The shark diving industry blog covering sharks, shark cage diving, shark conservation and things we find "amusing" since 2008 www.sharkdiver.com, www.sharkdivers.com, www.divingwithsharks.com
Between February and July, there have been a lot of incidents, where dying or dead sharks and rays have washed up on beaches in San Francisco bay. What is causing them to die?
According to an article in National Geographic, CDFW senior fish pathologist Mark Okihiro, Joseph Derisi, an expert on the genetics of infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco and Hanna Retallack, an MD-PhD graduate student have found the answer.
Their headline reads : "Mysterious Brain-Eating Shark Killer Identified, Though Questions Remain"
It looks like the culprit is "a well-known fish-killing parasite called Miamiensis avidus."
The article further states: This appears to be the first case, Retallack said, of Miamiensis avidus
infecting wild sharks. It’s noteworthy, she added, because sharks are
evolutionarily quite different from the bony fish that have previously
been known to suffer infections.
About Shark Diver.
As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.
Back in 2008 we posted these images and a call to action (see below). The images featured two Tiger sharks caught by sport fishermen. The animals were reduced to a set of jaws and some devastating pictures of decks littered with dead Tiger pups.
Three years later, Guy Harvey, the Bahamas National Trust and Pew Trust are mounting a terrific effort to get all of the Bahamas declared a shark sanctuary.
If you needed a reason for added shark protections these images should highlight that need now.
Please support this effort in any way you can and let's make these images the last of their kind:
Small island politics often breed strange laws, and non stranger then the seven anti-shark diving bills currently circulating through Hawaii's political center in Oahu.
At least one politician sensing the oncoming political circus surrounding sharks has added an anti-shark fin bill to the mix, that's the only good shark news coming from this island.
RTSea's Blog covered the entire political mess nicely in a post last week. Fine reading and summary of small island politics at it's best or absolute worst, depending if you happen to care about sharks, tourism, conservation, and good old fashioned mid term electioneering.
L.A Times Pete Thomas is an outdoor writer who knows controversy when he sees it. He also knows conservation sense when he sees it as well. This week he covered the ongoing fall out of a video now on You Tube of what appears to be an illegal take of a breeding aged Mako shark off the coast of Florida this week.
His continuing coverage of the oceans at the Outposts Blog is a must read for ocean folks worldwide.
What started as an email this week about a breeding aged Mako shark "caught with a gaff" off the coast of Florida may well have documented a fisheries crime.
It’s not usually our style to let others speak for us but in this case I think a YouTube user said it the best:
"I have been big game fishing for 25 years and this is the most amateur kill i have ever seen. No wonder they have never seen anything like this before. They gaffed a green mako feeding on roadkill and were lucky they weren’t pulled in or worse, get there boat torn up after pulling him aboard. Drunken morons with no skills that are lucky that Mako didn’t tear them a new ass. What a disgrace, the fish deserved better. – YouTube user Zencaster"
While that is an interesting (and colorful opinion) I’d like to point out that the real issue here is that several fisheries laws may have been broken. First, watch the video…carefully.
IMPORTANT LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS Video time 1:10 (Reporters Voice): the crew wounds the shark with a gaff…
Here is the case to be made against the fisherman’s actions which appear to have been at least initialized by an illegal fishing method, free-gaffing or using a pole with a hook to capture the animal in such a way that it led to the animals harvest.
Case 1: How they might have broken the law in State Waters
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission manages their State waters (shore to 3 miles out) while being coordinated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) through an Interstate Fishery Management Plan. While the plan has undergone a series of recent revisions the current regulations clearly define that a shark may not be speared.
Current regulations define the term SPEARING as:
The catching or taking of a fish by bow hunting, gigging, spearfishing, or by any device used to capture a fish by piercing the body (gaff hooks .ed). Spearing does not include the catching or taking of a fish by a hook with hook and line gear, or by snagging (snatch hooking).
They further go on to clearly state:
Regulation #68B-44.003: Bag Limit Applicable to State Waters, Gear Restriction. (2) The harvest or attempted harvest of any shark in or from state waters by spearing is prohibited.
