An unidentified angler using big hooks and tuna heads caught a great white shark off Doheny State Beach in Dana Point on July 7, 2021. While he put the shark back in the ocean, shark experts worry about big-game fishing off the coast and the danger it posed to the public and the protected species.
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a new law adding regulations to curb hunting for white shark species, also called great white sharks, which should also make the water safer for humans.
The new rules, which go into effect Jan. 1, put added restrictions on the use of bait, lures and chum to attract a white shark. Sponsored by Santa Barbara Assemblyman Steve Bennett, the law aims at getting ahead of activities that may lead to increased interactions between white sharks and humans.
The new regulations also give law enforcement more tools to protect white sharks from intentional efforts to catch or attract them, according a California Department of Fish and Wildlife press release, and protects the public from interactions with white sharks that have been unintentionally hooked by fishermen by restricting when and where chum and shark bait can be used.
Added to the California Fish and Game Code will be the prohibition of the use of shark bait, shark lures or shark chum to attract a white shark. Also, putting shark bait or chum into the water will be prohibited within one nautical mile of any shoreline, pier or jetty, when a white shark is visible or known to be present.
“Sharks are one of California’s most iconic marine species, and it’s our responsibility to ensure that their populations are sustained,” Bennett said in the announcement. “At the same time, public safety is of the utmost importance.”
White sharks have been protected by state and federal regulations since 1994 and must be immediately released if caught accidentally, according to CDFW. Under these protections, it is illegal to catch, pursue, hunt, capture or kill a white shark, which includes intentionally attracting white sharks with bait or other methods.
In recent years, juvenile white sharks have become more prevalent in the waters off local beaches because they have started to use the California coastline more as nursery habitats, Chris Lowe, director of Cal State Long Beach’s Shark Lab, said. Swimmers are in the water with sharks more than they realize, researchers have said in recent years.
“The bill will help reduce fishery interactions with white sharks, helping the protected sharks and ocean users by reducing the risk of hooking these sharks at public beaches and ocean piers where people are swimming, surfing and diving,” Lowe said in the announcement of the law’s signing.
Swimmer Steve Robles was bit by a great white in 2014 while doing a long-distance swim, the shark had broken loose from heavy gear dropped off the Manhattan Beach Pier that had hooked and agitated the sea creature – an incident caught on camera. At the time, the fishermen said they were fishing for rays.
Robles said he wasn’t aware of the bill, but has been vocal about the need for more regulations.
“You hope it never happens to anyone,” said Robles, who continues to do long-distance swimming. “It could have very easily been avoided. It shouldn’t have happened.”
David McGuire, director of the nonprofit Shark Stewards, said with the increased shark populations, and more awareness of the species congregating near the coast, there are anglers intentionally targeting the great whites.
Other near misses have been documented and the use of chum and heavy fishing gear, including large hooks, the long metal poles with a large hook on the end called gaffs and high-test fishing line, on public piers is common and has been well documented by his group’s Shark Watch program, McGuire said.
In many cases, sharks are released fatigues and agitated, he said. Sometimes they were hooked unintentionally while fishing legally.
“Chumming near public beaches also attracts large sharks to areas of recreation,” he said, “placing swimmers and surfers at risk.”
Originally published at Laylan Connelly