Fishermen flooded the waters off Riverport for Nova Scotia's first shark derby of the year, but the  first sharks to be spotted weren't pulled from the ocean — they were handing out leaflets.

Members of the Halifax Humane Society and a local animal rights group dressed in shark costumes complete with shiny silver bellies, pointy white teeth and dorsal fins for the event on Aug. 5 and 6 at the community on the mouth of the Lahave River in Lunenburg County.

The protesters put up posters and handed out pamphlets in hopes of drawing attention to the decline in shark populations off the coast of Nova Scotia over the past decade.

"I'm looking for a ride out of Riverport because I'm afraid they're going to catch me," one costumed protester told CBC News.

The activists argued that shark derbies, a popular draw in the province, don't help.

"Ending the derbies is a necessary first step," a spokesperson for the demonstrators told CBC News.

The derbies, which offer cash prizes, draw large crowds to see the winners and the size of their catches. In 2004, anglers in five derbies caught 263 of the big predators, mostly blue sharks.

Liz Drake, who has been coordinating the sea festival in Riverport for the past five years, said the protestors would have been better off making their statement at a larger tournament.

She said in comparison to other derbies, hers brings in only a handful of sharks.

"The few that our boats bring in is very minimal. We had 13 landed last year; nine the year before," she said.

DFO defends derbies

The protesters called for intervention by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which sends researchers to analyze the catch.

Warren Joyce of the DFO said the sharks caught at derbies account for only two percent of the drop.

He said the sharks are declining mainly because they're being caught accidentally as part of commercial fisheries.

"There's a lot of blue sharks caught as by-catch in both the swordfish and tuna fishery," Joyce told CBC News.

Joyce said the derbies provide a crucial opportunity to study the catch. He said they offer the chance to learn about sharks' reproductive patterns, which in turn means better-managed fisheries and more protection for the troubled shark population.