Whereas a lot of the general public security focus is on nice white sharks within the ocean, fishermen must be “very cautious” when catching and releasing a unique kind of shark.
A 21-year-old man realized that the exhausting method over the weekend when he was bit within the leg by a sandbar shark on a Nantucket seashore, and he ended up within the hospital.
The fishermen had caught the sandbar shark and was attempting to launch it within the surf when he was bit by the shark — estimated to be about 5-6 toes lengthy.
“If you’re handling a big shark in the surf, there’s always a risk for a bite,” shark researcher John Chisholm instructed the Herald on Monday in regards to the uncommon incident.
“Sandbar sharks are not an aggressive species,” he added, noting that it usually takes the shark to be provoked by a fisherman. “It’s a wake-up call for fishermen.”
The Nantucket Present first reported on the incident close to Hoicks Hole Sunday night time.
The Present reported that the fisherman was transported by a Medflight helicopter to a hospital, and that he suffered non-life-threatening accidents.
Many fishermen goal sandbar sharks alongside Nantucket. Striped bass fishermen will even unintentionally catch sandbar sharks.
“For some fishermen, it’s a thrill to catch sandbar sharks and get it to the shore,” Chisholm mentioned. “However they must be very cautious once they go into the water to launch the shark.
“We recommend cutting the line as close to the hook as you can, and let it go,” he added. “Don’t feel like you have to get the hook out of its mouth. The hook won’t kill it, and the hook will rust out.”
Finally when dealing with sharks, individuals ought to go away it to the professionals, Chisholm burdened.
Shark researchers have been tagging sandbar sharks off Nantucket as a part of a long-term examine on the species’ annual presence and habitat use.
Sandbar sharks, after the native inhabitants was decimated many years in the past due to overfishing, at the moment are everywhere in the Nantucket coast — and a researcher on the New England Aquarium has tagged greater than 100 sandbar sharks within the space.
The native shark inhabitants had been worn out due to overfishing for his or her giant dorsal fin, which was extremely desired for shark soup.
Then in 2008, sandbar sharks have been protected in state and federal waters — resulting in the gradual inhabitants rebound in recent times.
Just lately, Massachusetts marine officers accepted new guidelines to limit shore-based white shark fishing.
Shore-based shark fishing has been rising in recognition, notably by means of social media, with extra anglers concerned with concentrating on nice white sharks.
The brand new guidelines that the Marine Fisheries Advisory Fee accepted embrace banning shore-based shark fishing in particular areas the place white sharks are frequent.
“The coastline beginning at the northernmost point of Plymouth Beach then south to the Cape Cod Canal in Sandwich, then eastward along the southern shore of Cape Cod Bay to Rock Harbor in Orleans, then northward along the eastern shore of Cape Cod Bay to Race Point in Provincetown, then south along the eastern Atlantic facing shore of Cape Cod, inclusive of all of Monomoy Island and Chatham Harbor,” the principles learn.
The waters alongside the South Cape and Islands, the place leisure shark fishing for non-white shark species has traditionally occurred, aren’t included within the laws.
The laws ban chumming when shore-based shark fishing from dawn to sundown in Massachusetts, and the principles prohibit the usage of mechanized or remote-controlled units to deploy baits when fishing from shore with rod and reel gear.
