#his presence reduces Vaders kill count

[violentbirds]

Anyway I got back into starwars again and this fanfic^ by @jackdaw-kraai has been one of my faves. Vader redemption, found family, BAMF Luke, world building, & humor.

Here’s some illustrations & sketches

[purpureumwrites]

Darth Vader x Reader | Twin Moons | Chapter 3

A/N: At first, I was determined to get to the passionate stuff at this point. But after really thinking about it, it felt too soon. I’m also a bit unsure still about to approach it, since the anatomical part with Vader is more complicated than usual. I don’t want to make it completely OOC or not make sense. Let me know what you think!

Summary: The connection between Vader and you intensifies.

Chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6

Warning: None.

Word Count: 1k.

Tag List: @shads121​ @aemorr-5885​

The wind ruffled your hair. A column of smoke raised behind the fortress in the hill. On the path to the stone walls, a few fires destroyed the wooden houses. You waited next to the ship with several stormtroopers while Vader walked back down, not a single scratch on him but a few soldiers missing. The fine white sand under his feet clashed with the stark black of his clothes.

You were frustrated. You were ready to do something useful. The idea of joining the Empire didn’t hold too much meaning but you wanted to help. Since Vader had started bringing you to missions with him, the deal was always the same: he got off the ship, intimidated or killed to death whoever refused his orders and left. At most, you had exchanged a few words with some locals. Your presence was not needed, that was obvious. Why didn’t they give you some easy assignment that you could complete on your own?

Vader entered the ship in silence followed by the soldiers. You stood in place for one second too long for him not to notice. You shared a look and went up the ladder. Words were scarce between you.  They were not needed when emotions flew between you like electricity through a cable. You weren’t bothered by it. You were so overwhelmed by the new life he had led you to that you didn’t question it. On the other hand, he hated it. It was intoxicating and distracting, and it was increasingly making him feel out of control. There was no room for any of that in the position he was in.

 A few days later, you were on one of Lord Vader’s routine visits to Coruscant, where he informed and got new instructions from the Emperor. For some reason, which of course you wouldn’t be informed of, this time you were scheduled to stay in the city for two days.

You had decided you were going to make the most out of the situation. As the evening approached, you started getting ready, taking a shower and putting on more “going out” clothes than your uniform. After a quick investigation, you chose a club to go to and looked for its location. The only thing that was bothering you was the fact that you had no one to go with. You spent your time alone or with Vader, or with the inquisitors on rare occasions. There wasn’t really a chance to make friends or any kind of meaningful relationship. Was that even allowed?

A few weeks ago, the number of inquisitors had suddenly been reduced by two. Vader had executed them, causing a mess in the city and the death of a gran senator, and the Inquisitorious Base was moved off world. The mood between the group never seemed too friendly, but it had turned more tense and silent than ever before. You found out, from two of them whispering in some deserted hallway, that the two inquisitors were romantically involved. Even though the rules weren’t clear, you wouldn’t dare ask about it to Vader.

 The city was buzzing that night. There streets were full of people, different species, different styles… Some with tired expressions and still on working clothes, some clearly ready for a night of fun. After walking around for a little while you reached the venue with the neon sign you were looking for.

When Vader returned to his room for the night, he felt something was different. He turned around and walked all the way to yours. Empty. Where would you go this late? Hesitant, he stepped into the room and let the door close behind him. He looked around. There were a few clothes on the chair, including your uniform. He sat on the bed.

At some point during those last few weeks, maybe months already, he developed the notion that you belonged to him, not in a romantic way, that ship had sailed a long time ago, but in a he had the power to own whoever he wanted kind of way. No one would question it, you were his subordinate and he was your only superior. He was entitled. The rest would rarely interact with you, his shadow casted over you wherever you went. Only he was seen giving you orders or training you, and he kept you close at all times. For some reason, your outing seemed a bit like a betrayal, not a very surprising one, he had to admit, since you were young and had never been in a place like that before, but he was concerned about what else you could be looking for out there. After all, you weren’t pursuing power or trying to climb up the imperial ranks. There was room for other things in your life.  

Not anymore.

