Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Gauntlet Fishing for Sharks - possibly sustainable?

Ozzie Fish&Chips - usually flake = Gummy Shark. Source.

Great find by Shark Year Magazine!
Check it out - and yes this would be 1956!



Solutions?
Possibly gauntlet fishing, ie to only fish for sub-adult Sharks, ideally within the parameters of natural mortality, whilst sparing the tiny juveniles and the valuable sexually mature Sharks that are the breeders - and incidentally, this applies to all fishing inclusive of game fishing, for Sharks and for other Fishes, too!
This can be achieved by deploying adequate gear that is too big for the juveniles and to weak for the adults and/or by targeting those areas where the sub-adults aggregate. Counter-intuitively, size limits would thus define a minimum and also, a maximum size.
As a proponent of sustainable fishing, I like that - if properly monitored!

As SYM points out, the Australian Gummy Shark fishery is currently being defined as sustainable whereas the School Sharks are still being overfished. 

And what about the fins?

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