New shark rule is good for fish and angler

MARK SAMPSON

DELMARVA NOW. CORRESPONDENT

The process of renewing licenses, permits, and boat registrations is something many anglers like to take care of in the winter so that when the new fishing season rolls around they’ll be ready to fish and not have to hassle with paperwork when they would like to be out on the water.

Taylor Thornton pulls a 6-foot dusky shark back into the ocean in South Bethany, Del. Thornton says he found the bigger sharks can't reach that far back to bite. An enforcement officer from the Department of Natural Resources , though, says removing sharks from the water for even a minute or two can damage their organs and threaten their survival.

So with that in mind, last week I plunked myself down at the computer and renewed my federal HMS permit. Those who fish offshore are familiar with this permit as it’s the one that allows us to fish for billfish, tuna or sharks.

The HMS permit has traditionally been one of the quickest and easiest to get, particularly for those who are simply renewing because most of their information will already be stored in the NMFS files, so it’s just a matter of agreeing that no changes need to be made, a credit card number to cover the $20 fee, print the permit, and you’re all set.

However, this year the process has become a little bit more involved as anglers who wish to fish for sharks or want the opportunity to keep a shark they might accidentally catch, are required to get a “shark endorsement” on their HMS permit.

The good news is the endorsement doesn’t cost anything; the only downside (if you want to call it that) is that getting the endorsement requires two more steps in the online process.

First, anglers will view a three-minute safe handling and identification video, then they will answer questions to a very short quiz to verify that they didn’t sleep through the video.

The video is simple but informative and the quiz is set up so that, regardless of whether you get a question right or wrong, they show a quick description of the proper answer so everyone will have a chance to get a clear understanding of the shark regulations. No one will actually fail the quiz.

Having the endorsement will not require anglers to possess or use any special tackle or make changes in the gear they would normally use when they are targeting fish other than sharks, so there is no downside to having the endorsement. However, those who do not have the endorsement will not be able to keep a shark at any time.

This new shark endorsement has come to be because NMFS is tasked with the responsibility of providing additional conservation to dusky sharks which are deemed to be severely overfished as a result of incidental (accidental) catches in the commercial and recreational fisheries.

Even though duskies have been on the prohibited species list for over a decade and may not be fished for or harvested anytime by anyone, supposedly too many are dying because they are not surviving the catch and release process, or in some cases as 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.

It’s hoped that the training video will help increase the average angler’s ability to identify dusky sharks and help them follow the regulations, thus providing duskies an increased measure of conservation.

While applying for their HMS permit, anglers will also be reminded that starting this year anyone targeting sharks must use non-offset, non-stainless steel circle hooks.

Since circle hooks have been proven to provide fish that are caught and released the best chance for survival because they usually hook in the jaw rather than the gut, NMFS has determined that if recreational anglers use circle hooks when targeting sharks with bait (not lures or flies) there will be an increased chance that dusky and other species of sharks caught and released in the recreational fishery will survive.

Hopefully the shark endorsement will result in better-educated fishermen, which along with the use of circle hooks will result in an increased level of conservation for sharks so that tighter regulations will not be needed later.