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| Subject: Re: Bad News for Atlantic Shark Managment,.. 7 posts combined into 1 | |
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Author: Jim Morris, Rusty & others |
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Date Posted: 931202769PDT In reply to: Jim Morris 's message, "Re: Bad News for Atlantic Shark Managment" on 930955110PDT << Dear Rusty, I still think that you can't overlook that more humans(especially off Florida as it is an national/international tourist destination)are entering the water than ever before(along with an increase in human population)which may play a role in a higher level of shark attack off Florida if such is indeed the case. George Burgess can elaborate from here if he would like to! Best regards, Jim Morris >> Most of the attacks are near to inlets and occur to surfers. More tourists, yes. Need for a better education about how to swim at your own risk. Yes! A realization that indeed once shark stocks benefit from long closures and no fishing, they increase in populations. Time allows for a lot more large adult sharks to arrive seeking to eat small sharks. Florida is in a perfect set of conditions to reap the benefits of increasing shark populations. The shark gillnet fleet catches lots of sharks full of baby sea turtles, greens, loggerheads, doesn't matter to the sharks. Our recreational for hire fleet is swamped with small sharks, mostly Atlantic Sharpnose sharks, a very, very common small coastal shark. As human populations keep increasing by a billion people every dozen years or so lately, the demand for food from the seas, sharks included will increase. More people will be swimming in the water also for fun as long as the economy permits such privileges. I remember times, mostly winter when few tourists came down. Now tourists are a year round experience for us here as well as an increase of residents moving in. Yes, more opportunity for shark attack when combined with management measures, state and federal that support increasing populations of sharks. No argument there. Rusty << Hi Rusty, Just wanted to mention that I found your post(especially about tiger sharks)to be very interesting! Do you know any secret spots off Vero Beach where they can be encountered?! Just curious. >> Hi Jim, No secrets. Tiger sharks dump a lot of pups every year off of the Florida coast. Steve Branstetter thinks that the entire area is one huge nursery for Tiger sharks. Back in 1974 there were two residential Tiger sharks on a reef offshore of Daytona where my family has lived all of this century. One was over 18 feet long and the other was 12 feet or so. They hung out for a few years. It was always neat to watch them swim around our headboat. Tiger sharks are the third most numerous large coastal shark documented in the shark observer program that has worked with the directed shark bottom longline fleet for the past 6 years. Later, Rusty << Hi Rusty, You mention that longlining and gillnetting has been banned in Florida State waters since 1992, but outside of three miles(like in California), longlining and gillnetting are still allowed? >> Hi Jim, Nine miles on the West coast of Florida and three on the East. For nearly two years the shrimp boats have been pushed outside of one mile. Undisturbed conditions except for recreational fishermen. Rusty << But you have to admit that beyond three miles, the longlining and gillnetting off Florida's east coast has to potential to decimate the shark fishery(and what about bycatch)! >> Not since 1993, the threat was removed when the Shark FMP was implemented in April. The season for the entire year lasted @ 6 months. In fact when the second of the biannual seasons started, the fishing lasted 30 days with no trip limits July 1993. NMFS claimed surprise about the sharks being so thick off the Mississippi River that month. We expected it. This reality led to trip limits to spread the season out and to economically effect the larger vessels from wanting to participate. Bottom longline is identified as one of cleanest fishing gears as per bycatch, unlike the pelagic fleet. Rusty Hi Jim, I believe that the "potential to decimate" has been virtually eliminated since April 26, 1993, when NMFS chose to implement their Atlantic Shark FMP. We have lived with this effort for nearly a decade. We should be seeing benefits from the Shark FMP as per the shark populations and we are. That is why CPUE (catch per unit of effort) has been increasing in our Atlantic Ocean regions, a good indicator to monitor for population tendencies. Due to a finite market resource availability, the seasons are shortened to where commercial large coastal shark (LCS) fishing is not very long season now with this current FMP quota. Over half the year the market is closed for LCS since 1993. No directed mortality, no fishery dependent data. When is the Pacific Ocean regimes going to bring to the table a management plan for their shark catch and finning? Are there international considerations to work out? Scientific issues also? Administrative? << However, what you mention about the local smaller shark population on the increase is interesting. But the larger coast sharks must travel back and forth past that three mile limit on the East coast! And when they do, they have the potential of getting wiped out by too much longlining and gillnetting! >> Again Jim, these are highly migratory sharks that we deal with from Maine to Texas and the US territories in the Caribbean Sea region that are under this NMFS management regime. Originally 22 species in the 1993 FMP were included in the LCS management complex. Over 2200 commercial shark permits sold by NMFS recently. Nineteen states and two territories. Limited access has been just begun while our historical participants have asked for such since 1992. Catching one trip limit (4000 pounds dressed weight [dw]), per week from the total LCS quota of 2.8 million pounds dw will allow for 