Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
In April, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) filed in the Federal Register Amendment 5B to the Consolidated Atlantic Highly Species Management Plan. That’s a longwinded way of saying that they officially made changes to some of their fishery regulations. In this case, the regulations are all about sharks and while they pertain to both commercial and recreational shark fishermen, I’ll limit my discussion to changes made in the recreational shark fishery as I’m guessing that’s what most readers will be interested in hearing about.
It’s important for anglers to know that Amendment 5B is not a just a “proposal” - it’s a done-deal. Throughout the fall and winter, NMFS jumped through all the necessary hoops, including public meetings, a comment period, a final review and every other hurdle they needed to clear to make the new regulations law. And now we have some dramatically new shark regulations on the books that are going to change the way a lot of fishermen do what they do when they are trying to catch a shark. But before anyone gets all fired up about the fact that here we are, right on the threshold of shark season, and suddenly there are new regulations to contend with, I’ll point out that these new rules won’t take effect until January 1st of 2018, so there is plenty of time to get ready for the transformation.
So the “short version” of the reasoning behind these new regulations is that they are all about NMFS attempting to provide additional conservation to dusky sharks. Even though dusky sharks are a prohibited species and may not be fished for or harvested anytime by anyone, they are deemed to be severely overfished as a result of incidental (accidental) catches in the commercial and recreational fisheries. According to NMFS, too many dusky sharks are dieing because they are not surviving the catch and release process, or in some cases a result of anglers boating them because they either don’t know that duskies are a prohibited species, or because they are misidentifying them as a legal species and bringing them home for dinner.
In order to comply with federal law, NMFS must do what is necessary to prevent overfishing of the resources they manage. In the case of dusky sharks and the recreational fishery, the solution they’ve come up with is to require all anglers who intend to fish for sharks to obtain a “shark endorsement” on their HMS Permit and require the use of circle hooks whenever they are fishing with bait intended for sharks. It’s predicted that these two regulations will provide an adequate amount of additional conservation to dusky sharks that will allow their populations to return to acceptable levels.
So how is all this going to effect anglers who may or may not intend to fish for sharks off Delmarva? First, anglers should know that these are federal regulations and apply to anglers fishing in the EEZ or 3-200 miles out. So those who do their fishing strictly in state waters need only worry about their own state regulations that pertain to sharks. It’s possible that between now and 2018, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) could choose to adopt the same shark regulations, but as of right now I’m not aware of any regulations in Virginia, Maryland or Delaware that require circle hooks or a shark endorsement, so if you fish for sharks from the beach or close to shore you are not (yet) required to comply with these regulations.
However, ANYONE who fishes for sharks or who would like to have the opportunity to keep a shark, even if they accidentally catch one beyond 3-miles, will need to comply with the new rules and I know that there are a lot of fishermen who are not quite sure exactly how this will affect them and what they must or must not do in order to stay in compliance, so I’ll try to explain:
First, the federal regulation requiring that anyone who wishes to fish for tuna, billfish or sharks in the EEZ have a Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Permit is still the same. Recreational anglers will still have to choose whether to get an HMS “Angling” Category Permit if they have a strictly private boat, or an HMS “Charter/Headboat” Category Permit if they take passengers for hire.
What will be new in 2018 is that if a fisherman intends to fish for sharks, or they would like the opportunity to keep a shark if they accidentally catch one, they must request the “shark endorsement” on their permit when they are applying online for their HMS Permit. There will be no fee for the endorsement, however, the angler will be required to watch a short, safe handling and identification training video and answer a few easy questions about sharks to confirm they paid attention to the video.
The training video is one tool NMFS will use to help anglers properly identify dusky sharks in hopes that such knowledge will minimize the chances of mistakenly boating rather than releasing duskies that are accidentally caught. Whether or not someone intends to fish for sharks, if they accidentally catch one while fishing for something else and wish to keep it, they may not do so unless they have the shark endorsement on their HMS Permit.
Having the endorsement will not require anglers to possess or use circle hooks or make changes in the gear they would normally use when they are targeting fish other than sharks, so there is no down-side to having the endorsement. However, if you do not have the endorsement you will not be able to keep a shark at any time. Imagine landing a big mako while trolling for marlin in the White Marlin Open. Sorry Charlie, you’ll have to release it. So my suggestion is that everyone get the endorsement with their HMS Permit!
Except for those who are already using circle hooks for sharks, the new hook requirement will likely bring about the most notable change in an angler’s fishing practices. Circle hooks have been proven to provide fish that are caught and released the best chance for survival because they usually hook the fish in the jaw rather than in the gut. Therefore, NMFS has determined that if recreational anglers use circle hooks when targeting sharks with natural bait (not lures or flies), there will be an increased chance that duskies and other species of sharks caught and released in the recreational fishery will survive. It’s hoped that this action will provide a sufficient level of conservation to dusky shark populations so that tighter regulations will not be needed later. The regulations do not specify the size or type of circle hook that must be used but they do specify that they must be non-stainless steel and non-offset hooks.
Although I have not been required to, I have been exclusively using circle hooks for sharks over the last decade and find them to be a far superior tool for both hooking and holding onto a shark than the outdated “J” hook. However, to successfully use circle hooks for sharks it requires that baits, rigs and fishing techniques be tweaked a little from the way anglers would usually fish with J-hooks.
Next week we’ll take a closer look at what that’s all about.
Capt. Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