 While you were walking through the halls to your chambers, your mind was still very busy. It had been exciting. People was so open in the city, they cared so little, they danced, dressed and kissed as if there was no one else. You didn’t feel like you belonged there. You yearned for some of it, the physical attention, the release. It was unexpected how much lonelier you felt surrounded by so many people, connected to none. Even the cold stone walls of the temple had a warmth you were used to.

As you reached your door, a familiar feeling interrupted your thoughts. You cleared your throat before taking a step forward and the door opened for you. The lights were off, but you could distinguish a black shadow on your bed accompanied by a rhythmic breathing.

“Enjoyed your little trip?”

“Yes… my Lord”

“Did you find what you were looking for?”

You had been wondering if he was pulling some force trick on you. Even a non-force-sensitive could feel the intrusion of someone getting into their mind but, after all, he was extremely talented.

“I… not really”, you answered, staring at your feet.

He didn’t like the glimpse of relieve he felt. He could feel your disappointment, he didn’t actually need a verbal answer, but he wanted the confirmation. He also wanted to see how honest you would be with him. He patted the bed with his left hand. Hesitant, you sat next to him. In the dark, you barely noticed him turn his head to look at you.

“I will help you”

[terryblount]

Star Wars Battlefront 2 Another Night on Endor Update available for download, full patch notes

Electronic Arts and DICE have released a brand new update for Star Wars Battlefront 2. According to the release notes, the Star Wars Battlefront 2 Another Night on Endor Update focuses on new appearances and reinforcements tweaks. It also expands the co-op mode and introduces the New Endor map.

Going into more details, two new appearances arrive this month. These new appearances will be for Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. Both of these heroes will receive Battle of Yavin themed appearance.

As said, the team will be also expanding Co-Op this month. As such, players will now have the ability to defend on each of the planets. Whereas previously you’ve only been able to play as the attacking team, this time around you’ll be tasked to dig your heels in deep and defend your command posts.

Lastly, in the revamped Endor map, players will venture forth into the forest moon of Endor. The ambush begins as the Ewoks attack the unsuspecting stormtroopers. Each defeated stormtrooper spawns as another Ewok, multiplying until the Empire’s forces have been completely eliminated, and the Ewok celebration can begin.

As always, Origin will download this latest update for Battlefront 2. Below you can also find its complete changelog.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 Another Night on Endor Update Release Notes

FEATURES

Felucia is now available on Heroes Vs. Villains.

New Endor map added to Ewok Hunt mode.

Faction selection and Defend scenarios added to CO-OP.

New appearances for Luke Skywalker and Han Solo will become available to unlock with Credits or Crystals, or through a special challenge.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Redesigned the Abilities Overlay screen, which now shows your equipped Star Cards. For relevant Hero characters, added an icon and information about the passive ability that lets them regain health when they defeat an enemy.

Tweaked the logic and timing of stagger animations to allow players to move easier after attacks.

All characters are now immune to staggers for 0.7 seconds after having been staggered. This is applicable to staggering abilities, melee and Lightsaber attacks.

Players will be able to move and use abilities out of a stagger 0.15 seconds earlier for all characters.

Reduced the time length of staggers when hit from behind by 0.15 seconds.

Health on Kill/Health on Damage Messaging

All Heroes except Bossk gain an amount of health when they defeat an enemy. This is now shown with a health icon and health bar animation as it takes effect.

The same messaging is implemented for the Clone Commando when he gains health (when dealing damage while Battle Focus ability is active.)

The same messaging is implemented for non-Heroes that get health on kill via the following Star Cards: Assault Training, Brawler, Stalker, Aerial Training, Enforcer Training.

Nameplate and Health Bar Readability Tweaks

Above Head: Added dark background to improve readability

Stamina Bar: Tweaked color for improved readability

Player Health Bar: Introduced visuals to more clearly define the amount of incoming damage you just took

Game Mode Messaging

Tweaked visuals to improve readability and align with overall style.

HERO CHANGES

Hero abilities will not get cancelled, when Heroes are hit with melee attacks. A melee attack right after a Lightsaber attack should not stagger the player.

Pass on all Hero abilities, letting players use them during or after being staggered, depending on the ability.

