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October
2001
Offshore Magazine
WHEN HUMANS ATTACK
A record-setting mako shark is reeled in during a
Martha’s Vineyard fishing tournament.
By Dan Mathers
You can call it a sea monster. You can call it a
record-setter. Just don’t call it late for dinner.
A giant mako shark weighing more than a half a ton
surely had its share of meals over the years. But in
July it finally bit off more than its mighty jaws could
chew when a Martha’s Vineyard fisherman reeled it in
during a shark tournament. The 1,221-pound predator is
believed to be a world-record catch.
The behemoth was caught by 27-year-old Chris Peters of
Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard, during the Boston Big
Game Fishing Club’s 15th annual Monster Shark
Tournament. Peters was a most unlikely conqueror of the
giant shark because his 24-foot boat was the smallest in
the tournament.
Peters was more than 15 miles offshore when he hooked
the beast, and it took him three hours to finally bring
it in. After bringing it back to shore, he had to wait
another two hours while heavy equipment was found that
could lift the shark onto the dock. When measured, the
shark was more than 12 feet long.
The previous world record was set in 1988 for a
1,115-pound mako caught off the coast of Africa.
Peters donated the meat from his catch to the Greater
Boston Food Bank. The meat from this shark amounted to
roughly 4,800 meal servings.
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