Behemoth Salmon Shark May Spawn New World Record

The Valdez Star: "Behemoth Salmon Shark May Spawn New World Record
By Lee Revis
Editor, Valdez Star
VALDEZ- In a bold quest to break a world record currently held by a friend, Thomas Farmer, an avid big game hunter and fisherman from Galveston, Texas landed a whopping 365 pound salmon shark last week. �That�s what the whole point of the trip was,� said Bob Sanford, captain of the Alutiiq Sea, a private charter boat based out of the Valdez small boat harbor.
While other fish tales abound about bigger and longer sharks in Alaskan waters, so far no one has landed such a large shark under the rules and guidelines set forth by the International Game Fish Association or IGFA, the official score keepers for record sized sport fish from around the world.
�There�s all kinds of rules,� said Farmer as he waited on the Alutiiq Sea for the scales along the dock of Peter Pan Seafoods to make the time to weigh the shark. One of the criteria to claim a world record is that the fish has to be weighed on a certified scale. �We did everything by the rules,� said Farmer.
And there are plenty of rules. According to Rebecca Reynolds, the World Record Administrator for IGFA, every step of the fishing process has to be well documented and witnessed, detailed photos must be taken so biologists can positively identify the species of fish and the fish, or shark in this case, must be caught with standard tackle and must be reeled in by hand by the angler.
Fortunately Farmer had done his homework before setting out on his odyssey and claims to have followed the rules to a T. �Nobody could touch the rod but the angler,� he stated, while showing off the line.
The current record holder, his friend Ken Higginbotham, pulled in a 230 pounder back in 2002 on a boat out of Cordova and holds the record for an all-tackle catch under the rules of IGFA. The two have had a r"