Count Dooku

Count Dooku – Duelist: Letting players use their abilities 0.3 seconds earlier and evade 0.15 seconds earlier

Count Dooku – Expose Weakness: Letting players use their abilities 0.15 seconds earlier and evade 0.15 seconds earlier

Count Dooku – Lightning Stun: Letting players move 0.15 seconds earlier

General Grievous

General Grievous – Thrust Surge: Letting players evade 0.3 seconds earlier. move and use their abilities 0.15 seconds earlier after hitting a target

General Grievous – Thrust Surge: Letting players evade 1 seconds earlier and use their abilities 0.4 seconds earlier after not hitting a target

Kylo Ren

Kylo Ren – Force Pull: Letting players move 0.1 seconds earlier

Anakin Skywalker

Anakin Skywalker – Passionate Strike: Letting players evade. move and use their abilities 0.1 seconds earlier

Anakin Skywalker – Retribution: Letting players their abilities 0.1 seconds earlier

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi – All-Out Push: Letting players evade, move and use their abilities 0.1 seconds earlier

Obi-Wan Kenobi – Defensive Rush: Letting players evade and move 0.15 seconds earlier. Players can use their abilities 0.1 seconds earlier

Emperor Palpatine

Emperor Palpatine – Electrocute: Letting players evade and use their abilities 0.05 seconds earlier. Players can move 0.1 seconds earlier

Emperor Palpatine – Chain Lightning: Letting players move and use their abilities 0.15 seconds earlier

Captain Phasma

Captain Phasma – Staff Strikes: Letting players move 0.6 seconds earlier and evade 0.4 seconds earlier

Darth Vader

Darth Vader – Focused Rage: Letting players move 0.4 seconds earlier

Fixed an issue that would cause several Hero abilities to cancel when performed at the same time as a dash / roll. Abilities affected:

Han Solo – Shoulder Charge

Emperor Palpatine – Dark Aura, Chain Lightning

Count Dooku – Duelist, Lightning Stun, Expose Weakness

Fixed an issue where Health-On-Kill would occasionally award the wrong amount of health when killing Troopers.

LIGHTSABER HEROES

Abilities are not staggering front-facing Heroes who are blocking. If a player blocks an ability coming from the front, the Hero will only perform a blocking animation, but will not get staggered by it. If a player blocks an ability coming from behind them, the Hero will be fully affected by the ability (blocking animation and staggering).

Blaster shots now drain stamina of blocking Heroes based on weapon damage, instead of a fixed value.

Fixed an issue where Lightsaber sound would keep playing, when dodging with the Lightsaber turned off.

Fixed an issue where deflected blaster shots were not shown properly as the cause of death.

Fixed an issue that would cause the wrong sound and UI effects to appear, when players are hurt or defeated by deflected blaster shots.

Fixed an issue where Lightsaber Heroes would still take damage after completing a dash.

KYLO REN

Resilience Star Card now states that it has damage reduction.

Damage reduction for the Resilience Star Card is now reduced 10-13-16-20 to 4-6-8-10%.

Added UI elements for increased Lightsaber damage when Kylo Ren had the Power of Darkness Star Card equipped and uses Frenzy.

LUKE SKYWALKER

Fixed an issue where Luke Skywalker’s Push ability could sometimes be refunded, despite hitting enemies.

GENERAL GRIEVOUS

Fixed an issue where the Thrust Surge ability could sometimes be refunded, despite hitting enemies.

Fixed an issue where using Thrust Surge on a moving target, would occasionally cause General Grievous to spin.

Fixed an issue that would cause General Grievous to get stuck after using Unrelenting Advance.

Fixed an issue where the Claw Rush ability could be reset when activating it when falling from certain heights.

Fixed an issue where General Grievous’ Unrelenting Advance ability would get cancelled by melee attacks.

EMPEROR PALPATINE

The Chain Lighting ability now shows the target number when available against opponents. Players cannot trigger it without having a target.

The staggering effect of Emperor Palpatine’s double-hand lightning attack has been removed. The stamina cost of the attack has been reduced from 20 to 16 points, increasing the sustain time from 5.5 to 6.5 seconds.

