NOAA wants to stop shark overfishing

Published: June 19, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Rare white killer whale spotted near Anchorage, Alaska

WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. government has announced a new rule designed to boost the number of sandbar and porbeagle sharks, along with other large coastal sharks.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries service said the rule significantly lowers the fishing quotas for such species.

The new shark regulations become effective July 24.

"Our recent stock assessments show we need to take strong conservation measures to stop overfishing of sandbar and other sharks to allow these species to rebuild," said Jim Balsiger, acting assistant administrator for NOAA's Fisheries Service. "These sharks, like many sharks, mature late, grow slowly and produce few young, making them particularly vulnerable to fishing pressure."

The rule also requires all sharks to be offloaded at the dock with all fins naturally attached. That's designed to improve enforcement against shark finning, in which fishermen remove the highly valuable fins from sharks at sea and discard the carcasses overboard.

The new rule, to be published in the Federal Register Tuesday, establishes a separate sandbar shark annual commercial quota of 87.9 metric tons. The previous sandbar quota was 1,017 metric tons.

The regulation prohibits recreational shark fishermen from landing sandbar or silky sharks.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Order reprints



Additional News Stories
Alleged Visine theft leads to scuffle (14 min)
UPI NewsTrack Entertainment News (17 min)
Thanksgiving parade goes off-Broadway (18 min)
Police: Burglars targeted sleeping nuns (24 min)
Soderling first through to ATP semifinals (31 min)
Three players make PSAs with president (35 min)
Ricky Williams named top AFC player (36 min)
fark
Canadian judge rules that the Happy Gilmore golf swing is wrong, biatch
News media reports that Obama has pardoned his first turkey. AIG and GM beg to differ
It's the Fark Annual Thanksgiving Eve Draw A Hand Turkey For Mom Contest. Past losers include Jerry...
Man smokes pack of cigarettes then hangs himself. See, those things will kill you
Students angry over dress code stage a protest, learn the school can in fact suspend all 1,500 of...
Georgia Supreme Court reverses theft conviction, rules a riding lawn mower isn't a "motor vehicle."...