If you've fished for tarpon in Boca Grande Pass, it's easy to
understand that you probably think there's nothing wrong with the
shark fishery.
Seems as if there are hundreds of sharks in the world-famous pass, picking off hooked tarpon by the dozen. But
the shark fishery isn't in good shape, according to Bob Hueter,
director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory on
City Island in Sarasota. The fishery hasn't been in good shape in years. In
fact, there was time in the early 1990s that scientists such as Hueter
felt the shark fishery was on the verge of collapsing. They were being
harvested faster than they could reproduce. Hueter and many
others fought a determined battle to protect sharks. Unlimited harvest
was allowed a year ago, but bag limits have been greatly decreased.
Today, the limit is one per person or two per vessel. It seemed as if the public climbed aboard, embracing the philosophy. Kill-shark tournaments became a thing of the past. However,
shark tournaments are beginning to resurface around the state. Hueter
said many people now feel there are plenty of sharks and that kill
tournaments are OK. "After the summer of 2001, when we had a lot
of publicity about shark attacks and seeing a lot of sharks in our
waters, there has been a lot of interest in shark fishing and killing
big sharks," Hueter said. "It has reversed about two decades of
conservation education." It's not illegal to fish for, land and kill sharks. It's more of an ethical issue than anything. Take
tarpon, for example. There are many tarpon tournaments conducted around
the state, but there's only one kill tournament. The West Coast Anglers
Tarpon Roundup of St. Petersburg began May 10 and ends July 19. It's
not legal to kill a tarpon, but you must have a $50 tag from the state.
The issue is, why kill a tarpon? They're not good to eat. What are you
going to do with the carcass? As for sharks, why kill something from a troubled population just for the sake of killing? In
some instances, organizers of shark tournaments justify killing the
fish because they donate a portion of their proceeds to charity or
other causes. Hueter believes than many of those running shark
tournaments or competing in them may have been too young when the
battle was being fought in the 1980s and early 1990s. "We've got
a new generation of fishermen who are thinking we have more sharks than
ever before and more shark attacks than ever before," said Hueter. It's not so. Only one species of shark -- the blacktip -- is in reasonably good shape. All others are troubled. The
reason is that it takes many shark species 15 to 20 years to become
sexually mature. And then the females will reproduce only every other
year, some giving birth to as few as four or five pups. Hueter likes to remind shark enthusiasts that catch-and-release fishing is acceptable. "You
can tag a shark and watch it swim away," he said. "You don't
necessarily have to have a dead animal on the dock with blood dripping
out of its mouth or dead females hanging there with babies
dropping out." Shark tournaments, however, draw big crowds.
Competitors spend money in local tackle shops on line, hooks, tackle
and bait. They line up to buy fuel. They fill their coolers with ice,
water, beer, soda and sandwiches. And that's good in this economy for the retailer. "People want to see these animals," said Hueter. "But wouldn't it be better to come to Mote and see them alive?" Hueter
is not against shark fishing. But you can still experience all the the
excitement of the sport and still release the fish. "Is killing
sharks a sport?" he said. "There's a lot of sport in finding the
animals, attracting them to the bait, hooking them up and battling them. "But to land them and string them up, is that sport?" It hadn't been for a couple of decades. But kill tournaments are beginning to sprout again throughout the state. "The
one concern that I have is young kids when they see this," said Hueter.
"You're just perpetuating the myth that it's OK to kill sharks for
sport. It's OK in their minds because these animals are just going to
kill people anyway." That's not true, but that's the prevailing myth.
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