The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has approved a series of rules to enhance its long-standing policy to protect stressed shark populations in Florida waters.
The rules also are generally consistent with recent management measures that have been implemented for sharks in coastal waters from Florida to Maine.
Sharks have been strictly regulated in Florida since 1992 with a one-fish-per-person/two-fish-per-vessel daily bag limit for all recreational and commercial harvesters, a prohibition on nearly two dozen overfished or rare shark species, and a ban on the cruel and wasteful practice of harvesting only shark fins (called finning).
The new rules prohibit harvest of sandbar, silky and Caribbean sharpnose sharks from state waters. Sandbar sharks are considered overfished and are experiencing overfishing, which means that fishing pressure is too high to be sustainable. Silky sharks are highly vulnerable to overexploitation, and Caribbean sharpnose sharks do not occur in waters off Florida, so adding this species will have no effect on harvesters in state waters.
The rules also establish a 54-inch fork length minimum size limit for all sharks, except Atlantic sharpnose, blacknose, bonnethead, finetooth and blacktip sharks and smooth dogfish. This will help protect the juveniles of 14 species of sharks in Florida waters.
