When you have been hit up by the taxman whereas fishing the waters round Florida just lately, you aren’t alone, nor have been the percentages in your favor. A brand new study published within the Worldwide Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Journal of Marine Science has proven that just about half of anglers fishing in Florida have handled shark depredation. Confirming what Constitution Captains and Saltwater anglers have been saying for years: they’re getting sharked greater than ever. This citizen-science-based venture used social media content material evaluation, on-line angler surveys, and cooperative fishery-dependent charters to construct an in-depth data base of how sharks affected the Florida fishery. On common, 43% of anglers skilled some shark depredation. The likelihood of getting sharked ranges from 10% to 60%, relying on the realm and season. The examine additionally discovered that bull sharks have been essentially the most prevalent species for depredation incidents, with 38.5% involving them, and that snappers and groupers have been the commonest targets of sharks and different predators.
“A typical day of offshore fishing on our reefs we will run by means of 5- 10 weights and or 10 to 30 hooks. It isn’t unusual to have teams of sharks comply with our fish as much as the boat 3-4 in a pack chasing one fish. Typically occasions each fish that we flip off the underside on a reef/wreck will get sharked. The one approach to keep away from it’s to depart and take a look at one other. Final 12 months we even had sharks attacking our fish launched by way of descending gadgets on their manner again to the underside” – Florida Captain Logan Dezan of Top to Bottom Fishing Company
Hopefully, with new data like this and extra laws just like the latest SHARKED Act, science-based methods to cope with the uptick in shark depredation might be fashioned whereas nonetheless preserving a stability between conservation and leisure fishing pursuits.
Author for AllOutdoor.com and OutdoorHub.com Lifelong angler that may fish for something that swim, firearms fanatic, and hunter. Instagram – mrfish49
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