Photo credit: southjerseytournaments.com

Sharks are the top predators of the oceans. To some fishermen, catching them is the ultimate test of skill. Food connoisseurs prize their meat and fins. But some environmentalists and other groups are concerned these creatures may be fished into extinction. The Humane Society of the United States, a large animal-protection group based in Washington D.C., and Fishpond Inc., a Colorado-based fishing gear company, sent protest letters in December urging two Cape May tournaments - the South Jersey and Cape May shark contests- and six other tournaments in Maine, Maryland, and New York, to stop killing the animals.