It just got a lot harder to get a mako steak on your plate

It was just a few weeks ago that I discussed the new federal regulations that will require any recreational angler who wishes to fish for sharks to use circle hooks and get a “shark endorsement” on their annual HMS permit.

I ended the column by mentioning that I hoped the new regulations would provide enough of an “increased level of conservation for sharks so that tighter regulations will not be needed later.” Well that didn’t last long!

Last week the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published a notice of an impending “emergency rule” that is going to make it a lot more difficult for recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, and even consumers to put mako shark steaks on their plates.

From the recreational side, anglers are going to be looking at increased size limits and different limits for male and female makos.

To this point, any shortfin mako has had to measure out to at least 54 inches (about 60 pounds) at the fork of the tail to be legal, but the new regulations will require male makos to be 71 inches (about 140 pounds) and females to be 83 inches (about 230 pounds).

Considering that most recreationally caught and kept mako sharks (whether male or female) weigh in between 100 and 130 pounds and a large percentage of them are females, the results of these new size limits will certainly be evident at the docks with many less makos hanging on the scales or being cut up at the cleaning stations.

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Besides it becoming much less likely that they will hook a “keeper” size mako, these new regulations will present anglers with the additional challenges of determining the sex of the fish and accurately estimating its length before securing it with a gaff.

Looking at the pelvic fins (the two fins on either side of the anal cavity), it’s easy to distinguish a male shark from a female — males have two cylindrical “claspers” and females do not.

On male makos of 71 inches or more, the two claspers will likely be eight or more inches in length and very obvious, providing the shark can be partially rolled on its side. It doesn’t have to be turned totally belly-up, but it usually requires at least somewhat of a profile view to observe the claspers.

If they cannot see the claspers, anglers will know that they have a female and the larger size limit applies.

Obviously no one is going to bring the shark aboard to measure it, determine its sex and then possibly turn it loose, and under the regulations that’s not even allowed.

By holding leader and controlling the shark alongside the boat, anglers will have to do all that while the animal is still in the water, a practice that certainly can be done in a safe and timely manner, but handling any big fish beside the boat always requires extra caution, so if only for that reason, I’m sure some anglers won’t be so keen on these new regulations.

This drastic and unexpected change of regulations came to pass after a recent International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas meeting where a new stock assessment for shortfin mako sharks was presented that showed that the species has been overfished and overfishing was still occurring.

Such a finding requires that member countries (like the U.S.) take action to stop the overfishing. To this point our fishery managers were working on the premise that makos were not overfished and overfishing was not occurring, that’s why the mako regulations were so lax at 54 inches. But like it or not, with this new stock assessment everything changes.

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It’s also worth noting that commercial fishermen are also being dramatically affected by new regulations that will require that they release all mako sharks unless they come up dead on a longline that is being retrieved.

This action will translate to less mako available to consumers in restaurants and retail fish markets. So the bottom line is whether you catch your own or buy it in a store, from here on out it’s going to be a lot harder to end the day with a slice of grilled mako on your plate.