BOSSK

Increased the speed of the Predator Instincts animation, reducing its duration by 0.5 seconds.

Reduced the active time of the Proximity Mines from 0.3 to 0.1 seconds, allowing players to act earlier.

Reduced the active time of the Dioxis Grenade from 0.4 to 0 seconds, allowing players to act earlier.

CHEWBACCA

Fixed an issue where Chewbacca’s Charge Slam ability would occasionally affect enemies through walls.

YODA

Fixed an issue that would prevent Yoda’s Presence ability to work as intended and remove detrimental effects, when affected by an enemy’s immobilizing ability.

OBI-WAN KENOBI

Fixed an issue where Obi-Wan Kenobi would get damage reduction and immunity to enemy Force abilities, when trying to use All-Out Push at the same time as attacking with his Lightsaber or using another ability.

Fixed an issue where All-Out Push would get activated, but not trigger any animation or push if used at the same time as a Lightsaber strike.

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

Fixed an issue where Anakin’s Passionate Strike ability would not properly reset if the player was interrupted by an opponent.

Fixed an issue where Heroic Might was refunded when Anakin successfully triggered it, while no enemies are in range

IDEN VERSIO

Fixed an issue where Iden’s character model would occasionally change color while performing a combat roll.

COUNT DOOKU

Fixed an issue where count Dooku’s Expose Weakness would not be refunded if he killed his target.

GAME MODE AND MAP CHANGES

Enabled background ambience VFX on several Co-Op and Instant Action maps.

CO-OP

Co-Op is now accessible from the Frontend menu, through a special tile next to Single Player and Multiplayer. Players can then select the faction they want to play as.

Redesigned the Co-Op in-game scoreboard to focus only on the playing team.

Fixed an issue with lack of accurate objective messaging during phase shifts on Co-Op.

Fixed an issue where players would occasionally not show up correctly during the End-Of-Round Scoreboard screen on Co-Op.

Fixed an issue where 2 players would occasionally spawn in Out-Of-Bounds areas when playing Co-Op on Naboo.

Balancing and tweaking of several Co-Op maps, such as changing the amount of Command Posts in certain maps and phases.

INSTANT ACTION

All Star Cards, weapons and mods are now unlocked and fully upgraded on Instant Action.

Fixed an issue with text overlapping during End-Of-Round screens, when the player goes online right before the match ends.

Fixed an issue where the announcer would refer to Command Post D, when the player plays as a Separatist and loses command post C.

Fixed an issue where the VO audio for a new phase VO would occasionally not play.

Added option for setting number of AI players per team in Instant Action on PC.

EWOK HUNT

The Ewok’s Hunter’s Instincts ability now highlights enemies with full health in a different color than enemies with reduced health. It also highlights friendly Ewoks.

Ewoks can now move while activating their Valiant Horn.

Fixed a visual issue with the weapon issue occasionally not showing up, when opening the pick-up crate on Ewok Hunt.

Various collision fixed on the Endor map on Ewok Hunt.

Audio and visual improvements related to the arrival of the extraction shuttle on Ewok Hunt.

CAPITAL SUPREMACY

Added the cooling vents as the destruction objective during the last phase of the Separatist Dreadnought. Players are now required to shoot at the vents to reduce their health.

Fixed an issue where the End-Of-Round screen would appear during the final cinematic, when playing Capital Supremacy on Felucia.

HERO SHOWDOWN

Fixed an issue where players would be kicked out of a game as being inactive, while spectating another player.

HEROES VS. VILLAINS

Fixed an issue where players would occasionally not be able to clear their selection or pick another Hero, while in the Heroes Vs. Villains spawn screen.

MAP CHANGES

Various minor visual and VFX improvements on Felucia.

CHANGES TO CLASSES AND SPECIAL UNITSCLONE COMMANDO

Fixed an issue where the Clone Commando’s Repulsor Blast ability could not defeat enemy AI on Arcade.

Audio adjustments to the Clone Commando’s abilities.

JET TROOPER

Added a new default appearance for the Clone Jet Trooper.

DROIDEKA

Fixed an issue where the Droideka’s shield effect would cancel out any distortion screen effects caused by the Officer’s Flash Grenade.

