The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission had already planned to address state regulations for chumming and shark fishing when Anna Maria resident Joan Dickinson and two of her neighbors wrote Mayor Mike Selby two weeks ago expressing concerns that chumming and shark fishing at the Rod & Reel Pier would eventually lead to a shark attack.
FWC press secretary Susan Smith’s office said the FWC has a series of public workshops scheduled statewide in late June to discuss possible changes to shark fishing regulations.
An FWC workshop will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. June 23 at the Terrace Building, 101 S. Washington Blvd., Sarasota.
News of the FWC forums comes on the heels of concerns by Dickinson and others that chumming for sharks is an “accident waiting to happen.”
The FWC said it has received letters from citizens suggesting that chumming activities associated with fishing might cause feeding or hungry sharks to bite or attack swimmers, and that the FWC should ban such activities.
But those concerns have been investigated by the Florida Division of Marine Fisheries Management. The division reported to the FWC that it was “unable to find any research which suggests that chumming when fishing from shore increases the likelihood of negative interactions between swimmers and sharks,” according to the FWC statement.
Enough concerns were raised, however, that the FWC decided to hold public discussions about changes to shark fishing rules. The FWC also wants to examine scientific data on shark feeding and habits.
Because the FWC does not have extensive shark research facilities, expert advice on sharks comes from Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, which has a shark research facility.
Dr. Bob Hueter, director of the Mote Marine Center for Shark Research, agreed with the MFM findings on chumming and shark attacks.
His department’s research indicates there is “no evidence that chumming leads to shark attacks on people,” he said. “It just attracts them to a particular area, but sharks are already everywhere in Florida waters.”
But sharks are strange fish, he said, and there is still much to be learned about shark behavior and feeding habits. Some general rules about sharks, however, should be noted.
Hueter said he annually recommends that Florida beach communities warn swimmers not to get in the water when large numbers of anglers are nearby, usually within 300 feet.
“Sharks are attracted to bait, even if it’s not chum,” he said. Put many fishermen and a lot of bait near a public bathing beach and sharks will likely be attracted to the area, Hueter indicated.
Several Florida communities have expressed interest in regulating shark fishing within their jurisdictions, but the Florida Constitution gives the FWC authority to regulate fishing.
Enforcing a “no shark fishing” law might prove difficult. Sharks will bite just about anything, Hueter said, and many sharks are caught accidentally while fishing for something else.
Florida waters abound with sharks, and on rare occasion, they have been known to attack without foreseeable reason, he observed. The ocean is the shark’s domain and anyone entering Florida waters is probably within a mile or two of some type of shark, Hueter noted.
FWC talks sharks
Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission press secretary Susan Smith said in a press statement that the FWC would hold a series of workshops statewide in late June to get public input on possible changes to shark fishing laws.
In the Manatee area, the workshop is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 23, at the Terrace Building, 101 S. Washington Blvd., Sarasota.
The FWC said discussion items include limiting chumming activities when fishing from shore, a ban on chumming when fishing for any species within 100 yards of a public bathing beach or a ban on chumming during daylight hours.
Other discussion topics are adding more shark species to the list of protected fish and requiring the use of circle hooks when using natural bait to shark fish.
Anyone wishing to provide written comments outside the public workshop can e-mail them to marine@myfwc.com.
For a complete list of all workshop dates and locations, interested parties can go to the FWC website at myfwc.com and look under public workshops. The FWC encouraged people interested in fishing and sharks to attend a workshop.
“Attend these workshops and provide comment to the FWC on these proposed changes.
The input of all affected parties is critical to the FWC when developing regulatory measures, the FWC statement said.
My family and I vacation on AMI every year from Northern Ireland,I love to fish and do so most of the time whilst there.I have never seen any chumming from the piers or beaches (that’s not to say it doesn’t happen), and the thought that someone would think that it was ok should think about their actions.Florida waters has some of the highest populations of Bull sharks, which apart from having the highest rate of recorded attacks on bathers world wide,also like to feed in low visibilty waters.To add to this mix chumming to bring them close inshore to a baited hook and bathing beaches, well luck will run out sooner or later.The Australian Shark Researchers have been looking at the possiblity that cage diving with great whites is causing the animals to associate all boats large and small with food. This means scientists know that some species of shark have the ability to retain memory (though maybe for short periods). This being the case then as more people use the sea then the risk facter increases anyway. To add to the mix this type of fishing surely increases this up a notch.All of the local fishermen/women I have met on the Island have shown only respect for the environment and the creatures that live in it.The Mote from what I have seen does a great job in the way of education, however not everyone wants to be educated.Living in Northern Ireland I have seen that sometimes when you force people by law to do what is common sense their are always those who know better.If I may as an outsider have any input for what it’s worth,maybe through local advertising near piers especially,’requesting’ people who are fishing to refrain from using chum,may make them thinking twice.I know it won’t work with everyone,but then what will.Should a bather be injured or killed due to others ignorance,then you can imagine the impact on sharks (who are only doing what comes natural)by people and the unjustified fear that would impact on all those who invested so much to make AMI the wonderful place it is.This does not just happen in the movies,this has happened before and may well do so again….John.
Indeed the key to understnading is education. According to statistics… Florida is the shark attack capital of the world! Also, alligator attacks, lightning strikes,etc… additionally, Florida also has great weather, more retirees, more boats, prettier girls, too many yankees, too many franchises, and the list goes on and on…
Please review the stats at http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics/gattack/mapfl.htm
Quit attacking sharks!
I have and still do scuba dive all over Florida for many years, over 20 years actually…can’t even find anything but a nurse shark occasionally…
What a great thing we humans are… we have mastered the art of killing everything on land…ourselves, bears, buffalo, jackrabbits, etc. The seas which cover 3/4 =/- of Earth are now feeling the stress of us humans…
Really?
Jimmy Abernethy who owns Scuba Adventures in Florida got a diver killed by a Bull shark with chumming in 2008 and was bitten in the arm by a shark very badly this year.
Stop chumming for sharks!
http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=34670105189
http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=61105308274
I have researched shark attacks in this area and there are very few .The only fatal one in the last 30 years occurred on the 15th Sept 1981 when 26 year old mark Meeker tried to swim from Been point to Egmont Key at night .He was found dead the next morning with a shark bite to his leg after having used his bathing costume to make a tourniquet without success.This is the only local attack I can find any record of.Even though people have been shark fishing from the pier for 50 years no one at the rod and reel beach has ever been attacked.This will doubtless drag on causing divisions within the community,but people will still catch sharks from piers as you can’t tell them what to eat or where to swim .
I would like to know where Dean did his research to be able to look at incident reports on weather or not fishing or shark fishing, chumming was taking place in the area of a attack. I know you could never get that info from the ISAF or GSAF and they are the only two places that collect info on weather fishing was taking place at the time of the attack.
Jessie Arbogast was bitten by a bull shark that was hooked, line still attached where shark fishing was taking place. He lost a arm then they pulled his arm out of the shark and reatached it, but he is still mostly brain dead 10 years later.
Lauren
I just hope that more people become more educated about sharks and fishing in general. I see and hear about many people purposely fishing for sharks just to say they caught one. Well unfortunately for the sharks many people catch them and then end up killing them because they don’t know how to properly release them or revive them after the long battle. They key is education….for all species in the oceans. They are becoming endangered for a reason.