In a move to further protect sharks in state waters, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission recently agreed to add four shark species to its no-harvest list: tiger sharks, great hammerheads, smooth hammerheads and scalloped hammerheads.
“We recognize that maintaining healthy shark populations is critical to the sustainability of our marine ecosystems,” FWC Chairwoman Kathy Barco said. “The additional protections we are proposing would help preserve Florida’s valuable marine resources.”
The harvest of sharks has been strictly regulated in Florida waters since 1992. Existing regulations include a one-shark-per-person bag limit (and two per vessel) for recreational and commercial harvesters, a ban on shark finning and a prohibition on the harvest of about two dozen rare and overfished sharks.
Sharks are not like fish that lay and fertilize thousands of eggs at a time. They give live birth to pups, sometimes only a few every other year. That means depressed shark populations can take longer to rebound than those of other fish.
The FWC also is planning an educational campaign to help anglers properly handle and release sharks.
Commissioners are also considering a trophy tag program, similar to the one used for tarpon, that would allow anglers to harvest a limited number of prohibited sharks for the purposes of setting fishing records.
A final public hearing on the shark rule changes is scheduled for the FWC’s November meeting in Key Largo.
Also earlier this month, the FWC commissioners approved draft amendments that would allow the harvest of spotted seatrout year-round. Currently, the seatrout season is closed during November and December in South Florida and during February in North Florida.
The commission also asked its staff to investigate the possibility of increasing the recreational bag limit for seatrout caught in the Northeast Region and expanding the commercial harvest season from three months to five months.
The commission is scheduled to hold a final public hearing on seatrout rule changes at the November meeting in Key Largo.
The draft spotted seatrout rule is available online at www.myfwc.com/commission.
