ANNA MARIA -- A leader in this tiny island town doesn't want sharks scaring off beachgoers, so he's proposing a ban on shark fishing.

Such a ban is sure to draw fierce opposition from anglers, who have long fished off local beaches. The sharks are already there and any kind of fishing can attract them, they say.

Catching and killing sharks is legal in Florida, the nation's most popular shark-fishing location. Anglers have been casting lines here for decades, and captured two world-record sharks off Sarasota's coast.

But City Commissioner Duke Miller is worried that the sport is threatening swimmers.

"You sit out there swimming, and there's a guy next to you with a long line, fishing for sharks," Miller said. "He gets one, and the shark starts running one way or the other -- what happens to the swimmers?"

Miller, who plans to propose the ban during tonight's City Commission meeting, said he also fears the fishing will draw more sharks.

But experts and fishermen say that's unlikely. And because anglers cast for sharks at night, when the animals feed, most swimmers aren't around.

"Just because there was some bait out there the night before doesn't mean there are conditions to stick around during the daytime," said Bob Hueter, director of Mote Marine's Center for Shark Research in Sarasota.

Plus, all kinds of bait can lure sharks.

"They're not nearly so discriminatory that they won't go check something out," Hueter said.

It was a Thanksgiving weekend shark scare that prompted the proposed ban. But the scare was actually more sickening than menacing. A group of tourists stumbled on the mess a fisherman left behind in the sand -- the carcass of one shark and the head of another.

But the remains didn't faze Commissioner Dale Woodland, who also saw them.

"To immediately think of banning shark fishing is so far out in left field," Woodland said. "I think it's overreacting, and there are going to be so many problems associated with it."

For one, it would be difficult to tell whether someone was fishing for shark or something else, Woodland said. Enforcers also would run into a problem if someone caught a shark by accident.

"The only way to monitor this is if they had people stationed out here all the time, and had people on boats," said Andrew Bailey, 20, a shark fisherman who lives in Tennessee but spends about one month a year visiting family in Anna Maria.

Generally, fishermen tempt sharks with chum -- chopped fish and fish guts.

More shark attacks occur in Florida than any other state, followed by California and Hawaii. According to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File, there were 157 attacks from 1882 to 2002 in Volusia County, which tops the state's list. County lawmakers there have outlawed chumming or bloodletting within 600 feet of shore to fish for sharks or any other fish.

In Manatee County, only three people have been attacked by sharks since 1882.

Several anglers said rough water at Bean Point, at Anna Maria's northern tip, draws most local shark fishing, along with the Rod & Reel Pier, just to the south.

Tampa Bay collides with the Gulf of Mexico at Bean Point, forming a channel sharks often pass through. But swimmers steer clear of that beach because of the strong undertow, said Bailey and others. Bailey, 20, caught two sharks Monday night at Rod & Reel.

"It seems outrageous that they would consider banning something … so many residents here take up as a hobby," he said.

Bill Chable, a local fly fisherman, is worried a ban would have wider implications.

"I would hate to see them say you can't fish at all," said Chable, a 72-year-old who has been casting lines since he was 15.