Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: Second Crystal Coast town enacts fishing restrictions because of shark attacks

July 10, 2015 — A second town along the Crystal Coast is enacting restrictions on fishing in light of recent shark attacks, while the state is giving them the green light.

Pine Knoll Shores says it will ban all fishing with 200 yards of 10 popular beach access locations in the town, effective Monday.

This comes after Emerald Isle put a temporary ban on shark fishing and “chumming” within the town limits until September 15th.

Experts have said that shark fishing can entice the sharks closer to the shore. Since June 11th, eight people in the state have been bitten by sharks.

The locations in Pine Knoll Shores are: Ocean Park, Iron Steam public beach access, Memorial Park public beach access, Hammer Park access, two public accesses at Beacons Reach, the Knollwood public beach access, as well as the lodges at The Atlantis, The Seahawk, and The Windjammer.

Read the full story and watch the video at WITN

 

RUSTY HUDSON: Shark Sanctuaries; The Unintended Consequence from Underfishing and Overregulation

June 06, 2015 — I am Rusty Hudson, a shark specialist and reasons provided below show the reality about the United States (US) federal shark fishing management. My personal US Atlantic shark fishing history exists since the 1960’s, while my Florida ancestors were watermen and date back generations on this Atlantic coast. The facts show why US shark attacks have increased.

During the late 1970’s the US federal government began a preliminary shark fishery management plan (FMP) by the US Department of Commerce (DOC), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), through the agency called the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) that promoted ideas encouraging fishermen to use under-utilized marine species, (i.e. sharks), for food. The US commercial fishing interests followed the US government’s advice during the 1980’s to catch, land sharks and develop seafood marketing, domestically and internationally. The public demand for sharks increased in the US at this stage, but the NMFS failed to monitor the commercial coastal shark landings averaging up to fifteen millions pounds in the US exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

In the last part of the 1980’s, China, during Deng Xiaoping’s reformation period the economic growth saw an increased demand from their new affluent populations for shark fin soup, one of eight traditional Chinese culinary treasures. Shark’s fin values, and shark harvests worldwide began to increase significantly into the 1990’s due to the publicity. Shark fishing began to be negatively publicized in the news, on television with science style documentaries, and with anti- shark fishing media campaigns by environmental non-governmental organizations seeking membership funding.

About 1989 the US DOC NOAA NMFS staff began an effort to develop an Atlantic Shark FMP involving the US exclusive economic zone (EEZ) area from Maine to Texas, and included the Caribbean Sea region around the US Territories of Puerto Rico, St. Croix and the US Virgin Islands. On April 26, 1993 the Atlantic Shark FMP final rule was published and the NMFS Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Management Division closed US Atlantic shark fishing on May 15, 1993.

Around the early 1990’s some scientists influenced the state of Florida to consider a mercury warning about eating shark meat. Overnight, nationwide the sale of shark meat fell dramatically, (same as a similar mercury media scare over swordfish consumption during the 1970’s). After much media hype, the state of Florida and other states established mercury advisories to pregnant women, yet the damage was significant for the US fish markets as shark sales fell by over half. Then the Atlantic Shark FMP became effective causing even more reductions in shark landings.

Read the full opinion piece here

 

Man, 68, Bitten by Shark While Swimming Off North Carolina’s Outer Banks

July 1, 2015 — It’s still not safe to go in the water.

A 68-year-old man swimming off the North Carolina coast was attacked by a shark Wednesday and had to be flown to the hospital, authorities said.

The unidentified beachgoer was in just waist-deep water, about 30 feet from the shore along Ocracoke Island, when the shark bit him at midday, said National Park Service spokeswoman Cyndy Holda.

She said the man was bitten on his left lower torso, his hip, his lower left leg and both hands. He was treated at the scene and flown to Greenville, on the mainland. His condition wasn’t immediately known.

Read the full story at NBC News

 

Shark attacks have been on the rise this year. Why?

June 30, 2015 — If the number of shark bites along the North Carolina coast the past three weeks seems high, that’s because it is.

Six swimmers have been bitten recently, including two last week along the Outer Banks. The previous four cases were farther south near Wilmington. Two of those cases involved loss of limbs.

None of the victims has died.

But the number of incidents already is more than in all of 2014, when there were four recorded bites in North Carolina, according to the International Shark Attack File, a database compiled by the Florida Museum of Natural History.

