May 5, 2014 — When a pair of fishermen landed a massive hammerhead shark on a Fort Lauderdale-area beach last month, dragging it ashore by its tail as a cheering crowd aimed cellphones at the exhausted fish, the spectacle reignited a debate over the ethics of a sport that is finding new and bigger audiences with extreme angling videos on YouTube.
The shark, protected by state and federal laws due to sharply declining numbers, measured more than 13 feet. Once hooked, regulations say it should have been quickly released.
But when it comes to a fish so tough it will fight to the death, the definition of quick can be tricky.
Ryan Bolash, the 21-year-old creator of the Infinity Fishing Team channel on YouTube and the angler who grabbed the fish’s tail as his girlfriend recorded the action, says he acted as quickly as possible to cut the long and potentially harmful wire leader dangling from the hook in the shark’s mouth.
“The best thing to do is get them out of the water and back in, in under two minutes,” he said. “It takes a lot of experience to do that.”
However, University of Miami assistant professor Neil Hammerschlag says the stress caused by that kind of fight could be killing hammerheads.
“Over 45 minutes is really stressing the shark out. And that’s just moderate fishing,” he said. “People, in their defense, say the shark swam away. But that doesn’t mean anything because we found the shark can die later, after the release.”
State officials would not comment on the legality of last month’s hammerhead catch off Anglin’s Fishing Pier in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. But Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesperson Amanda Nalley said state wildlife officers generally try to take an educational approach when they learn of similar incidents.
“These are apex predators. They are important to the system. We wouldn’t have protected them if we didn’t think they were important, and we definitely want people to do the best they can to release them in an expeditious manner,” she said.
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