Column: Sharks are killing machines, need modified management

BY VAN HUBBARD

Fishery management, especially when it comes to sharks, is a problem we need to deal with.

Sharks are perfected killing machines. They have developed and survived over hundreds of millions of years, and have been abundant here forever. We are famous for fossilized shark’s teeth discoveries along our beaches. Currently, sharks are regulated by the National Marine Fishery’s Highly Migratory Species division. However, solutions to the shark problem will require serious consideration and modified management.

Our state waters, up to nine miles out on the Gulf Coast, are regulated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. The grouper, snapper, mackerel, and other federal water’s species are usually managed by the Gulf Council on Gulf of Mexico waters in cooperation with the state. Red Snapper has created new fluid, cooperative tools attempting to appropriate them – but it’s a mess. Each group manages things in its own system. Lobbying groups push agendas they are paid to promote. It’s challenging and expensive to maintain an educated voice in three unique management organizations, and even harder to keep up with change. Personally, I use the Fish Rules App.

Our State and Gulf Council bodies both understand we have abundant sharks and problems with increased predation on our fisheries, but they unfortunately have no voice in shark management. Between shark predation – AKA, the tax collector – and discard release mortality, all harvesting by fisherman remains less than half of our Total Allowable Catch. We waste half of our fish. Education is our best answer here.

Sharks frequently mangle half or more of our hooked fish. Thus, the title “tax collector.” Then many of the deeper water fish we release do not survive. We are working with required descending devices that do offer a better chance of survival; however, barotrauma remains deadly. Rapidly bringing a fish up from the depths blows them up. If your release is floating away, it becomes a dead discard.

With small bag limits, we do not usually count shark bitten fish or floating fish as our catches. We all want to bring home some meat when deep water reef fishing, and most prefer the biggest we can catch. This makes our bag limits smaller because we discard smaller fish. Educating ourselves and understanding how these discards affect our bag restrictions could allow us to keep more fish. 

Many options have been considered and so far, and yet no one has solved this problem. Do we keep the first ones we catch of legal size or continue to upgrade? With expenses running into the thousands of dollars to target deep water fish, most want to bring home pounds of meat. The deeper we go, the larger the fish generally are. Many are now fishing 200 feet plus depths, making it very hard to release fish. 

With red grouper, amberjack, gags all already closed with red snapper opening, how many fish are dead discards? It would seem the expert scientists setting these seasons could have fish we know reside together open together, to reduce wasted discards. But what would we go offshore for if all were closed? It’s complicated. Who wants to maintain an expensive rig you only get to fish for maybe half the year?

Back to sharks. It appears we have trained the sharks to rely on easy meals: our hooked fish. Can they pick up our sonar? Absolutely! The vibrations of the boats, trolling motors many now use offshore, and the panicked movements of hooked fish stimulate sharks. Do animals refuse free food? NO! It’s not probable we can undo this training. 

What can we do? My first response is simple: if you have lemons, learn to make lemonade! If we have an abundance of sharks, why don’t we encourage shark fishing again? They are aggressive, fight hard and grow large. Jacks, rays, ladyfish, and many of our fish we don’t like to eat make great baits. Carry larger, tougher gear, and be ready to tangle with monsters. 

If we exercise these monsters, they will understand the consequences of messing with us. If effort extends beyond the reward of a meal, they will adapt. This would help around Boca Pass too. Right now, some anglers use lighter gear and offer free meals of trolled tarpon. Using stronger gear like the traditional captains would help when fishing the strong currents of our Pass. Many complain about sharks eating the tarpon, so they might want to shift efforts. Also, with how tough tarpon fishing is now, why don’t they shark fish? Sharks are even stronger and larger than silver kings.

Some major problems in shark management are compounded by regulations that prohibited the sale of any shark fins. Finning sharks and tossing them back to die slowly is barbaric. I’m certainly not advocating this. Just consider that severe restrictions on the species and no sale of fins shuts down the commercial harvest. It is so restricted that it’s not profitable anymore. Try to find a better balance.

We are dealing with the apex predator of the seas. Everything has a carrying capacity – maximum animals for its environment. Sharks were heavily commercially fished decades ago, and stocks declined. The prohibition of fin sales removed the fisheries profit, thus incentive to fish. And so, with no current threats, they have rebounded dramatically. We now have problems with an overabundance of hungry predators, and we created it. How do we correct it?

Anglers and captains could target them! We do not have to kill them, but many are legal and good eating. Animals adapt their behaviors and learn to move to easier feeding tactics. Show them some food bites back with strings attached.

Lobbying the HMS Council is expensive and frustrating work, but they set the rules. They were lobbied to prohibit the sale of fins and that could change with focused pressure. The fishing industry needs the sale of whole fish with fins attached. A predetermined percentage of the shark body weight should be kept for fins that could then be detached and sold after landings.

Nothing is easy and we all need to attack the problems, not each other. Numbers and money count with all politics and bureaucrats. It’s the way things are today.

From me, the new photo on your dart board.