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Shark: We loved them to death (theirs)

A decade ago, Gulf of Mexico fishermen caught millions of pounds of shark.

 Fishermen prized the fins, which commanded $20 a pound at the dock before they were sent to China for somebody's soup.

 Tampa Bay area consumers benefited because the rest of the carcass had to end up somewhere. Shark would never compete for popularity with delicate snapper or grouper, but fillets were white and tasty enough. Local markets routinely sold them for only $2 or $3 a pound.

 Those days are over.

 Worried that some species could be fished out of existence, federal regulators have imposed tighter shark controls over the last several years.

 In 2008, commercial shark fishing in both the gulf and Atlantic will shut down through August and may never crank up again.

 Sharks' biology makes them very vulnerable to overfishing, said Margo Schulze-Haugen, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Sharks take years to reach reproductive age, they sometimes give birth to as few as two pups at a time and they often skip birthing years.

 Sandbar sharks, the most fished commercial species, may take 70 years to rebuild to a stable level, according to government studies.

 "If we start fishing lots of them, they can't withstand it," Schulze-Haugen said. "There is little room for error."

 Fishermen are bitter. The federal government enticed them to take up shark fishing in the first place. Current shark studies are based on shaky data, they say. Besides, there are plenty of sharks out there.

 "It's not as if they are gone," said Basil Arend, a St. Petersburg fisherman who now works construction because he can't make a living on shark. "A government scientist told me they would be gone in five years. That was 26 years ago."

 These conflicting views will play out next fall, when NOAA considers a major overhaul of shark regulations. Congressional mandates are clear: If sharks are overfished, NOAA must stop it.

 Among other things, proposed rules may put sandbar sharks off-limits for decades, except for research.

 Nurse sharks, bulls, lemons, tigers and blacktips are all caught in small commercial quantities. But sandbars, with their tall, straight dorsal fins, are the backbone of the industry.

 Fly a small plane low along Florida's beaches and chances are you will spot sharks -- often within a stone's throw of unsuspecting bathers.

 Until the 1980s, the gulf's commercial fishermen never saw dollar signs, just annoying apex predators that ate lots of marketable fish.

 Then the federal fishery service, a Commerce Department branch, decided to diversify the economy by encouraging the fleet to take up shark fishing. Low-interest government loans helped people buy and equip boats.

 Schulze-Haugen acknowledges the government helped kick-start shark fishing, but, "scientific information was very scant at that point," she said.

 Long-lining proved particularly effective against sharks. Cables 10 or 15 miles long with hundreds of leaders and hooks attached would lie along the bottom, usually at night.

 The trick was tracking down the big schools that migrated from Texas to the Florida Keys and into the Atlantic. Once into a herd, a skilled fisherman could fill his boat and get back home in just a few days, while grouper fishermen often stayed out two weeks at a time.

 For some, it was exciting.

 "It's man against beast. It's like hunting," said Seminole fisherman Greg Pruitt. "You are catching 200- or 300-pound fish. All it takes is one messup and they'll get you. If they tail slap you, the next day you are going to look like you just slid across road asphalt, their skin is so abrasive."

 Shark landings rose geometrically for a few years, peaking at 12-million pounds in 1989, and those figures didn't begin to describe the true catch. Back then, it was legal to "fin" sharks by cutting off their fins and throwing the rest overboard.

 With fins bringing $20 a pound and meat bringing 20 to 50 cents, it made no economic sense to pack the hold with meat.

 By 1990, government scientists were getting alarmed and began the ponderous process of setting up regulations. By 1993, shark fishing was on a permanent slide. The federal government outlawed finning and set trip limits and quotas.

 Stock assessments showed that some large coastal species, like blacktips, were holding up just fine, but others, like duskys, were dwindling dangerously.

 For the past three years, shark quotas have been so small that fishing has been reduced to just a few weeks a year. With fuel, bait and other costs rising, many fishermen switched to other fisheries or quit fishing altogether. Government gulf data logged fewer than 1,000 trips with shark landings last year, compared with 9,000 in 1990.

 It didn't help last July when the federal government shelved its usual summertime fishing window, but Louisiana kept its state waters open.

 Fishermen off Mississippi loaded up on shark and passed the entire quota for the year. Under federal law, that overage gets subtracted from the 2008 quota, which is why the federal government will ban all shark fishing in the gulf and Atlantic next year until August at the earliest.

 Greg Pruitt, who said he once netted $15,000 in one memorable two-week shark trip off Texas, plans to lease his boat to a grouper captain, which typically will earn him 40 percent of the take.

 At 49, his body is beat up, he said. The kids are grown and he doesn't need as much income.

 "But if they ever let us shark fish again, whoever is on that boat is getting off," he said. "I'm going to go shark fishing."  -- St. Petersburg Times