GENERAL CHANGES/MISC

Distortion effects are now enabled when Post Process Quality is set to Low.

Fixed an issue that would cause Voice Over interruptions when the End-Of-Round screens show up.

Minor issues fixed on Single Player and Instant Action Front-End menus.

The post Star Wars Battlefront 2 Another Night on Endor Update available for download, full patch notes appeared first on DSOGaming.

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[ntrending]

The U.S. protects alpha predators, but its most famous shark hunter isn't out of business yet

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/the-u-s-protects-alpha-predators-but-its-most-famous-shark-hunter-isnt-out-of-business-yet/

The U.S. protects alpha predators, but its most famous shark hunter isn't out of business yet

Standing still is apparently no way to hook a shark. On a sunny Tuesday in May, I’m with Mark Quartiano, a fishing charter captain who unabashedly catches and kills these marine predators. We’re 5 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida’s coast aboard Striker-1, his 50-foot vessel, and prospects are good. The spring months usually yield great catches, so long as I don’t buck superstition.

“Don’t be a mannequin,” he says. “Move around. It’s bad luck not to.”

Soon, Ryan Wallach, Quartiano’s fishing buddy since 1996, rushes to the stern, where a resting fishing rod has just dipped, the telltale sign a shark’s on the line. Looking at me, Wallach shouts, “Get in the chair!” — an elevated, cushioned seat with a footrest for bracing oneself when wrestling large ocean creatures. I scramble up as he moves the heavy-duty rod from the stern to the chair, hooking it into place in front of me. I have 1,500 meters of tough nylon to work with, and for the next 20 minutes, I steadily reel it in, until the outline of an 8-foot hammerhead peeks through the water’s surface.

“Scalloped hammerhead,” Quartiano says, pointing out the indents in the cephalofoil, the term for its flattened, tool-shaped skull. Then he reaches into the water, grabs the shark’s head, and hauls it onto the deck.

Better known as Mark the Shark, Quartiano might be America’s most famous seafaring hunter. He’s operated his charter business since 1976, hooking and killing, by his estimate, at least 50,000 sharks. Clients as varied as Clint Eastwood and the Jacksonville Jaguars cheerleaders call him if they want a set of jaws, a trophy catch to mount, or just an adrenaline-packed excursion. Some 120,000 people follow his exploits on Instagram. Quartiano, 64, says he’d like nothing better than to hand the whole thing over to his son, Maverick, now 12, when he’s ready to retire.

But Quartiano’s way of life might be as threatened as the creatures he’s famous for catching. A recent university study concluded that perhaps 100 million sharks die annually worldwide, with commercial fishing the leading culprit. Yet in U.S. waters over the past few years, recreational angling — in tournaments, by solo enthusiasts, and on charter boats like Quartiano’s — emerged as the bigger hazard to the larger varieties: From 2012 to 2016, recreational fishing of sharks averaged 3.8 million pounds per year, compared to commercial fishing, which averaged 3.4 million pounds per year, according to NOAA Fisheries, an office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency counts six species as overfished, meaning their numbers are depleted: blacknose, dusky, porbeagle, sandbar, shortfin mako, and, as I later discovered, scalloped hammerhead.

Some sharks are endangered, and many more are in trouble. That’s led state and federal agencies that regulate fishing to increase rules aimed at rebuilding diminished populations and protecting others. Maintaining stable stocks is crucial for delicate marine ecosystems, which need large predators to keep the food chain in balance. In recent years, a schism has formed within the recreational fishing community between conservationists who strictly catch and release sharks and people like Quartiano, who refuses to throw off the hunter’s mantle. “I’m the Darth Vader of the fishing world,” he says unapologetically.

  The popularity of shark fishing as a pastime can be traced back to a man and a movie.

The man was the late Frank Mundus. A charter captain from Montauk, New York, he ran shark-hunting expeditions and popularized the phrase “monster fishing” in the 1960s. The movie was Jaws, Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster in which a great white terrorizes a sleepy summer beach town until an expedition led by the colorful captain Quint — widely thought to be modeled on Mundus — kills the behemoth.

