U.S. Plan Calls for Fishing Curbs on 39 Shark Species

After more than two years of debate, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday announced plans to curtail both commercial and sports fishing for 39 species of sharks in U.S. waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.

The action, long advocated by marine biologists and environmental groups, came in response to a precipitous decline in the population of sharks in recent years.

The Pacific Ocean was not included in the restriction plan on grounds that the West Coast shark fishery has not threatened populations of the ocean scavengers. The regulations also do not cover state waters out to a distance of three miles from the shoreline.

The commercial shark catch skyrocketed from less than 500 metric tons annually to about 7,500 metric tons a year during the 1980s as shark meat--such as Mako--grew in popularity in restaurants and groceries. There is also a booming Asian market for fins comprising the principal ingredient of shark fin soup.

“Although sharks have survived atop the food chain for more than 400 million years, overfishing has threatened the survival of some species in less than a decade,” said William Fox Jr., assistant administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service. “Sharks are extremely vulnerable to unregulated fishing pressure because they have low reproductive rates and are slow to mature.”

Under the plan announced Wednesday, a quota of about 3,000 metric tons a year will be imposed upon the commercial catch from the three areas. Sports fishing boats will be limited to two sharks a day from large species and five a day from the small species. The minimum sizes are set for sharks of each species that may be taken.

Marine Fisheries officials said that the plan will go into effect after a 60-day comment period.

“This plan still has significant holes in it but they can be corrected. “ said Harry Upton, director of conservation programs at the Washington-based Center for Marine Conservation. “It is a shame that they didn’t implement the draft they published in 1989, and correct it along the way.”

What is more worrisome, Upton said, is that reliable data on shark migrations and life cycles is still inadequate, raising the possibility that some species may have been depleted beyond recovery.

Upton said that serious consideration should be given to extending the restriction to federal waters off the Pacific coast where soup fin sharks and other species have been seriously depleted.

In addition to the 39 species being controlled, the plan calls for monitoring another 34 species.

Like wolves, sharks have historically suffered a bad image leading to efforts to kill them whenever possible. As recently as 1980, the federal government itself promoted shark fishing as an alternative to fishing other depleted stocks. But in more recent times, the creature has come to be appreciated as a top-of-the-line predator playing an important role in marine ecology.

The shark’s role, says University of Miami expert Samuel Gruber, is as important in the sea as the lion is to the wildlife of Africa.