Mark Davis Launches Shark Slaughter
Jun 9th, 2007 by Brian Hurlburt
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Mark Davis of YarmouthGuide.com and Colovo.com, recently featured in the Commerce Magazine as recipient of the 2006 Youth Entrepreneur Award, and son of Dick Davis of Sentinel Printing, has launched a new Web Site taking aim at the Yarmouth Shark Scramble.
Davis’ new Web Site, SharkSlaughter.com, usher’s forth Mark’s Animal Rights agenda and takes aim at destroying one of Yarmouth’s major summer events.
In fact not only has Davis built his own Site protesting the Yarmouth Shark Scramble, he has also started a Shark Slaughter Face Book Group to enlist activists! One of which is Jeff DeViller, creator of the Yarmouth Shark Scramble Web Site! (No wonder the Shark Scramble Site is so poorly done — SEO Score of only 60% and 0% Meta Relevancy!)
The Commerce Magazine article describes Davis as a coding multilinguist freelancer, web designer, with a charismatic flair.
I’m sure organizers of the Yarmouth Shark Scramble have another description! Davis’ Site SharkSlaughter.com encourages Site visitors to email Event Coordinator Heather McClelland, Mayor Charles Crosby, and Steve Campana of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans protesting the Shark Scramble.
In addition to the email and contact information for the Event organizers, Davis’ Site also provides a link to a list of Event Sponsors. Further attacking businesses like Spears & MacLeod, W.L. Nelson, Motor Mart, Pleasant Supplies, and Ellis Print (an alternative to Sentinel Printing).
These Organizers and proud Sponsors need not be ridiculed, but thanked, for supporting the Yarmouth Shark Scramble.
The Yarmouth Shark Scramble has contributed greatly to Yarmouth in many ways. The spin off of the event is in the area of $500,000 per year which helps support the local non-profit, tourism, and business sectors.
All the meat is used for human consumption and proceeds from the meat is used to help support a number of local non-profits, including $30,000 of the proceeds that was given to the local Mariners Centre.
So, what are we to think of Mark Davis, our 2006 Youth Entrepreneur, protesting one of Yarmouth’s premier events, an event that helps support our non-profit, business, and tourism communities???
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Hi Brian:
Interesting topic. You seemed pretty neutral until the end of the piece. Given that sharks are one of the ocean’s most endangered species, would we be doing this if it wasn’t for the money? I did not see one ethical, moral or human need fulfilling argument given for this activity. The food consumption argument is certainly a by-product. Would we do this if it wasn’t for the money?
That is, is the Shark Scramble the old prostitution argument? “I wouldn’t really do this given my upbringing, but, given the high level of the income …”
So, maybe Mark is right on line. There is no reason to kill sharks for recreational gratification. We do it because of the money and add some “nice” side arguments to fix our conscience.
Hi Brian,
The link to Commerce Magazine should be {http://www.latitudepublishing.com/}, right now it links to Cook’s Dairy Farm.
Please consider rewriting your comment about Jeff DeViller. The article makes Jeff and other group members sound like activists - which they are not. How does his participation in the discussion relate to the quality of the websites he develops?
Thank you for mentioning Shark Slaughter on your website, many people have congratulated me on it. I’d greatly appreciate if you could remove the link to my father’s business, as it is causing some confusion in the community.
Hi Brian:
I must say that I applaud Mark for his willingness to speak out on something about which he feels passionate. I have been against this activity since arriving in Yarmouth, but have not taken an action on that opinion myself, so I am delighted that someone with the appropriate computer skills and venue has taken it up.
I would also like to state that I do not think it is fair to pull Sentinel Printing into the fray. I/you/we have no idea how Mark’s parents feel about this issue, as they have not spoken out publicly. Remember, not all parents and children share the same opinions and/or passions. That seems an unfair economic burdon to place on them.
Sue
I know Mark Davis fairly well and he is a good guy BUT he doesn’t think about and doesn’t care about how he is presenting his argument. To him its bad and that is all there is to it. It is no worse than hunting and actually probably more beneficial. Why are sharks better than deer? He is just another “activist” with something to complain about.
He is wasting everyones time and harassing people who are only working to help Yarmouth. The people listed on SharkSlaughter.com should make a website about how Mark Davis is unwilling to see how ridiculous he is being and how he is trying to ruin a beneficial Yarmouth tradition. They could put his name, email address, and phone number on the site and let him be harassed as well.
One side note, you said “No wonder the Shark Scramble Site is so poorly done”. Sorry to tell you but http://yarmouthcounty.com is butt ugly.
I appreciate any publicity I can get, but after reading your blog I feel I have to clear my name a bit.
First, as Mark has mentioned, I am in no way an activist. I believe that the Shark Scramble brings in 1000s of tourists and a lot of revenue for Yarmouth. When I saw the Yarmouth Shark Scramble group and their personal opinions bashing the shark scramble I stepped in, hoping to steer the conversation from irrelevant comments like “Killing sharks is gross” to more productive comments like alternative events that could bring in an equal amount of tourists and revenue without upsetting this group of people.
Mark Davis is right to open the floor to the possibility of an alternative event. It is not unreasonable to say that hunting sharks for sport may be unjust. However a facebook group tends to lean towards personal attacks and opinions as opposed to reasonable discussion.
I believe that a compromise can be made. The purpose of the Shark Scramble is to increase tourism and revenue for Yarmouth and the regions surrounding it. In years to come, I hope to see suggestions made and considered and a day when the Shark Scramble is replaced with an event that better suits Yarmouth’s goals.
Secondly, and more important, the reason that the Yarmouth Shark Scramble Website is no good, is not because I didn’t put effort into it, but because it was one of the first websites I had ever created and it turns out I’m not very good at it. Hopefully they’ll have some one redo it like the playarmouthevents.com website, which I might add looks great!
And thank you Mark for the rebuttal. I appreciate it.
Thanks for mentioning the Shark Slaughter Facebook group. I joined it at once. I hate the Shark Scramble with a passion and can’t wait till the day that it ends.
Pointing out that it helped build the Mariner’s Centre that replace my beloved Exhibition Grounds really didn’t gain much for this argument, in my opinion anyway.
As for equating the shark scramble with deer hunting, well guess what, I hate that too. It gets really annoying having to chase people off of posted land because they bought a license and now they think they have to kill whatever they like whereever they like.
No wonder people from outside this insular little area think that we are hicks…we are.
We can’t find anything more constructive to do than kill a bunch of innocent creatures for our entertainment.
As I say, I can’t wait till the day that the shark scramble sees it’s last day. Till that day comes I guess I will just avoid the downtown area during that week.