A SHARKY SITUATION

I read with great interest the Opinion column in the February issue regarding the shark population and wanted to comment. Here on the southwest coast of Florida, we’ve hardly ever had an issue with sharks until recently. Over the past few years, we’ve been losing a few groupers and red snapper to sharks while bottomfishing, but on one overnight trip out to the Steps last summer, we had several yellowfin tuna get bitten as well. Some of these sharks were real giants too—7 to 10 feet. One of my crewmembers remarked that it would not be a good time to go for a swim. We were the only boat for miles and miles around, and yet the sharks found us. Or maybe they were with the tuna all along?

I realize that sharks have an important role in the ecosystem and that healthy populations are necessary to keep things in balance, but I agree with all the captains you interviewed and hope something can be done soon to resolve this situation before it gets completely out of control. Steve Dunne

Via email

Thanks for the note, Steve. While sharks were once heavily overfished, especially for the shark-fin trade in the Far East, today they have become a nuisance (and much worse) in many fisheries, both here in the US and elsewhere around the world. A major issue we face is a lack of information about shark populations, especially in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and in the Pacific Ocean as well. As we have seen with many other fisheries issues, poor knowledge nearly always leads to poor management. We are working with several conservation organizations to petition NOAA for an updated stock assessment on the key species; we will keep everyone posted on our progress. —Ed.