Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
A couple weeks ago we caught a six-foot dusky shark that had a plastic packing strap encircling it’s body. Apparently, at some point the shark swam through the loop that was the strap, and it remained on the shark like a big necklace. By the time we encountered the shark, the strap had been on it long enough that it had accumulated considerable marine growth and had cut gashes a couple inches deep into the back of the animal in front of the dorsal fin and into the front edges of each of the pectoral fins. After removing the strap we tagged and released the shark and concluded that it was probably one of the few fish that had reason to actually be happy a fisherman had caught it.
I wish I could say that was an isolated incident, but two summers ago we cut a packing strap off a different dusky shark of about the same size. Even though we catch a few hundred duskies each season, I’m thinking that the odds of landing two with packing straps has got to be pretty remote unless there are a lot of them out there, and that’s a sad thought. After all, it’s a big ocean, what are the chances?
On three other occasions we also landed sandbar sharks with monofilament gill net wrapped around their body, which was also cutting deep into their back and pectoral fins. In two of those cases the net had cut down almost to the vertebrae and it was astonishing that the sharks were even alive, but considering their emaciated state, I guess it’s no wonder they use what strength they had to eat the easy meal we had hanging on our hook.
In another incident we landed a sandbar shark that had swum into a rubber fan belt, which was also cutting deeply into its flesh. Since sharks cannot swim backwards, it should be easy to understand how, when they get something over their head and body, it will be very difficult for them to shake it off. As in the case of the fan belt, even if it never tightens around the animal, the consistent rubbing on the body as the fish swims will eventually break through the skin and then the flesh. Sharks and many other fish can be pretty resilient, and able to recover from external injuries, but in the case of entanglements, they have to first be free of the foreign object, but plastic, rubber and monofilament take years to disintegrate (if ever) and by then it’s too late for whatever is wrapped up in it.
Another source of trouble for fish of all types is if they are released with a long leader trailing from their mouths. Even worse is if the fishing line breaks and the fish is left to trail not only the leader, but also a long length of line behind it as it attempts to carry on its daily rituals of swimming, feeding and avoiding predators. Pulling a long leader and/or line behind would not only slow the fish’s progression through the water but also run the risk of snagging on the bottom or something floating or suspended in the water column, thus assuring almost certain death for the unlucky fish.
To prevent such tragedies, when anglers release fish they should always clip leaders as close to the hooks as possible, or better yet, use a dehooking tool to remove all the terminal tackle from the fish. Though I don’t know anyone who would put a line out that they figured was going to break, to help ensure that they don’t set a fish free with a bundle of line trailing behind, it’s probably good to point out that fishermen should always use the best tackle and line they can manage. This includes light tackle anglers. It’s simply unethical to use light tackle if there is a strong chance that whatever fish are being pursued are going to break off and go swimming away with a lot of terminal tackle trailing from their mouths. Light tackle anglers need to do it right or don’t do it at all.
As fishermen, we are the frontline stewards for the fish and other marine resources that surround us every moment we’re on the water. But despite our best efforts, sometimes things just go wrong, resulting in the unintentional death of fish, leakage of fuel in the water or loss of some trash overboard. We can never totally eliminate the chances of doing harm to the marine environment during our outdoor adventures, but if we do what we can – when we can, by fishing with the right tackle, plucking trash or debris from the water whenever we have a chance and basically just looking for every opportunity to leave in our wake a better patch of water than what’s off our bow, the impact from each one of us can be more positive than negative, and the fish and the waters that are so important to us will be left better off for it.
By the way, videos of the dusky shark with the plastic strap and the sandbar sharks with net injuries can be viewed on my “modernsharking” You Tube channel which is easily accessed from a link on my BigSharks.com website.
Captain Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat “Fish Finder”.