Thus in State controlled waters the fishermen might have broken the law by ‘free-gaffing’ the shark, ie they did not use a permitted method of capture, therefore they broke the law. Check out the regulations for yourself here: MyFWC.com or download the PDF version here: Current shark regulations (Note, even though there are currently amendments being discussed to these laws they only serve to strengthen the current regulations and do not in any case permit free gaffing sharks)
However: The video clearly starts with the disclaimer that they were 18 miles offshore, is this a loophole?
Case 2: How they might have broken the law in Federal waters
Federal waters are controlled by NOAA who run the Fisheries Office of Sustainable Fisheries: Atlantic Highly Migratory Species and have published the Guide for Complying with the Atlantic Tunas, Swordfish, Sharks, and Billfish Regulations (DOWNLOAD HERE)
Within this guide is given the strict instructions (click here for the most up to date digital version):
No person may fish for, catch, possess, or retain any Atlantic HMS (Highly Migratory Species .ed) with gears other than the primary gears specifically authorized in this part. Consistent with paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(2) of this section, secondary gears may be used at boat side to aid and assist in subduing, or bringing on board a vessel, Atlantic HMS that have first been caught or captured using primary gears. For purposes of this part, secondary gears include, but are not limited to, dart harpoons, gaffs, flying gaffs, tail ropes, etc. Secondary gears may not be used to capture, or attempt to capture, free-swimming or undersized HMS. Except as specified in this paragraph (b), a vessel using or having onboard in the Atlantic Ocean any unauthorized gear may not possess an Atlantic HMS on board.
Let’s make sure you caught that:
Secondary gears (gaffs) may not be used to capture, or attempt to capture, free-swimming or undersized HMS
By capturing a free swimming shark without the use of primary gear they may have broken the law in both State and Federal waters leaving no real argument that could be made for where they were or what permits they were operating under.
Action
It is clear that these fishermen, knowingly or not, might have broken the law. As the NOAA documents clearly state: Since fishery rules frequently change, it is your responsibility as a fisherman to become familiar with the latest regulatory updates and to comply with the current official regulations.
Since the fishermen were so kind as to video and broadcast their video it should be an open and shut case for someone who knows fisheries laws.
SFMI will be writing to the following people and urge you to do the same:
NOAA’s Highly Migratory Species Management Division at: Phone: (301) 713-2347 Fax: (301) 713-1917 Email: Craig Cockrell (Craig.Cockrell@noaa.gov) or Peter Cooper (Peter.Cooper@noaa.gov)
JustNews.com (the agency that made the news report) Phone: 954-364-2500 Email: Click Here
From SFMI
I’d hazard that I’m not the first to pick up on these fine points of the law but if the video does indeed tell the full tale then these laws need to be enforced. If however the fishermen can provide video evidence of them using PRIMARY tackle (ie hook and line) to initialize the capture then they would be within their rights to have landed the shark. If this turns out to be the case then I will instead turn this report into a cautionary tale of how the media should be more responsible in reporting on shark harvests, particularly when dealing with species considered by some to be globally threatened. If you’d like to comment you can reach me at staff@sharkfreemarinas.com
Cheers, Luke Tipple Director of Shark-Free Marinas
ST. PETERSBURG — The Pier Aquarium's shark exhibits were open to visitors Wednesday morning, but the real show was right outside.
Two young men were showing off a 9-foot female bull shark they caught hours before at the Pier. The carcass was in the back of a small pickup truck, blood dripping onto the pavement. A small crowd snapped digital photos.
"It was either him or us," 19-year-old Joshua Lipert of St. Petersburg told an onlooker. "Look who lost."
His fishing buddy agreed. "It was a dogfight," said Robert Korkoske, 16, who helped reel in the shark.Using a 100-pound Dacron fishing line and sea rays for bait, the young men fought the animal for two hours from the northeastern end of the pier before landing it about 6:15 a.m., they said.
They dragged it to a small beach on the western end.
A trophy kill, they called it.
