Cutting sharks some slack.
As nature’s sleekest predator, sharks are inevitably caught as by-catch during long-lining.
While bait types are selected for target quota species, sharks can take bait on hook, or more likely take target species that are already hooked.
Joining forces
Beauline has recently partnered with the Sustainable Ocean Society (SOS). Run by Riley Elliot (PHD in Shark Preservation), SOS drive activity designed to reduce impacts on shark populations from the commercial fishing industry and other human-sourced marine activity.
The first SOS project is the ‘Shark Tuna Hook’ programme. To remove the incentive for boat crew to save costly hooks from shark by-catch, SOS part fund the supply of high quality carbon steel hooks. This reduces the per unit cost of the hooks, and let’s crew cut away the hooks rather than retrieve them. Carbon steel hooks are designed to rust faster than normal stainless steel hooks, resulting in negligible harm to the shark, which now survives it’s encounter with the fishing industry. Each released is photographed as proof of action.
Initial rollout of this initiative offers a fantastic example to the fishing industry as a whole.
Videos courtesy of Eastern Fishing.