-200 participants. The types of sharks fished in the tournament are Blue, Mako and Thresher. The weigh-in event is hosted on the Yarmouth waterfront behind Rudders Restaurant and Brew Pub at 96 Water Street, Yarmouth, NS.

Yarmouth Shark Scramble was featured on the Food Network’s show The Wild Chef in 2010. You can click this link to watch the episode from the Food Network’s website.

Yarmouth Shark Scramble was also featured on CBC’s Land and Sea in 2011. The 1st place winner , Patrick Hicks and Captain Mike Nickerson, were fortunate enough to host the film crew aboard the James and Wilbur to document the event. You can click this link to watch the archived episode from CBC’s website.

Yarmouth Shark Scramble gained international attention in 2004 when Jamie Doucette landed one of the biggest Mako Sharks on the planet and setting a Canadian record with his proud 1082 lb catch. This shark is featured on the main page of our website. We feature content on our website from a few different years and will fill in the gaps as we go with what we can find. The website content will be updated each year going forward.

If you have never been to the Yarmouth Shark Scramble, it is well worth the trip to Yarmouth. In 2012, the Yarmouth Shark Scramble runs from August 15-18. If you need directions, see the Google Map below…

Thresher sharks are large lamniform sharks of the family Alopiidae found in all temperate and tropical oceans of the world; the family contains three species, all within the genus Alopias.

Species

The three extant thresher shark species are all in the genus Alopias. The possible existence of a hitherto unrecognized fourth species was revealed during the course of a 1995 allozyme analysis by Blaise Eitner. This species is apparently found in the eastern Pacific off Baja California, and has before been misidentified as the bigeye thresher. Thus far, it is only known from muscle samples and no aspect of its morphology has been documented.

Alopias pelagicus H. Nakamura, 1935 (pelagic thresher)
Alopias superciliosus R. T. Lowe, 1841 (bigeye thresher)
Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre, 1788) (common thresher)

Phylogeny and evolution

Based on cytochrome b genes, Martin and Naylor (1997) concluded the thresher sharks form a monophyletic sister group to the clade containing the families Cetorhinidae (basking shark) and Lamnidae (mackerel sharks). The megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) was placed as the next-closest relative to these taxa, though the phylogenetic position of that species has yet to be resolved with confidence. Cladistic analyses by Compagno (1991) based on morphological characters, and Shimada (2005) based on dentition, have both corroborated this interpretation.

Within the family, an analysis of allozyme variation by Eitner (1995) found the common thresher is the most basal member, with a sister relationship to a group containing the unrecognized fourth Alopias species and a clade comprising the bigeye and pelagic threshers. However, the position of the undescribed fourth species was only based on a single synapomorphy (derived group-defining character) in one specimen, so some uncertainty in its placement remains.

Distribution and habitat

Although occasionally sighted in shallow, inshore waters, thresher sharks are primarily pelagic; they prefer the open ocean, venturing no deeper than 500 metres (1,600 ft). Common threshers tend to be more common in coastal waters over continental shelves. Common thresher sharks are found along the continental shelves of North America and Asia of the North Pacific, but are rare in the Central and Western Pacific. In the warmer waters of the Central and Western Pacific, bigeye and pelagic thresher sharks are more common. A thresher shark was seen on the live video feed from one of the ROVs monitoring BP’s Macondo oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. This is significantly deeper than the 500m previously thought to be their limit.

Anatomy and appearance

Named for and easily recognised by their exceptionally long, thresher-like tail or caudal fins (which can be as long as the total body length), thresher sharks are active predators; the tail is actually used as a weapon to stun prey. The thresher shark has a short head and a cone shaped nose. The mouth is generally small, and the teeth range in size from small to large. By far the largest of the three species is the common thresher, Alopias vulpinus, which may reach a length of 6.1 metres (20 ft) and a weight of over 500 kilograms (1,100 lb). The bigeye thresher, Alopias superciliosus, is next in size, reaching a length of 4.9 m (16 ft); at just 3 m (10 ft), the pelagic thresher, Alopias pelagicus, is the smallest.

Thresher sharks are fairly slender, with small dorsal fins and large, recurved pectoral fins. With the exception of the bigeye thresher, these sharks have relatively small eyes positioned to the forward of the head. Coloration ranges from brownish, bluish or purplish gray dorsally with lighter shades ventrally. The three species can be roughly distinguished by the main color of the dorsal surface of the body. Common threshers are dark green, bigeye threshers are brown and pelagic threshers are generally blue. Lighting conditions and water clarity can affect how any one shark appears to an observer, but the color test is generally supported when other features are examined.

Diet

Pelagic schooling fish (such as bluefish, juvenile tuna, and mackerel), squid and cuttlefish are the primary food items of the thresher sharks. They are known to follow large schools of fish into shallow waters. Crustaceans and the odd seabird are also taken.

Behaviour

Thresher sharks are solitary creatures which keep to themselves. It is known that thresher populations of the Indian Ocean are separated by depth and space according to gender. All species are noted for their highly migratory or oceanodromous habits. When hunting schooling fish, thresher sharks are known to “slap” the water, herding and stunning prey. The elongated tail is used to swat smaller fish, stunning them before feeding. Thresher sharks are one of the few shark species known to jump fully out of the water, making turns like dolphins, this behaviour is called breaching.

Endothermy

Two species of the thresher have been identified as having a modified circulatory system that acts as a counter-current heat exchanger, which allows them to retain metabolic heat. The mackerel sharks (Lamnidae family) have a similar homologous structure to this which is more extensively developed. This structure is a strip of red muscle along each of its flanks, which has a tight network of blood vessels that transfer metabolic heat inward towards the core of the shark, allowing it to maintain and regulate its body heat.

