NS shark derbies canceled after fisheries officials said events do not promote investigation

All three of Nova Scotia’s remaining shark fishing tournaments have been canceled this summer, a possible permanent end to annual events dating back 30 years.

This year, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) stopped issuing the scientific licenses used to authorize the derbies and the organizers cannot accept the DFO terms that would have allowed them to proceed.

“The bottom line is that we can no longer hold the tournaments,” said Bob Gavel, organizer of the Yarmouth Shark Scramble, the largest of the derbies. It ran for 24 years in southwestern Nova Scotia before being canceled this summer.

“I am very disappointed to say the least. It has had a major impact on the local economy. It has brought thousands of tourists to the waterfront.”

The Petit de Grat Shark Derby in Cape Breton was also canceled this week.

The Lockeport Sea Derby in Shelburne County continues, but only for mackerel and groundfish.

All derbies are usually held in August.

No scientific basis

For nearly a decade, the tournaments have been authorized based on the scientific information they can provide. But Fisheries officials have decided there is no longer any justification for landing sharks for research.

Since 2018, only one species may be kept: blue sharks. Derby fishing for porbeagles, threshers and shortfin mako sharks is prohibited.

DFO said the sample size is also not representative because it only includes a few dozen large, mostly male, blue sharks.

“The problem we face today is that the scientific data obtained from tournament shark landings in recent history does not contribute to or advance DFO department shark research,” DFO resource manager Carl MacDonald told organizers. according to reports of a meeting in October 2022 on the future. of the shark tournaments.

Other options impractical or dangerous

DFO told tournament organizers that a recreational fishing license was an option. But organizers say bringing sharks on board for weighing, or even next to them for measuring, makes catching and releasing too dangerous for people handling the fish.

The other requirement — that landed blue sharks must be used for human food — was impractical, Lockeport Sea Derby president George Benham said.

“If we say 10 or 15 sharks landed, we don’t have a 100 percent market for that. It would be too hard to get rid of that many sharks. We just couldn’t do it. I don’t think any of the derbies could do that,” Benham told CBC News.

Tournament lasts too small to make a difference

Ending the tournaments is likely to have little effect on the blue shark population.

In 2022, 60 sharks of 5,800 kilograms were landed between the three tournaments.

That represents a small fraction of blue sharks caught accidentally by commercial fleets fishing for other species such as swordfish and tuna.

A 2017 Marine Stewardship Council assessment of the Atlantic Canadian longliner fishing fleet estimated that between 2011 and 2015 an average of 1.5 million kilograms of blue sharks per year were retained or discarded as bycatch.

“From a conservation point of view, the number of sharks caught in tournaments does not pose a threat to the population.” said Shannon Arnold of the Ecology Action Center in Halifax.

“We have never been against the shark tournaments, mainly because they were no longer allowed to land endangered species.”

Arnold said some shark catch and release tournaments in the United States are using cell phones to document captures at sea and broadcast them live to shore.

“There’s a beer garden, whatever. And they’ve got a big screen set up and people are there like in real time with their cell phones, they can measure it and it’s on video and people are watching it. It’s kind of cool.”

The number of sharks caught has fallen

The number of tournaments and sharks landing in Nova Scotia has steadily declined over the past decade.

Since 2006, tournaments have been held in eight different ports. That has been reduced to three in recent years. The Riverport derby was last held in 2016 and Louisbourg in 2018.

A total of 2,964 sharks of all species have been caught since 2006, according to a DFO report.

Between 2011 and 2016, tournaments landed about 300 sharks per year with an average of about 23 boats participating.

“We reduced the number of sharks. Although we had over 100 participants last year, only 40 sharks were landed,” said Yarmouth’s Gavel.

“We did everything DFO asked.”