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NOAA Proposes
Measures to Rebuild Blacknose and Other Shark Populations
July 24, 2009
NOAA’s Fisheries Services proposing several measures to end
overfishing and rebuild blacknose sharks and other shark
populations. Nine public hearings will be held on the proposal, from
New England to the Gulf of Mexico, in August and September.
“Our latest stock assessment found that the blacknose
shark is depleted and the rate of fishing, both directed and
incidental, is unsustainable,” said Jim Balsiger, acting NOAA
assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. “Blacknose
sharks are vulnerable because they bear few young. The proposed
measures will help rebuild the species, an important part of the
ecosystem in the south Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean
Sea.”
The stock assessment determined that reducing the
annual mortality of blacknose sharks by approximately 78 percent
across all fisheries could result in rebuilding by 2027. To rebuild
the blacknose shark population—named for the dusky blotch on the tip
of their noses—NOAA proposes creating a separate blacknose shark
quota. Until now, landings of blacknose sharks have been counted
against the small coastal shark complex quota. The proposed annual
quota would be 6,065 blacknose sharks, or 14.9 metric tons dressed
weight (shark weight without head, guts and fins). An average of
27,484 blacknose sharks, or 62 metric tons dressed weight, were
landed each year from 1999-2005. The separate quota is needed
because this species is the only small coastal shark that has been
determined to be fished at an unsustainable rate and have a depleted
population.
In addition, the agency proposes that only commercial
fishermen with a directed permit would be allowed to land blacknose
sharks until the quota is reached. Commercial fishermen with an
incidental shark permit and recreational fishermen would not be
allowed to land blacknose sharks.
An average blacknose shark grows to about 4 ½ feet, and
is currently fished as a game fish by recreational anglers and are
fished commercially for their meat, which is sold fresh or dried and
salted. These sharks play an important role in the ocean ecosystem,
helping control various fish populations.
To help rebuild the blacknose population, NOAA’s
Fisheries Service is also proposing to prohibit the landing of all
Atlantic sharks with gillnet gear—the primary way blacknose sharks
are caught—from South Carolina south, including the Gulf of Mexico
and the Caribbean Sea. This gillnet fishery targets small coastal
sharks, including blacknose.
While blacknose sharks are the only small coastal shark
that needs management updates to be rebuilt, because they are
frequently caught with other small coastal sharks,there is also a
proposed annual quota for the non-blacknose small coastal sharks,
including finetooth, Atlantic sharpnose, and bonnethead sharks. The
proposed quota would be significantly reduced from the current 454
metric tons dressed weight quota to 56.9 metric tons dressed weight.
The proposed quotas for blacknose and the non-blacknose small
coastal sharks represent an overall 76 percent reduction in landings
by weight of small coastal sharks.
The proposal also would add smooth dogfish to the
species managed by the NOAA’s Fisheries Service requiring a federal
fishing permit and proposes an annual commercial quota of 645.8
metric tons dressed weight. Average reported landings of smooth
dogfish are 431.3 metric tons dressed weight per year as reported
through the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program from
1998 through 2007.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service will also identify essential
habit for smooth dogfish, a species that lives in coastal waters and
ranges from Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.
It is also caught for its meat and fins.
In addition, the proposal promotes the live release of
shortfin mako sharks by commercial and recreational fishermen to
help rebuild the species population in the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S.
contributes less than 10 percent to the overall catch in the
Atlantic. NOAA’s Fisheries Service has proposed to take action at
the international level to develop measures to end overfishing of
the species.
For more information on the proposed action, the
Federal Register notice, and for the list of public hearings, see
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms .
9/16/09 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Charleston Main Library
68 Callhoun Street
Charleston, SC 29401 |