Recreational shark hunting exploded after Jaws. Like Mundus, Quartiano got his start on Montauk, hooking a thresher shark when he was around 8 years old. In 1964, when he was 10, he moved to South Florida to join his father after his parents divorced. He started doing charter excursions post-Jaws in the late ’70s, often running two trips a day. Around this time, kill tournaments, in which anglers caught dozens of the fish and received cash prizes for bagging the biggest, proliferated along America’s coasts. For five straight years starting in 1979, Quartiano competed in and won the Marathon Jaycees World Championship Shark Tournament off the Florida Keys.

Today Quartiano’s pace has slowed slightly: 450 trips annually. Because of regulations, he now mostly catches and releases his quarry, mailing information about its physical characteristics to NOAA Fisheries after tagging the fish with a plastic dart, a signal to other anglers that it has been previously caught. Some of his customers are happy with that same outcome; for others, the kill is the thrill, as it remains for Quartiano. “I can kill a shark a trip, which I normally do,” he says. “It all depends on the client — the client decides.”

  Obsessing over sharks as toothy commodities ignores their great variety, as well as the important role they play in marine ecosystems. There are about 450 species, ranging in size from cigar to school bus. There’s a direct correlation between the health of coral reefs, the diversity and abundance of the marine life they support, and the presence of apex predators. Pull out all the sharks, and midsize fish species will flourish, overfeeding on smaller swimmers that act as reef cleaners. Moreover, sharks typically feast on weaker or sicker members of schools, in effect culling out disease and encouraging a more robust ecosystem.

After Jaws, commercial shark fishing increased too, as demand grew for shark meat and fins to be used for fillets and shark fin soup. Finning is illegal now, but oil from shark livers still ends up in everyday products such as cosmetics and sunscreen. By the late 1980s, surveys began to show the toll on the bigger species. One annual survey by the Virginia Shark Monitoring and Assessment Program showed they had been “severely depleted between the late 1970s and the early 1990s.” In 1993, NOAA Fisheries released its first management plan, including commercial and recreational regulations designed to end overfishing and rebuild stocks.

The agency subsequently tweaked the rules for commercial outfits, which had been catching sharks by the hundreds using longlines dropped deep into the ocean. In 1999, it began requiring commercial operations in the Atlantic Ocean to obtain a specific limited permit. The agency issued only 287, and no new ones have been granted since; as of 2017, the number had dropped to 221 due to permit holders leaving the industry. In addition, NOAA Fisheries has also implemented rules on how many sharks can be kept on each commercial trip. For example, NOAA revised the limit earlier this year from 25 sharks per vessel per trip to just three.

“We’ve been doing more assessments and getting a better handle on the status of fisheries,” says Enric Cortes, a NOAA Fisheries biologist, using the term for areas of the ocean where sharks are caught. He notes the agency nowadays has a better sense of which species are sustainably managed compared to the ones that are overfished.

The regulations, he says, have worked, over time reducing the number of sharks killed. Still, the largest of them remain in trouble due to the volume of recreational angling.

  Sport fishing boomed throughout the 1980s, when prevailing sentiment dictated the only good shark was a dead one. Charter-boat businesses and kill tournaments enjoyed increasing success. Miami media especially loved chronicling the feats of Mark the Shark. Quartiano became a local celebrity. In turn, he attracted the attention of national celebrities — Robert De Niro, Shaquille O’Neal, Ice-T — keen to catch their own sharks.

The negative effects were overlooked, but in 2005, a study estimated that recreational catches of large coastal sharks were greater than commercial catches in 15 of the 21 years that encompassed 1981 through 2001.

In tournaments and on charter trips, the biggest sharks commanded the most attention. But culling the big ones harms breeding populations. Most sharks only reach sexual maturity late in life; even then, they produce few offspring, a problem for such a slow-growing species.

Regulators have increasingly turned their attention to the impact of recreational fishing. Since 1999, NOAA Fisheries has required all shark tournaments to register a month in advance. Contest operators also keep records of anglers and the fish they catch, and there are rules about which species can be kept. And starting this year, the agency requires circle hooks — rounded hooks that curve backward — for commercial and recreational use alike. The traditional J-shaped type often sticks in the fish’s gut or gills, shredding tissue, whereas the circle version usually stays put in a shark’s maw. Recreational anglers must also watch a video online that teaches them to identify the 21 species of sharks that are illegal to keep. That’s all in addition to the federal permits someone like Quartiano must hold in order to run his business.