14 boats to fish for 50 weeks at a set pace. Two weeks left to paint the bottom of the boat after scraping barnacles. And remember half of the highliners land their sharks in Florida. The quota is too low in reality for several reasons. Poor science, politics and a desire to kill the directed market for sharks totally. Seems a little extreme to me. Can a shark fisherman be considered an expert about sharks? I think so but who am I? Sandbar shark (C. Plumbeus) begin their long north & south migrations (thousands of miles) shortly before sexual maturity is reached. This animal is one of the main components of the Atlantic directed shark catch. Large nursery grounds exist where Bull sharks (C. leucas) don't predominate, one of the main predators of juvenile Sandbar sharks, (the other being recreational human fishers in state waters for decades). The MidAtlantic has a large Sandbar nursery that extends north to Massachusetts and south to Central Florida. Another Sandbar nursery is shared between Mexico and Texas. NMFS still pretends that Sandbar sharks are a closed population, not an open one. The neonate and juvenile Sandbar sharks hang close to where they were born for the first three years or so. Very little north & south movement migration noted with tag recaptures. Salinity and temperature needs are different for these two species basically. Hence natural predation from adult Bull sharks occur when conditions warrant. Check out L. Compagno's 1984 FAO "Sharks of the World," a two volume set. Very detailed descriptions of the various shark populations and their realities. It is almost the bible of the shark academia. << I don't know, I just wish that there was some way to effectively gauge the shark population, so that all parties were happy(because too many sharks can indeed be a bad thing with fish stock being depleted as a result!). >> There could be. Independent peer reviewed science is required to keep NMFS honest. Their science is tainted. Better data gathering would be a good start. Digging up the buried truth. Loads of information purposely avoided to facilitate a public posture that they know so little. NMFS has squandered nearly two decades in which to have a better grip on the database. They have been reluctant to set the record straight. Since the early 1990s, political science has dominated, essential information has been buried, mistruths promoted. << I even think that recreational sport fishermen and commercial sport fishing boats inflict their damage as well(with regard to the overfishing of shark and other fish). >> No doubt, which has led to the new recreational minimum size of 4.5 feet fork length (FL) for all sharks except Atlantic Sharpnose sharks effective July 1, 1999, with a one shark per vessel retention rate. This will cause a catch and release atmosphere since two-thirds of recreational fishing occurs in state waters and over two-thirds of the sharks that they catch are juvenile LCS and small coastal sharks (SCS). Understanding what the B-2 effect will be as to the release mortality might be interesting when scientific stock assessments are conducted in the future. Especially small sharks with large hooks left in their throat or gut. Might be a need for dehooking devices that NMFS has currently refused to mandate though they did consider the choice since so many had made glowing testimonials about its use. NMFS has allowed for the use of such devices and plans on educating the HMS public about its existence through outreach programs and workshops. Time will tell how fast the NMFS begins this education effort. I am always glad to provide honest facts. So much more to know. We can live in harmony with nature, helping sharks and humans to survive. Rusty These Atlantic sharks are on a robust rebuilding pattern. Shark attacks in the Florida waters were my family has lived and worked since the 1870s have mostly lead the world in total bites reported during the past several years. Check out the international shark attack file that George Burgess maintains out of the University of Florida. Quite revealing. Russell H. Hudson Independent Fisheries Consultant HMS AP Member ALWTRT Member Donn writes: Rusty, Sorry, but your own reference would seem to be your undoing. According the the charts (line and bar graphs) shown by the Florida Sea Kayakers Assoc. at www.jacksonville.net/~dldecker/shark.htm> there is a drastic increase in unprovoked shark attacks that almost exactly parallels the rise in population in Florida California and Hawaii. All three charts show records from 1900 through 1997. I believe those charts are from the International Shark Attack File. Since you agree that shark populations (in the Atlantic at least) have been down, because you say they are on the come-back, then one asks: how could unprovoked attacks be increasing if the shark population had been decreasing--without considering the increase (vast increase) in the population of the coastal areas as a factor? No less to the point but more to the rhetorical is: what kind of sharks make (made) those attacks? Smarter sharks or dumber sharks that survived the mechanics of the population fall, and go for the non-traditional prey? Are they actually consuming what they attack, or making a mistake, or excersizing curiosity? Are these sharks driven to aberrant behavior by pollutants, or decreasing populations of traditional prey? If I could wax a bit poetic: are they trying to tell us something? Are we ready to listen? Obviously we need more research, and some of that funding comes from commercial sources. However, if, as you said, the shark populations are making a robust comeback, wouldn't it be wiser for ALL concerned to see first if these populations are sustainable *in themselves*, and not merely pronounced sustainable beause of their numbers compared to the last few years or a decade? Check the graphs. Best//Donn [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
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