Note: article includes Ken Perrotte's column in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star and information from a Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership media release.
We work hard for our fish - spending considerable time and, often, lots of money pursuing our fishing passions, whether they be sport-fishing or meat-fishing or both. There is nothing like feeling your forearms arms burn as you strain to reel in a sleek, powerful fish that just devoured a lure rigged with ballyhoo. If that fish is a tuna, you know the reward at the end of the fight is an ice chest full of fresh ahi steaks ready for the grill or sushi. But, suddenly, the battle’s intensity slackens and you realize you’re cranking in dead weight. The tuna’s head and precious little else comes over the gunwale. You’ve been hit by the taxman – the disdainful term often accorded marauding sharks.
More than three decades of protection for many shark species has led to significant population increases. And the commercial fishing industry is not meeting its harvest quotas for sharks according to fisheries management reports. As the increasingly abundant sharks patrol the ocean looking for and competing for food, they seem to have learned to associate fishing boats with easy meals. A shark would have little chance of catching a speedy, pelagic sportfish like a tuna in open water, but a tired, hooked fish is an easy mark. Depredation also occurs when fish are released, such as tarpon in Florida, billfish in the gulf stream, or red snapper and other species around reefs or underwater structure. Besides losing fish, anglers frequently lose expensive tackle and bait.
During my own trips to the Outer Banks in recent years, our parties have seen fish taken by sharks. Overall, we’ve been lucky. I’ve seen some charters return to the dock with half of their catch eaten.
This issue is geographically broad. The situation has spawned federal interest, with a task force formed under the auspices of the SHARKED (Supporting the Health of Aquatic systems through Research, Knowledge and Enhanced Dialogue) Act. Rob Wittman, VA-1, and fellow representatives Darren Soto of Florida, Garret Graves of Louisiana and Marc Veasey of Texas introduced the legislation, which unanimously passed in the House of Representatives.
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership offered outdoor media an update on the topic during a panel discussion at the recent ICAST sportfishing tradeshow in Orlando, a huge event staged by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA). They call the even a "conservation summit." Beyond sharks, they also had a session on the emerging issue of offshore wind development, something with which the recreational fishing community seems to be a little late to the party in terms of influencing policy...but that's another story.
In prefacing the panel discussion, TRCP stated that the last several years have saltwater anglers observing an increase in shark numbers and are reporting losing more sportfish to these predators than they had in the past. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has submitted multiple letters to NOAA Fisheries over the past several years relaying concerns about the dramatic increase in interactions with several large shark species. The council's letter of August 2023 stated, “cumulatively, these shark species are causing devastating consequences for many recreational and commercial fishermen that use hook and line, spear, bottom longline, and trawl gear.” The letter also noted the shark issue also has "negative conservation impacts to council-managed species and fisheries, especially snapper grouper and coastal migratory pelagics."
Now, task forces and study groups are often convenient ways for politicians to kick cans down the road, avoiding serious or controversial action on an issue. Mike Leonard, ASA’s vice president of government affairs and a member of the panel discussion, said he is usually skeptical of such study efforts, but believes this is one that will generate results.
How Bad is It? The Shark Depredation
Jack Graham, a charter captain, fishing out of Oregon Inlet in Nags Head, North Carolina, provided passionate testimony a year ago to the House Natural Resources Committee as the SHARKED Act was being considered. Graham said shark depredation has been increasing, perhaps exponentially, for the last decade. He said he and fellow captains believe the loss of yellowfin and bigeye tuna is caused by “one of the most significant biomasses of large sharks in existence on the planet.”
The sharks cover a lot of water. Graham pointed to one instance where, using his vessel’s GPS, boats fishing in over 300 square miles of ocean, in depths from 300 to 3,000 feet, all encountered sharks attacking their catches. He said the shark species vary somewhat depending on depth, with the most encounters being dusky, greater hammerhead, silky, spinner and sandbar sharks.
“I feel I must stress this is a daily occurrence,” he said. Graham said he calculated losses due to sharks using rudimentary math, based on Oregon Inlet’s fish cleaning service, where customers pay by the pounds of fish cleaned. He was able to estimate the total number and average size of tuna caught each day. He talked with crews on other boats, asking how many fish were caught whole versus eaten by sharks.
