● During the 65th-annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament in North Carolina this past June, a surprising controversy took place: the disqualification of the tournament-winning marlin. The crew aboard landed a 619.4-pound blue marlin, easily the largest caught throughout the event, and the crew expected to win more than $3.5 million. Upon closer inspection, however, tournament weighmasters noticed that the marlin had several bite marks near its tail, indicating that it had been mutilated during the fight by a shark or other oceanic predator. According to the tournament rules, the bite(s) led to the disqualification. While ’s encounter might appear to be a rare occurrence to the non-angling community, it sheds light on a burgeoning problem in our oceans—a