Saturday, January 29, 2011

Boca Raton fishers may not be able to fish for sharks

Residents of Boca Raton requested a ban on sharking because of their concern for swimmers and surfers.

The Palm Beach Post posted an article on Tuesday, January 11 stating that the City Council would soon be deciding whether or not to ban shark fishing from the city’s beaches.


The proposed ordinance would not allow for chumming or any form of shark fishing within 100 feet of the beach shoreline.

If the ordinance is passed, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission claims that it might be difficult to hold up because the FWC is only one that can really manage fish and wildlife.

Fishers are not happy with the idea of this ordinance going into affect because there is already a similar ban in Delray Beach and their relatively cheap hobby would be taken away from them.

Shark are at threat of extinction

Protecting sharks is a thought most people wouldn't dare to think twice about because of all their negative publicity.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature states that of the 307 shark species, 50 of the sharks are vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The IUCN has sharks listed on its Red List representing the highest percentage of marine species that are threatened for extinction.

Most of us don't realize that sharks actually play a key role in maintaining the marine ecosystem as well as keeping our oceans healthy.


Sharks are at such great danger of becoming extinct because they grow slowly, mature late, give birth seldom and the biggest reason being the growing popularity of shark finning.