After Mark Quartiano – but you can call him “Mark the Shark” – received a video of a shark being dragged behind a boat over social media, he immediately posted it on his account. It appeared that the men wanted him to post it so they could have their moment in the spotlight. They got their spotlight, just not in the way they wanted.
“They said, ‘Hi, I think you’re gonna get a kick out of this,” Quartiano stated.
He didn’t post the video for his usual reason of highlighting an awesome video though. He posted the video with the hopes of identifying and catching the three men who can be seen on the boat that’s pulling the shark in the boat’s wake.
To say they were just “pulling” the shark is a bit of an understatement. It looked more like they were trying to see if a shark was a good choice for a makeshift kite.
“I was horrified,” Quartiano said. “I’ve been shark fishing for 50 years and I’ve never seen a disrespect for an animal my entire career that was that evil.”
The video has racked up some serious views with nearly 350,000 between Mark’s Facebook and Instagram.
Mark actually messaged the men and told them what they had done was wrong before he actually posted the video. They chose to respond by sending him a picture of the sharks head and what was left of it after their stunt.
“They thought it was funny, they thought it was cool,” he said. “Even if the shark was dead, you don’t do that. It’s totally disrespectful.”
Fortunately, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have confirmed that they’ve identified the men in the video, although their names won’t be released until the investigation has ended, according to FWC spokesman Rob Klepper.
“It is too early to speculate as to what, if any, violations took place in this incident,” announced the FWC. “However, the FWC would like to state that that the lack of respect shown in this video for our precious natural resources is disheartening and disturbing, and is not representative of conservation-minded anglers around the world.”
