Tighter Management Measures For Sharks Sought

June 27, 2009

Release from: Susan Cocking
Miami Herald

Several dozen recreational divers and anglers, shark scientists and conservationists urged the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Tuesday to adopt stronger shark rules than recommended by an interstate management panel.

At a public hearing at International Game Fish Association headquarters in Dania Beach, speakers told FWC staffer Aaron Podey that shark management measures being imposed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission on its 15 member states do not go far enough to ensure healthy shark populations.

The ASMFC plan -- adopted last summer -- prohibits harvesting some shark species; strengthens a ban against ''finning'' and forbids removal of heads and tails at sea; imposes a bag limit and minimum size; and requires sharks to be harvested with hook-and-line gear only.

Florida's shark laws -- which govern Atlantic waters out to three miles and Gulf waters out to nine miles -- already are more stringent than several states. But attendees at Tuesday's workshop called for even more harvest restrictions.

Jeff Torode, owner of South Florida Diving Headquarters in Pompano Beach, said the FWC should ban charter fishing boats from killing sharks in order to pressure their customers to pay for mounts of the animals. Torode pointed out that taxidermy companies don't need the actual shark carcass to produce a mount; rather, they can use photographs and measurements to make a replica.

''It's a huge problem,'' Torode said. ``They are fishing themselves into extinction.

``When they bring [sharks] in, they discard them; they don't use them.''

Mike Newman, a former commercial shark fisherman from Jupiter, said the state should ban the use of buoy gear because some commercial shark fishermen with federal permits are sneaking into state waters to catch their quota.

He predicted the commercial pressure on sharks will grow as other fisheries -- such as grouper and snapper -- come under heavier restrictions.

Samuel ''Doc'' Gruber, a veteran shark scientist with the University of Miami, said he would like to see lemon sharks added to the state's prohibited species list, which includes white, dusky, longfin mako, bigeye thresher and numerous others.

Gruber said a recently discovered aggregation of large, reproductive lemons off Palm Beach County in the winter months is threatened by commercial fishing.

''These animals can be wiped out very quickly,'' he said. ``If you take them, it's akin to mining gold. You'll run out of gold.''

Steve Stock, president of the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, called for all shark tournaments to be catch-and-release only and added that his organization is lobbying IGFA to stop accepting world-record applications for certain shark species that must be killed in order to be certified.

Podey told the gathering that input from the Dania Beach meeting, as well as others around Florida, will be submitted to FWC staff to draft a rule for the September commission meeting in Central Florida.

A final public hearing is scheduled for December, with any rule changes taking effect in 2010.