"We like to cut the jaws out, hang them on the wall as a souvenir," said Korkoske, who said the pair have caught several sharks before.Though the shark had not been put on ice and was outdoors for hours after the kill, Lipert said he would offer the meat to relatives. Taking it to a taxidermist was too expensive, he said.
Butch Ringelspaugh, curator of exhibits for the Pier Aquarium, estimated the shark weighed 350 to 500 pounds.He wasn't surprised to find a shark that size swimming around the Pier. "This is bull shark territory out here," Ringelspaugh said.
Still, he noted the irony that the museum educates the public about the importance of protecting sharks. While bull sharks are not endangered, state law limits the catch to one a day. They are among the most dangerous sharks in the world, Ringelspaugh said.
The curator would have preferred it if Ringelspaugh had released the shark, which he estimated was 15 to 25 years old. At that age, a healthy female could be pregnant, Ringelspaugh said.
"The thing is, it takes a long time for them to reach sexual maturity, and by the time they do, very few of their young will make it to adulthood," he said. "Sharks as a whole are definitely down in numbers. Over 100 million sharks a year are killed by humans."
Brent Winner, an associate research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife commission, dropped by and took a blood sample to study for mercury. He turned down an offer to take the whole shark, but later offered his opinion on killing it: "It's his right to kill that fish. But you would hope that someone doesn't kill for trophy alone."
Based on weight, age, and the plumpness of its belly, Winner believed the shark was pregnant with six or eight pups.
Help find a solution
SFMI concedes that this particular Bull shark was caught from a pier, yet principle of a Shark-Free Marinas remains the same. The St Petersberg Pier is adjacent to the City of St. Petersburg Municipal Marina.
Please remember they are a business and we will not condone slander of any kind. Instead let the manager know why your business is important and why they have an obligation to monitor their patrons activities. As this is a municiple marina community concerns will be taken to council for a decision, so be polite and be heard.
We got the following update from the Australian Marine Conservation Society who are taking the lead in the recent government sponsored white shark kills in Queensland.
We requested contact information from them so divers, shark conservation groups, and blog readers could directly get involved. Here are the points of contact they suggest we all take a minute to register a complaint about white sharks being targeted off the coast:
Hi Shark Divers,
Thanks for the email
It is great to see you guys out there helping save sharks. Your blog is fantastic. We are all very impressed.
Our key shark campaign is getting the QLD government phase out shark fishing across Queensland and this ties in well to getting rid of the Shark Control Program.
At the moment, it is worth taking a shot across the government's bow on sharks via the shark control program, but alluding to the need to stop all forms of shark fishing in QLD (which helps our key message)
Proposed Ask - In order to protect Australia's precious sharks and secure a better future for Queensland's marine ecotourism industry, we call on the Queensland Government to amend the Fisheries Management Act (Section 3A (1)) to discontinue the Shark Control Program, and to commit to phasing out shark fishing in Queensland within the next 4 years.
Hon Tim Mulherin, MP Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries GPO Box 46 BRISBANE QLD 4001 dpi@ministerial.qld.gov.au
Cc: Hon Peter Garrett, MP Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts P.O. Box 6022 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Peter.Garrett.MP@aph.gov.au
CC: The Hon. Deslie Boyle Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry Office 1 "McLeod South" 78-84 Spence Street CAIRNS 4870 cairns@queenslandlaborteam.com
Let me know what else you might need,
Kind regards
Craig Bohm, Campaigns Director Australian Marine Conservation Society PO Box 5136, MANLY QLD 4179 ph: +61 7 3393 5811 Mob: 0427 133 481 fax: +61 7 3393 5833 Email: craigbohm@amcs.org.au www.marineconservation.org.au
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Our new weekly feature on Underwater Thrills:Swimming With Sharks is the "Shark Fin Du Jour".
It's a weekly look at Alibaba.com the NYSE of Shark Fin Products on the Internet-Sponsored by Yahoo! Inc.
We will take you into the individual sellers listed on that site and introduce the top companies, what species they sell and how many thousands of pounds of shark fins they have for sale on the global market.
Today our Shark Fin Du Jour is BTrade International who can source a staggering two tons of sharks fin per month:
