The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 11: July 1998
|
Recreational fishing and conservation
Carl Safina, Living Oceans Program, National Audubon Society, USA
In most parts of the world, fishing is a business or subsistence activity.
Where recreational fishing occurs, sharks are more likely to be
considered pests than targets. Big game fishers hated sharks because
they attacked 'premier' glamour species like marlin and swordfish,
whose struggles at the end of the line were ended if a shark cut them
in half - thereby spoiling all the fun.
In most parts of the world there are now too few big sharks to
pose much of a problem. And because directed billfishing itself is
deteriorating in some places, sharks have been promoted from
underdog to game fish status. In a few places, recreational fishers
exert lots of time and money chasing sharks. The east coast of
North America between Cape Hatteras and Cape Cod, for example,
may well host more directed recreational fishing for large sharks
than anywhere in the world, and in the southern US states, 'rec'
fishers catch lots of small coastal sharks.
Recreational fishers blame commercial fishing for the drastic
declines in virtually all species of large sharks in certain regions. Their
enmity is not misplaced, but neither is recreational fishing wholly
exonerated from causing regional declines for some species.
Compelling evidence exists that before fin prices created market
incentive for killing most sharks, recreational fishing was driving
declines of some important species. The fin trade sharpened those
declines and caused deep depletions, including (according to strong
anecdotal evidence) recent depletions in regions far from recreational
pressures. For their part, recreationals have gone largely to catch-and-release
for most large species. But recreational fishers should not
underestimate their continued killing power for certain sharks along
certain coasts, and should seek to reduce their own impacts as much
as possible.
For example, off the north-east US, where recreational fishers
release virtually all large coastal species and blue sharks, they still
keep virtually all makos and threshers. Female makos mature at
around 700 pounds, i.e. almost every single mako taken is a juvenile,
and the continental shelf where the fishing occurs is the nursery area.
Many tournaments and individual captains now have voluntary
minimum size requirements of around 100-pounds. Such a minimum
size should be required by law. This size, while arbitrary relative to
size at maturity, improves the yield-per-recruit, and, most importantly,
allows many makos to get another chance at survival for one more
year, increasing their chances of surviving to maturity.
Further, even for released individuals, standard recreational fishing
practices are not best for ensuring post-release survival. Recreational
fishers usually allow sharks to 'run with the bait' before hooking them.
This assures more hookups. It also assures more gut-hooked animals.
Virtually all recreational releases of large fishes involve cutting the
leader, leaving animals with hooks in the gut, throat, or moving mouth
parts. Such imbedded hooks can cause serious eventual injury or
death, as in all likelihood can cut-off wire leaders that continually rub
against skin. New de-hooking tools (e.g. made by De-Hooker Inc., +1-
800-772-5804) allow hook removal for even gut-hooked sharks, and
should be standard equipment.
Large sharks are not well equipped to take the kind of pressure
directed fisheries - even recreational fisheries - can apply in certain
regions. Terrestrial big game hunters must often pay large fees for the
privilege of killing an animal, and often the annual individual take
is limited to one or two per person per season. This would be
appropriate for sharks. Where shark fishing is popular, I believe
fishers on private boats should be required to obtain a licence or
permit that limits the take to one per boat per year. For charter boats
that take paying passengers out daily, the party should perhaps be
required to pay ahead of time for a licence entitling them to kill a large
shark in the event that they catch a desirable individual. Otherwise,
release would be mandatory.
Commercial fisheries remain problematic. But recreational fisheries
also contribute significantly to shark mortality in some regions. The
recreational community can do more for shark conservation if they
choose.
Carl Safina
National Audubon Society,
Living Oceans Program,
550 South Bay Avenue,
Islip, NY 11751, USA
|
|
|
|
|
