Florida bans killing of tiger sharks, hammerheads
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Hammerhead shark/Courtesy Neil Hammerschlag
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XWildlife
Natural Resources By David Fleshler
6:50 a.m. EDT, September 9, 2011
The state wildlife commission approved a ban on the killing of tiger sharks and three species of hammerhead Thursday to protect predators that have suffered severe overfishing.
The four shark species won protection at a meeting in Naples of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which voted to prohibit the killing of tiger sharks, great hammerheads, scalloped hammerheads and smooth hammerheads. Catch and release fishing will still be permitted.
Sharks have undergone a severe worldwide decline over the past 20 years or so to serve the demand in China and other East Asian countries for shark fin soup, a delicacy that has generated a lucrative market for their fins.
Florida has long been a leader in the protection of sharks, enforcing a one-shark-per-person, two-sharks-per-vessel daily bag limit and protecting about two dozen rare shark species. The state also passed an early ban on shark finning, a practice now illegal in U.S. waters in which the valuable fins are cut from the living shark, which is tossed back into the ocean to die.
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“Florida has been recognized as a pioneer and a leader in shark management efforts for nearly 20 years,” said the wildlife commission’s chairwoman Kathy Barco, in a written statement. “We recognize that maintaining healthy shark populations is critical to the sustainability of our marine ecosystem. The additional protections we are proposing would help preserve Florida’s valuable marine resources.”
The tiger shark, which can reach a length of 17 feet, ranks second only to the great white in attacks on people, with 90 unprovoked attacks worldwide, including 27 fatalities, according to the International Shark Attack File. All species of hammerhead rank lower, with a total of 17 unprovoked attacks and no fatalities.
Copyright © 2011, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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CheckeredSunshine at 7:27 PM September 09, 2011
Save the sharks!!!
CheckeredSunshine at 7:27 PM September 09, 2011
Save the sharks!!!
Paulrichard10 at 1:00 PM September 09, 2011
GOOD MOVE! Let the morons find some other way to spend their time other than harassing/killing wildlife.
Gotta be extra careful now. Sh*tty.
Well there goes another piece of history.
They'll never be another record or dream
in two more speices of sharks. How many more
regulations untill we're just a piece of history too...........
Soon enough the only place you can find
a sharkfisherman is in a museum photo
or on a bookshelf......
We are outlaws now!!!!!!!!!"Strapped with A 16/0 on the side of me,...I'm A shark fishing mother f$cking G"........ 
It was coming and it was a matter of time! When Bucky caught those records, the media comments by people were pretty negative.I knew his records would be the last.He is one happy sharker to know that his records would forever stand.
We are outlaws now!!!!!!!!!"Strapped with A 16/0 on the side of me,...I'm A shark fishing mother f$cking G"........
HELL YEAH! I"M still sharking!!!
We are outlaws now!!!!!!!!!"Strapped with A 16/0 on the side of me,...I'm A shark fishing mother f$cking G"........
im with u timmy!!!!!!!
DIRTY SOUTH SHARK HUNTERS
2012 1st place BLACKTIP CHALLENGE
2011 NO LIMIT TOURNAMENT CHAMPION 2nd year in a row
2010 BHC biggest hammerhead shark on 80 lb test
2010 NO LIMIT TOURNAMENT CHAMPION
2010 BHC 3rd and 5th place biggest shark
2010 april sharker of the month
2009-2010 Rookie of the year
besides the fact that this new law is BS it was made by people that dont even shark fish and dont know the truth
Man! They just killed my thrill to catch the world record....I know what there up to,to ban all shark fishing and take control of our recreation and for us to 'PAY' them to continue our shark fishing!!!!Who made them 'OWNER' of the water and gave them authority to just ban sharks from florida.Lets just ban 'SPORTS' and see how that works for them.......When people are bored they tend to pick up bad habits and trouble.I can see if the sharks were in danger or rare but we release them!! I'ts mutiny 
What will we do now when we have no way to relax? BAR,BAR,BAR...f$ck that!!!!!
EXACTLY!! pretty soon we will have to buy permits to fish for sharks or we wont be allowed to fish for them at all
EXACTLY!! pretty soon we will have to buy permits to fish for sharks or we wont be allowed to fish for them at all
As commented, it's a matter of time!
we could make are own record book on here(by length) since we wont be able to weigh them and eventually we can do them for all sharks and some types of fish
We are outlaws now!!!!!!!!!"Strapped with A 16/0 on the side of me,...I'm A shark fishing mother f$cking G"........
awesome timmy!
I dont eat seafood so i never kill my catches but as a fisherman you should have a right to do whatever you want with your catches! Its going to be a sad day when i have to go buy "shark tags"
I have yet to catch a hammer or tiger! I am still going to try!
Not sure where this article came from but this is straight from the FWC's website. says there will be one more meeting on the proposed ban. Not that it will matter they've made up their minds just want to give the illusion of democracy.
http://myfwc.com/news/news-releases/201 ... ark-rules/
yo timmy u made a great point man. people who know me or have seen me will easyly think by just looking at me that always up to no good. that was the case when i was younger. now i spend most of my time shark fishing or anytype of fishing for that matter. if it wasnt for fishing who know where i would be. im sure that fishing has saved a bunch of lives. in fact i know a bunch of guys who the judge told them the next time the step in his courtroom there never going to see the light of day again, these guys picked up fishing and it kept thrm out of trouble "im sure u seen some of these guys in my pics before"... what the goverment dosent know is when people have nothing but time on there hands they think of great ideas, but not for good things... a busy person dosent have time to rob the bank and everyone knows shark fishing keeps us really busy...
DIRTY SOUTH SHARK HUNTERS
2012 1st place BLACKTIP CHALLENGE
2011 NO LIMIT TOURNAMENT CHAMPION 2nd year in a row
2010 BHC biggest hammerhead shark on 80 lb test
2010 NO LIMIT TOURNAMENT CHAMPION
2010 BHC 3rd and 5th place biggest shark
2010 april sharker of the month
2009-2010 Rookie of the year