“I definitely see this as an uptick,” said Jack Musick, a faculty emeritus shark and turtle expert with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “It seems like only one of those cases was an actual attack, whereas the others were just bites and the animal stopped.”

Musick said it is difficult to put together “environmental reasons” for the increase, but there are some factors in play.

“The water warmed up quicker this year, and that means more swimmers in the water than usual at this time of year,” he said. That could also lead to more turtles — a food source for sharks — closer to shore, he added.

“And the shark population is on the rise. It’s made a remarkable recovery since all of the over-fishing nearly wiped out many species.”

Read the full story at the Virginian-Pilot

 

North Carolina sees sixth shark attack in two weeks

June 28, 2015 — Officials say a 17-year-old boy is the latest victim of a shark attack off North Carolina’s coast, the second attack in as many days and the sixth attack in the past two weeks.

Rescue personnel and park rangers responded to the boy, who received what they described as injuries to his right calf, buttocks and both hands while swimming in the Outer Banks on Saturday, according to a post on the National Park Service’s Facebook page. The boy was swimming with others when he was bitten, but no one else was hurt, officials said.

The unidentified teenager was treated at the scene before being airlifted to a Norfolk, Virginia, hospital, the park service said.

Read the full story and watch the video from CBS News

 

North Carolina’s “Perfect Storm” for Shark Attacks

June 29, 2015 — There have been six shark attacks in North Carolina this year, all of them in June.

This is already more than last year, when the state saw four attacks. In the previous decade, there were only 25 shark attacks in North Carolina. And there have been just 55 documented shark attacks in the state between 1905 and 2014.

So what’s going on this year?

“It’s kind of a perfect storm,” says George H. Burgess, the director of the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Burgess says across the United States overall, shark attacks are on pace with an average year, and the chance of getting bit is still very low—an estimated one in 11.5 million for an ocean bather. But, he adds, “clearly, something is going on in North Carolina right now.”

Here’s why:

1. Warmer weather

Most shark attacks in North Carolina happen when the water reaches about 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 Celsius), something that happened early this year, in April. Most sharks prefer warmer water, and the higher temperatures have drawn them in from farther south.

The warmer weather has also brought more people to the state’s beaches and entices them to take a dip to cool off. That makes more chances to run into sharks.

Read the full story at National Geographic

 

Another shark attack in North Carolina

June 26, 2015 — A shark attacked a person in North Carolina early Friday afternoon, CBS Affiliate Greensboro WFMY reports.

According to Avon Fishing Pier, the shark attacked a person about half a mile down the north side of the pier on Avon beach in Dare County. According to Avon Fishing Pier manager Keith Matthews, the call came in shortly before 12:30 p.m.

A witness posted a video to Twitter appearing to be after the incident.

Read the full story and watch the video at CBS News

 

Experts: Shark attacks ‘extremely rare’ in New England

June 19, 2015 — LOWELL, Mass. — While news of a shark attack tends to heighten beachgoers’ fear of the ocean predators, swimmers in New England don’t have much to worry about, officials say.

“The chance of incidents with sharks in New England waters is extremely rare,” said Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium.

Fears of shark attacks on the East Cost rose this week following an incident in Oak Island, N.C., on Sunday. Two young people were injured in separate shark attacks, both in waist-deep water. A 12-year-old girl lost part of her arm and suffered a leg injury, and a 16-year-old boy lost his arm, according to The Associated Press.

Though an attack makes headlines, people have been injured by sharks New England waters only a handful of times in decades.

People help Kiersten Yow, 12, of Asheboro, after she was bitten by a shark in Oak Island, N.C., Sunday. She lost her left arm below her elbow. Such attacks are rare in New England. Steve Bouser/The Pilot, Southern Pines, N.C. via AP

Only three people have been injured by a shark in Massachusetts since 1936, according to the International Shark Attack File, the official capacity for collecting such data. The 1936 incident was the state’s only fatal attack, the according to the data, which has been collected since 1837.

Injuries are rare, but sightings can be more common. Last summer shark sightings occurred in coastal areas including Duxbury. From Chatham to Provincetown, there were 19 shark sightings last year, according to Leslie Reynolds, the chief ranger at the Cape Cod National Seashore. In September a shark approached two women in kayaks off the coast of Plymouth. The shark bit one of the kayaks, subsequently knocking the women into the water, state police said in a statement. Neither kayaker was injured.

Read the full story at Lowell Sun News