To most Americans, April 15th is Tax Day, but for those of that fish in saltwater, Tax Days and interactions with the “Tax Man” are becoming all too common. Anglers from around the country, but particularly in southern regions, like Southeast Florida, are increasingly losing their catches to sharks. Without a doubt, sharks have benefited from conservation measures and are integral to marine ecosystems. Shark populations are populations are fairing much better today than decades ago, which is not a bad thing. In fact, and on paper, it’s a conservation success story, but real challenges between sharks and fishermen, or even humans in general, are rising to a head, and scientists and fisheries managers are looking for solutions.
Whether it’s evolution or something else, recreational fishermen are witnessing shark-adaptation in real time, as sharks (or any marine predator, for that matter) are not one to pass up an easy meal. However, these increasing shark-angler interactions present several problems: they form negative perceptions of sharks, pose a conservation dilemma for important recreational fish species, and reinforce this negative but natural shark behavior. Due to increasing depredation events, non-profit organizations and scientific and government fisheries management entities are taking a closer look. Bonefish and Tarpon Trust is making the issue a major priority.
Relying on science-based approaches, BTT works to restore bonefish, tarpon, and permit fisheries and habitats. In the fly fishing world, those three species sit high atop anglers’ bucket lists, but they are also a popular easy menu item for shark species.
“BTT’s collaboration with local guides has led to the identification of depredation hotspots, with lemon sharks emerging as the main depredator species,” says Dr. José E. Trujillo, a BTT postdoctoral associate. “We will define the space use and residency patterns, diets, and demographics of lemon sharks within these hotspots. We are using several methods to achieve these objectives. These include acoustic tracking, genetic metabarcoding of feces for diet assessments, and external visible color-coded tags to track repeated depredation events from single individuals based on angler reports. These outcomes will inform targeted management strategies to reduce depredation, including operational changes, policies/regulations, the use of shark deterrents, or educational outreach.”
As an example of BTT’s work addressing shark challenges, you may recall the organization’s Western Dry Rocks initiative? This region off of the Florida Keys was determined to be a critical location for spawning permit but also attracted a lot of fishing pressure, because of the large aggregations of permit. Well, sharks caught on and more and more permit were being lost to sharks. BTT immediately realized losing the amount of pre-spawn permit was a problem that threatened the premier flats species’ long term sustainability. So they encouraged fishery managers to implement a precautionary fishing closure in this distinct area to avoid sacrificing these spawning permit to sharks. Thanks to BTT’s science and advocacy efforts, Florida protected this spawning aggregation in 2020, limiting the depredation loss.
But BTT didn’t stop there–in fact, the organization has taken a greater focus on this challenging dynamic and continues its depredation efforts. Toward the end of 2024, BTT initiated the Florida Keys Shark Depredation Project, leveraging new findings from a research project.
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Initial findings include a steady increase in depredation instances over the past 10 years, and depredation events increased significantly after 2014. These findings reinforced the need for more science and search for some solution or path forward for fish, fishermen, and sharks.
The goal of BTT’s Shark Depredation Project is to identify ways for sharks and anglers to coexist within a healthy flats fishery, providing fishery managers with science-backed solutions to mitigate shark depredation in the Keys. BTT is also looking at this issue beyond the Keys, including its support for the SHARKED Act, a bill that would create a task force of experts to address the depredation problem nationwide.
One way you can help BTT’s shark depredation work is through citizen science. For one, if you catch or see a tagged shark, be sure to report it. Similarly, you can document any shark depredation events and share the information with BTT, sharks@bonefishtarpontrust.org. For more questions or to learn how to get involved head on over to BTT today!
Also, using a lighter class tippet is a good way to limit shark depredation events. If you see a shark chasing your catch, you can simply pop the tippet and give that fish a better chance of evading the predator!
While it’s easy to demonize sharks amid this uptick in depredation events, you cannot blame a shark for being a shark–it’s quite simply their biology to attack and eat easy prey targets. Just like any walk of life, however, there are problem sharks, that have refined their skills in stealing anglers’ catches. There’s great momentum behind studying this issue and developing policy solutions, so hopefully we see some progress. Because whether you practice catch and release or are fishing for the dinner table, losing fish to the tax man does no good for those fish populations, the recreational fishing economy, or perceptions of sharks. The tax man will keep taxing, but hopefully relief is on the horizon.
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