Texas Shark Rodeo
 
Tagging, Fin Clip & Catch Submission Rules and Requirements
 
1) Read the rules!!! It is the responsibility of all participants in the Texas Shark Rodeo to read, understand, and comply with all of the fishing, photo, & tagging rules and requirements of the tournament. If you have a question do not hesitate to contact us via the CONTACT US TAB 
 
2) Minimum Size for tagging sharks is 32 inches. Please be careful with smaller sharks during the tagging process, the stainless steel dart tag must stay in the muscle tissue and not puncture into the organ cavity or hit the vertebral column. Small sharks have a very thin muscle layer at the base of the dorsal so make sure to slide the tag just under the skin away from the vertebral column. Never apply a hit with your hand or other device to the tag applicator to insert, seriously wounding the shark can result from inserting too deep.
 
3) There is no minimum size of shark regarding fin clip harvesting, we will accept any size and any species of shark for a successful fin clip DNA sample.The fin clip sample vial & thoroughly filled out fin clip info slip must be mailed to TSR/Sharkathon and postmarked within 21 days of harvesting the sample to remain viable for DNA testing and consideration of bonus points. It is understood that for anglers to participate in the fin clip sampling and receive bonus points within TSR that they assume the costs of ground only shipping in returning the samples to TSR. To prepare for return make sure to seal up the vial very well with a firm twist of the cap to prevent any ethanol from leaking out, then place a piece of tape over the lid securing it into place. Please place vials into a zip lock bag with adequate paper towel padding surrounding it, use boxes only, do not ship in an envelope. The 70% ethanol solution supplied within the vial's we provided to you is safe to ship via parcel post at the post office and ground shipping from any other carrier. Do not ship by air, overnight, priority mail, or any other mail delivery service that will entail the act of air transport, ground transport only for the fin clip samples. The mailing address for Sharkathon is on the back of the Fin Clip Slip and the bottom of this page.
 
4) For a catch submission to qualify all required data must be collected and turned in. Please familiarize yourself with all the required data on the tag slips provided by TSR. All required information for a submission is on that tag slip. Total length is measured in a straight line from the tip of snout to the longest length of tail, hold ruler tight do not follow contours of shark. Fork length is measured in a straight line from the tip of snout to the inside of tail. Girth is measured around the thickest part of the shark between pectoral and dorsal fins.
 
5) GPS location data is required for submission. Location data is important for the process of all scientific studies TSR is contributing to. TSR will not release to the general public any location data of catches submitted. Additional information regarding ways to obtain GPS coordinates is located at the bottom of the page under this numbered list.
 
6) In order for any points, bonus or normal to be awarded the data must be collected and reported as per TSR requirements. Team captains are the only participants that have a TSR login with permissions to access the catch submission form on the TSR website.
 
7) Team captains are responsible for all data submitted using their login. If at any time a TSR account is suspect of being compromised please contact TSR via the CONTACT US form and we will get the passwords changed.
 
8) Team captains please understand that you cannot create another login on the TSR website and expect that new login to have captain permissions. If you have any issues with login and or passwords you need to contact TSR via the CONTACT US form on the website and allow us to fix the problem.
 
9) Time limit for a catch to be submitted will be 20 days from the date of the catch, at the end of the tournament all submissions must be completed within 20 days from final day of tournament.
 
10) Due to the process of catch submission being automated, all catches, points, and bonus points are subject to review.  The review process will involve contacting the team captains if more information or photos are needed. If adequate information cannot be provided to clarify a review, points and or bonus points may be revoked.
 
Ruling on catch data transfers due to teammate changes as of 4-29-21:
 
This is to protect catch data from being removed from the accessible database for tagging and DNA studies.
 
All changes discussed below refer to only the current active year, we will not be going into past years and changing data.
 
If a team wishes to replace teammates who have catches already entered into the system, there will have to be a working solution devised on a case by case basis handled with TSR via email for the catch data to remain in the system. The catch data is the priority and will have to remain in the system to be accessible via all existing search queries already set up by TSR and HRI. See examples below for how requests have been dealt with. This will only be done upon request of the team captain via TSR contact page.
 
If a team wishes to have teammates removed who have catches already and not fill the openings with new teammates the catch data will have to remain with the team for the active year and teammates not removed.
 
If a team wishes to remove a teammate who has no catch data, this is a TSR admin deletion that can be done with no data issues. This will only be done upon request of the team captain via TSR contact page.
 
Examples:
Due to participants on a team splitting up and another team being formed the catch data will have to deleted from the existing database and then submitted again by the new team to prevent duplicity in the data. A note will be entered into the data of the deletion and resubmission to prevent confusion in the future. The catch data for a current year will be primarily the property of the participant and not the team in this type of situation. The data is entered into the database in the following order year, team, angler, catch info and any changes to the team will require several edits by TSR. It is our ruling at this time that the parties involved will be required to enter the data again as requested to have the database remain accessible to all existing queries set up by TSR for official HRI access.
 
Due to teammates with catch data no longer participating in the current year for whatever reason but not being replaced on a team, the data will remain as originally submitted and remain attributed to the team standings. Any other action will make the data inaccessible to current data structures.
 
Any further examples needed to solve situations as time goes by will be added below.
 
 
Additional GPS information:
In order for the data being gathered to be beneficial to the scientific community the location given must be as accurate as possible. GPS coordinates are the ideal format for location, and we will cover a couple of techniques to obtain that data. 
Handheld GPS devices will obviously give you an easy source of GPS coordinates. 
With an adequate signal, modern day smart phones like the iPhone can use the compass app to display coordinates Other phones have similar apps that can report accurate GPS data.
Some phones that have this GPS capability can also utilize various apps to get you GPS coordinates without a cell signal.  It may take up to 15 minutes to get a lock of your location without a cell signal, but it will work on a lot of today's “smart” phones. Please research online for specific information regarding your individual phone prior to you trip to have a working solution before you need it.  
You can obtain your GPS coordinates for a location online using Google Maps. For example using Google Maps, Earth view enabled, place the cursor on the exact location you were fishing and then right click your mouse, then choose "What's Here" from the window that pops up. A small window will appear with the GPS coordinates for that location.
In addition to the GPS location data, please give detailed descriptions of the location to aid researchers. Examples, if at a jetty indicate north or south jetty with the channel name. Also include if you were fishing inside or outside of the channel.  If at a beach, indicate how many miles from the nearest landmark or known position like PINS 20MM or 5 miles north of beach access #19.
 
 
 
 
All rules and requirements are subject to change during the tournament. Please review all rules and requirements by clicking the various links located under the "Rules & Info" tab. It is understood that a catch prior to an update of these rules is exempt.
 
Mailing Address:
SHARKATHON
14493 South Padre Island Drive Suite A #1428
Corpus Christi, Texas 78418