“In the beginning, it was about half and half,” Graham testified. “So, if I hooked 20 tuna I would get, on an average day, 10 to the boat. Some days were worse, very rarely were they better.” By assessing the average pounds of fish cleaned daily, and backing out five days a month where the fleet was unable to fish, Graham figured some 250,000 pounds of tuna were being eaten by sharks monthly – and that’s just from one marina! Add in charter boats from three other marinas in the Outer Banks, plus private recreational boats, and the losses become truly staggering.
Jeffrey Liederman, a southeast Florida angler who was part of the panel in Orlando, said he has seen mounting problems, especially in the last decade. “We went from several years of not having any issues with sharks, to increases where we have an encounter here or there, to encounters every day, to aggressive encounters,” said Liederman. He also believes inshore species, such as cobia, are also being impacted.
Chris Macaluso, TRCP’s director of marine fisheries and session moderator, echoed that sentiment, noting sharks are hitting redfish and speckled trout in Louisiana.
Richard Fischer, also commenting at the panel discussion and representing Louisiana charter operators, said success in terms of resolving the shark depredation problem would be not waking up and realizing $100 worth of bait will be wasted on sharks and that guides will no longer have to hook 36 red snappers to get 12 to the boat for the clients to keep.
The Money is Huge! Taxman Takes Cut Beyond Eaten Fish
There is a significant economic toll, beyond the value of the meat being fed to sharks. Graham pointed out that people travel from throughout the country to fish the Outer Banks. Travel, hotel, meals and charter fees make it an expensive trip. Huge fuel price spikes in in recent few years compounds this. Anglers arrive with high hopes of returning home with fresh fish. They still see world class fishing, with lots of action and strikes, but get very little reward for their efforts, Graham said, noting that charter bookings are down across the board.
Graham called fishermen “the greatest tools available to the scientific community. We are literally performing an experiment every day we put our lines in the water.” He hopes that policy makers include anglers and charter fishermen in their study of this issue.
Shark encounters are increasing across the coastal United States. In the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council's report of December 2023, titled, "Taking a Bite: Shark Depredation and Fisheries Management,"they write that, "Fishermen also claim that shark behavior has changed, with increased instances of sharks circling or lurking around fishing and dive vessels, waiting for the right opportunity to strike, resulting in damaged fish and often loss of fishing gear." A position statement (excerpted below) developed by ASA (see sidebar) also outlines potential causes for increasing problem behavior by sharks. As noted earlier, sharks may be learning to associate boats and humans with food and not only from fishing. For example, shark dive tours typically involve feeding the big predators to enable close encounters. Shark feeding has been banned off Hawaii and in the Western Pacific because of such concerns.
Leonard said, “A lot of fishermen feel helpless, with a sense that not many people in fisheries management or government are doing much on this.” He hopes the study identifies clear mitigation steps, adding the ASA is still working on Senate introduction of companion legislation.
ASA Issues Position Statement
Here are selected excerpts from the American Sportfishing Association’s Position Statement on Sharks.
- Human conflicts with sharks are expected to further increase as shark populations continue to improve. Fishery managers and scientists (should) collaborate with the recreational fishing community on solutions that incorporate science and management policies.
- Near term, educate anglers on how to avoid sharks, quickly land fish, and release fish in a way that mitigates chance of depredation.
- Use ecosystem-based approaches that better account for and balance species interactions and the needs of recreational fisheries.
- Possibly increase harvest of certain shark populations that are healthy and commonly contribute to negative fishing interactions.
- Identify shark and fish species involved in interactions, including the regions and seasons.
- identify how sharks become habituated to people and/or different environments.
- Identify how angler behavior and fishery regulatory frameworks may influence shark interactions.
- Research additional techniques and strategies for reducing negative shark interactions – deterrents, for example, such as magnetic technologies that overwhelm sharks’ electroreceptors.
- Task force should include diverse anglers and fishing industry participants affected by increasing shark interactions, not just anglers targeting highly migratory species and sharks in federal waters.