Reproduction

No distinct breeding season is observed by thresher sharks. Fertilization and embryonic development occur internally; this ovoviviparous or live-bearing mode of reproduction results in a small litter (usually two to four) of large well-developed pups, up to 150 cm at birth in thintail threshers. The young fish exhaust their yolk sacs while still inside the mother, at which time they begin feeding on the mother’s unfertilized eggs; this is known as oophagy.

Thresher sharks are slow to mature; males reach sexual maturity between seven and 13 years of age and females between eight and 14 years in bigeye threshers. They may live for 20 years or more.

Importance to humans

Threshers have a low fecundity, like all large sharks, and are highly vulnerable to overfishing. Besides being hunted for its meat, threshers are also hunted for their liver oil, skin (for leather), and their fins, for use in shark-fin soup.

They do not appear to be a threat to humans, although some divers have been hit with the upper tail lobe. A dubious account of a fisherman being decapitated by a tail swipe as the shark breached has been reported.

Thresher sharks are classified as prized game fish in the United States and South Africa. Common thresher sharks are the target of a popular recreational fishery off Baja, Mexico. Thresher sharks are managed in some areas for their value as both a recreational sport fish and commercial species.

Scientific classification   Kingdom: Animalia   Phylum: Chordata   Class: Chondrichthyes   Subclass: Elasmobranchii   Order: Lamniformes   Family: Alopiidae Bonaparte, 1838   Genus: Alopias Rafinesque, 1810   Type species Alopias macrourus Rafinesque, 1810   Synonyms Alopecias Müller and Henle, 1837 Alopius Swainson, 1838 Vulpecula Jarocki, 1822

2nd place Jamie Boudreau on the M/V Matador, Captain Perry Amirault

3rd place Sandy Patten on the M/V James and Wilbert, Captain Mike Nickerson

Mike Nickerson, our 1st place winner, had the good fortune to have the film crew from Land and Sea aboard.   The show can be seen in the CBC archives by clicking this link.

Largest shark caught by Chad Graham from the boat Tykisha J – 439lb – blue shark

2nd place – Brandon McNicol from the boat Matador – 362lb – blue shark

3rd place – Darin Lowe from the boat Knot to Sure – 356lb – blue shark

15 boats and 109 participants registered.  44 sharks were caught.  42 were tournament sharks and 2 were tagged sharks.

If there was ever a year to go fishing it was this year! Lots of sunshine and calm seas made for one of our best shark derbies yet. Activities included a bounce pirate ship for children, air brush tattoos, fish pond and photo opt, shark trivia and give a ways and live music.

Winner of the Grand Stage Prize winner was Jack Wells from the boat Go For Broke. A very happy Jack won a Zodiac boat and motor generously donated by Nordic Marine Ltd.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED MAKE THIS YEAR’S SHARK SCRAMBLE SUCH A GREAT SUCCESS!!

2nd place-Daniel Muise Jr. 370lb Blue Shark M/V Rebecca Lynn $2500.00

3rd place-IanMcnicol, 348lb blue shark M/V Matador, Captain Perry Amiro

There were 19 Boats and 167 participants multiply that by 3 and you have 501 shark folks.

In 2008 we had the “Wild Chef” do a production for the famous Food Network channel. Chef Martin Picard (No not the star trek guy!) and Hugue Dufor proved that almost all of a shark can be eaten.

The grand stage prize winner last year was Clive Deeble from team Iqaluit,Nunavut on the M/V Sheila And Heidi. Which happened to be a 20 h.p. lawn tractor. We’re sure that came in handy up north

2nd place M/V Matador, Jamie Boudreau 337.7 blue  $2500.00

3rd place M/V Tykisha-J, Kenny Graham 326.7 lb blue  $1000.00

High boat average Trinity 2004, Captain Mike Nickerson total wt. of 1637.7 lbs. avg. wt. 272.95 lbs  $1000.00

The grand stage prize went to Brian Mckay, M/V Lady Anne Marie : a trip for 2 down south

The electric scooter went to Randy Ritchie, M/V Little Maco

There were 18 vessels entered with 147 participants 118 sharks were caught with a total wt. of 23,439 lbs. All sharks caught were blue shark with the exception of one which was a thresher shark.

A Pair of Stormline Pants
I.M.P. Ltd. Yarmouth Division

$100.00 Gift Certificate from Vernon Deon’s

Clean and Shine for a Year
Compliments of the Shine Factory

Helly Hansen Vest and a Pair of Bekina Boots
From I.M.P.

ISO Pro Pants and Jacket
A Pair of Rapala Sunglasses
Rainbow Nets and Rigging

A Coil of Rope
I.M.P. Ltd

A $200.00 Gift Certificate
Vernon Deon’s

A Set of Stormline Gear Pants and Jacket
I.M.P. Ltd

A Complete Set of Thermal Underwear
A Pullover Combo Rain Gear
A Normark Knife
Rainbow Nets and Rigging

A Pair of Bekina Boots
A Helly Hansen Vest
A Waterproof Viking Boga Chill Jacket
I.M.P. Ltd

A $300.00 Gift Certificate
Vernon Deon’s

3 0riginal Sketches of the Arctic Seal Hunt
Signed By the Artist
Team Iqaluit from Nunavut

A Hand Carved Soap Stone Walrus
Signed By the Artist
An Inuit Skinning Knife
Team Iqaluit from Nunavut

A $400.00 Gift Certificate
Vernon Deon’s

A Marble Patio Set
Pleasant Supplies Timbr Mart

A Shark Rod and Reel
Lequille Country Store

A Shark Rod and a 2 Speed Reel
Hiliner Net and Gear

An Electric Scooter
Nordic Marine Power Inc.

A Trip for 2 down South
Grand Prize Sponsor Rudders Restaurant