The upshot of all these mandates? “As a whole, sharks are not overfished,” says Karyl Brewster-Geisz, a branch chief of the Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Management division within NOAA Fisheries.

Attitudes seem to have shifted along with the rules. Since the advent of educational programs like those in the mix on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, celebrating its 30th anniversary this week, conservation has become a buzzword, and catch-and-release is the new norm. Some tournaments even ask competitors to release all sharks and take photographs instead, or to bring only one fish above a certain weight back to the dock.

David Conway, managing editor of Florida Sportsman magazine, describes the change as twofold: Today’s recreational anglers are more concerned about the sustainability of shark species and simultaneously turned off by wanton killing — of any fish. “The idea of manhandling beasts is vintage Hemingway, but it’s been a century since Hemingway’s time, and the vast majority of recreational anglers have moved beyond that motivation,” he says.

Attitudinally, says Terry Gibson, of the Marine Fish Conservation Network, a group of commercial and recreational associations concerned about overfishing, “the Mark the Sharks of the world are dinosaurs.”

Sentiment had already shifted significantly by 2005, the year Quartiano, his trademark brashness on display, distributed a photo of himself lying on top of four dead sharks he had hauled onto Striker-1. It was the sort of photo that once won him acclaim. Instead, several weeks later, the Miami Herald asked if Quartiano was a hero or a butcher.

Customers leave him glowing reviews on TripAdvisor. But elsewhere online, voices are more critical. On the boating and fishing forum The Hull Truth, an entire thread is dedicated to Mark the Shark. “Seems like he kills every shark he catches,” writes one user. Another writes: “He’s much maligned on Florida Sportsman forum and among the fishing community in south Florida. a real POS.”

Quartiano bites back. “It’s all bullshit, man,” he says. “It’s totally fake news. I’m one guy. One guy can’t make a dent in the population. Do you know I tag more sharks than anybody in the world? Probably 400 in the last year.”

It’s true he does afford his prey a degree of respect. Last December, three Florida men were charged with animal cruelty for dragging a shark behind their boat. They had sent video of their encounter to Quartiano, assuming he would be impressed. Instead, he posted the video on Instagram and denounced the brutality. “For once I may have to agree with @PETA,” he wrote, referring to the animal rights organization.

  The last I saw of our scalloped hammerhead, it was swimming in the Atlantic, diving down beneath the hull of Striker-1. Because it was longer than 78 inches and pulled from federal waters, we could have legally kept it. Instead, we measured, tagged, and released it. Afterward, Quartiano filled out a card with the female shark’s length to mail to NOAA Fisheries, along with details on the tag now attached to it.

On the way back to shore, Wallach cracks me a cold 16-ounce Miller High Life, my reward for a good catch. Then he says dolefully, “In 10 to 15 years, this won’t exist anymore.”

Wallach is talking about angling in general, let alone fishing for sharks, a sentiment his sporting companion appears to share. “It’s not the way it was years ago,” Quartiano says. “There was a lot of fish around, and a lot of people who wanted to fish. Now only a few people want to.”

When it comes to shark hunting, well, cultural forces aren’t aligned with Quartiano. Bagging the big one, not in a tournament or to eat, but rather to mount as a trophy — a testament to man’s dominion over nature — is going away.

“I make great money, and Maverick can just step right into it if he wants to do it,” Quartiano says. “But it’s not the way it was. Back in the day, there were hundreds of boats out this time of year. It’s a dying business, for sure.”

At his Miami office near the docks, Quartiano takes a seat behind a cluttered desk covered with stacks of printed photos, of customers posing with sharks they caught, that he needs to mail. Surrounding him are dozens of shark jaws that hang from the ceiling like nightmarish wind catchers. Whether Maverick occupies that seat someday depends on there being a new generation of customers awaiting its chance to go fishing for a monster.

Written By Andrew Zaleski