Bag limits on blacktips may increase, but 3 other sharks are the real thieves to Florida fishermen
Kimberly Miller
Florida will consider hiking the number of blacktip sharks that anglers can catch and keep after getting initial approval for the endeavor by wildlife commissioners Wednesday.
The informal support from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission allows its researchers to further explore increasing bag limits on blacktips, whose populations have surged in Atlantic waters and the Gulf of Mexico, according to recent federal surveys.
Blacktip shark meat is edible, with one speaker at Wednesday’s meeting touting its use in chowders because he said the hardy texture of the meat keeps it from falling apart while cooking.
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But wildlife officials and fishermen agree increasing blacktip limits does little to address the problem of sharks eating fish off anglers’ lines – a marine thievery called depredation that has no easy fix. Sharks largely blamed for the depredation are bulls, lemons and sandbars.
Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico blacktips are above target population levels
The decision to explore higher blacktip bag limits comes after a year of shark discussions by the FWC in response to anglers’ requests that the depredation be addressed at the state level. A species management review conducted as part of the discussions noted a federal census that found both Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico blacktip sharks were above target population levels, leading to the request to work with federal agencies on increasing catch limits.
On Wednesday, the concern over increased depredation was attributed, in part, to people not having experience with, or remembering, what fishing was like pre-1970s when shark populations were healthy.
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Jessica McCawley, director of FWC's Division of Marine and Fisheries Management, called it “shifting baseline syndrome.”
At least one of the seven people who spoke on the issue Wednesday was dubious of the reasoning.
“In one conversation we say how important peoples’ observations are and then we say, 'Your observations aren’t really real because you got a shift in baseline paradigm or you are in some wrong dimension,'” said speaker Bill George. “All you know is your fish keep coming up in pieces.”
FWC commissioners asked that the 60-page shark management study be distributed to the fishing community.
Vice Chairman Michael Sole said he’s comfortable with Florida’s shark management status quo.
“Where there are opportunities to increase limits like with the blacktip sharks, then great, we should do that,” Sole said. “I don’t think there is any crazy thing we need to do other than continue to manage this resource as we have.”
Different rules for different Florida shark species
About 25 shark species are prohibited from harvest in Florida waters, which extend 3 miles from the coast.
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The blacktips are not one of them, but their harvest is limited to one shark per person per day or two sharks per vessel. There is no minimum size limit.
Sandbar sharks are protected. Bull sharks have the same catch limit in Florida waters as blacktips but must have a minimum 54-inch fork length – a measure taken from the tip of the snout to the fork of the tail.
The current population, or stock status, of bull sharks in both the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico is unknown, according to FWC. Lemon sharks, another noted fish thief, cannot be harvested in Florida waters.
There are limited tallies of many shark species — partly because sharks are hard to count but also because multiple agencies oversee the nation's fisheries.
But a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration census of Atlantic blacktips completed this year and a 2018 measure of Gulf of Mexico blacktips found they are not being overfished and noted that wild-caught Atlantic blacktip shark is a “smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed and responsibly harvested under U.S. guidelines."
While the one speaker lauded blacktip meat for its flexibility in cooking, Florida Atlantic University shark researcher Stephen Kajiura said in an interview last month that he would be wary of eating blacktip because of potentially high mercury levels.
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Hannah Medd, founder of the Palm Beach Gardens-based American Shark Conservancy, said Wednesday that more research is needed before shark management decisions based on depredation concerns are made.
“We acknowledge the perception that the depredation increase is due to too many sharks, but we’d like to push back on that and say it’s not a substitute for scientific evidence,” Medd said.
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Mississippi State University began a year-long study Sept. 1 to better assess what species of shark is eating the most line-caught fish, and which fish they are targeting the most. The project is being paid for by a $195,300 NOAA grant and will use charter fishing operators to record incidents of depredation with surveys, photos and videos.
FWC Commissioner Steven Hudson suggested Wednesday that anglers use shark-deterrent devices that have magnetic technology to keep sharks at bay.
“There are alternatives,” Hudson said. “Killing a whole bunch of sharks isn’t going to change the interaction with fishermen and divers.”
Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers weather, climate and the environment and has a certificate in Weather Forecasting from Penn State. Contact Kim at kmiller@pbpost.com