Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
Many anglers will probably recall that this past fall and winter there was much talk about proposed regulations that would increase the minimum size for sharks that may be kept by fishermen from the current 54-inches fork length to a whopping 96-inch fork length. To put that in perspective, a 54-inch mako might weigh in around 70-pounds while a 96-inch mako would likely tip the scales at over 350-pounds. Since few anglers have, or ever will, land a mako of that size and some species such as the blacktip shark never grow that large, the end result of such a change in regulations would effectively require that anglers release every shark they land.
The irony is that the proposal was not intended to provide additional conservation to species that recreational fishermen typically choose to boat such as the makos and blacktips, but instead was supposed to help protect dusky sharks that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) “claims” recreational anglers are bringing in. Even though dusky sharks have been a prohibited species for twelve years, it’s claimed that we fishermen continue to land them mistakenly, thinking that they are some other “allowable” type of shark.
Needless to say, when the proposal was made a lot of fishermen stood up to NMFS and claimed “hogwash” to both the new size limit and the assertions that we’ve been landing the thousands of duskies they say we have. Prompted by such a strong public outcry against the proposed regulations NMFS backed off a bit and elected to “address the dusky shark overfishing and rebuilding plan in a proposed separate action” which gave them some breathing room to consider alternative actions rather than pushed their original plan through in time for the 2013 fishing season.
So the fight was neither won nor lost, it was just postponed until after the summer. Between now and then you can bet that NMFS is hashing over their numbers and getting their ducks in a row so that “if” they deem it necessary to again propose such harsh restrictions on recreational anglers, they’ll be prepared to respond to whatever argument come their way.
This whole mess was started last fall when the environmental group “Wild Earth Guardians” (based out of Colorado - of all places) filed a petition to have dusky sharks listed as an endangered species (ES). When such a petition is filed NMFS is by law required to respond and make the determination if there is evidence that such a listing might be warranted. If you recall a few years ago such a petition was filed for white marlin and it was deemed “not warranted” and the issue pretty much went away. At that time anglers came to realize that an ES listing for white marlin could have prevented them from doing any type of fishing that might, even by accident, hook a white marlin – such as tuna fishing.
Recently, NMFS announced, “…we find that the petitions present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted for the Northwest Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico population of dusky shark…” So, unlike white marlin, the petition for an ES listing of dusky sharks was not dismissed. Not just shark anglers, but EVERYONE who fishes the ocean had better pay attention to this issue because if dusky sharks get an ES listing it might affect all of us, including those who troll, chunk, jig, bottom fish, surf fish or put any kind of baited hook or lure in the saltwater. An ES listing of ANY kind of fish in our local waters could be devastating to our recreational and commercial fisheries!
As I reported this winter, a huge part of the problem with shark management is and always has been the poor identification skills of fishermen. So many sharks are caught by anglers who go on to report that they boated or released one species that was in fact something else, resulting in catch data fishery managers have been using over the years being anything but spot-on accurate. Although anyone who targets sharks should make the effort to know what they might catch, no one can expect all anglers to be experts at shark identification, because many sharks are caught accidentally by those who have no intention of hooking one when they leave the dock. None of this is good for shark management, but it’s just the way it is.
To help alleviate some of the uncertainly of reported shark landings, this year Maryland DNR will be requiring that all sharks caught and kept by recreational anglers be tagged in the same manor that bluefin tuna and billfish have been tagged during the last few years. The process will require that before a shark can be unloaded from a boat, a catch-card will have to be filled out and turned in to an appropriate dock office or tackle shop. When the card is turned in the angler will be given a plastic tag to put around the shark’s tail to indicate that the catch has been recorded and that it is OK to be removed from the boat. Surely some anglers won’t be happy about having yet “another” regulation being thrown at them, but the hassle will be worth the effort because the information provided by the tagging program will help fishery managers make decisions based on fact rather than the Fairy Tales some of them are working with now.
This winter fishermen were granted a temporary “stay of execution” on the new shark regulations but the issue is definitely not over, it’s just on hold until NMFS can hash things out a bit more. Hopefully a little bit of “good” data from Maryland anglers will help steer NMFS in the right direction as they move forward to address the dilemma with dusky sharks.
Captain Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
