SACGB Simplify the measurement process
For many years the club has requested girth, nose to fork of tail and nose to tip of tail measurements when a trophy, record or membership application is being submitted. The nose to tip of tail dimension was in a sense a control measurement but was never used in the estimated weight calculation. Additionally with full membership criteria now being based on length and not weight, the committee have decided that the nose to tip of tail dimension is no longer required.
This simplifies the process and will reduce the time a shark is out of the water if it is being measured which is obviously a good thing.
Blue Sharks account for the vast majority of membership claims and consequently the 70″ minimum length nose to fork of tail is engraved in our memory banks.
However Thresher, Porbeagle and Mako are caught around our coastline and with their weight to length profile being entirely different from the Blue Shark they require different qualifying lengths. The minimum qualifying lengths for full membership for these species are given below. These have been derived by using the Apex Predator weight calculator provided by our tagging partner, NOAA.
Thresher qualifying length – 48″ nose to fork of tail
Porbeagle qualifying length – 55″ nose to fork of tail
Mako qualifying length – 58″ nose to fork of tail