Government to impose new limits on shark fishing

The government plans to require almost all sharks landed by recreational fishermen off the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico to measure at least 8 feet from nose to fork in the tail, a move that some recreational fishermen said will end their sport but that conservationists say is needed to save an imperiled species.

The debate over how best to protect the dusky shark — which can migrate hundreds of miles in a season but whose juveniles return every summer to the mid-Atlantic — highlights the complicated task of recovering shark species.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has prohibited the catch of dusky sharks since 1999, but scientists found its population to be so depleted that it will take 100 years for it to recover.

The dusky shark, which averages nearly 12 feet in length and 400 pounds, takes two decades to reach sexual maturity and has small litters every three years, which makes it vulnerable to overfishing.

The environmental group WildEarth Guardians has petitioned to list the dusky shark under the Endangered Species Act.

"They are going to be rebuilding for a very long time," said Karyl Brewster-Geisz, one of the agency's fishery management specialists. She added that officials are "disappointed that overfishing is still occurring, even though fishing is prohibited."

While the new assessment found that some other species — such as the sandbar and the blacktip shark — are recovering, NOAA officials said they needed to impose some broader restrictions to address accidental catch of dusky sharks.

Brewster-Geisz said dusky sharks end up on long lines set for other species, and recreational anglers sometimes mistake them for other types of sharks.

But Mark Sampson, a charter boat captain based in Ocean City, Md., said increasing the recreational landing requirement from a minimum of 4 ½ feet to 8 feet "is effectively going to shut down the recreational fishery" because blacktip sharks rarely reach 8 feet, and other species at that length would weigh hundreds of pounds.

Sampson, who also runs Ocean City's annual shark tournament each June, said he believed NOAA was overestimating how many dusky sharks were accidentally being caught by recreational vessels.

Brewster-Geisz described the proposed rules as "science-based management."

The draft regulations — which apply to 15 types of small and large coastal sharks — will also call for periodic closures of a month or two of commercial long-line fisheries off the East Coast in areas where dusky sharks are likely to die when caught on hooks set for other open-ocean species, such as tuna. They are subject to public comment until Feb. 12, and will be finalized by the end of April.

While shark fishing is not a major commercial activity off the U.S. coasts, it remains an active recreational sport.

Recreational anglers landed roughly 16,260 coastal sharks in 2010, according to NOAA, while commercial vessels landed more than 104,000 that year.

By Juliet Eilperin The Washington Post

By Juliet Eilperin
The Washington Post