1st DFO shark survey in 8 years to focus on endangered porbeagle
Anecdotal reports suggest population is on the rise but no concrete numbers available
The federal Fisheries Department is preparing to go on a shark-catching expedition this summer.
"I am very, very excited," said Heather Bowlby, the principal investigator for the shark survey, which is set to begin in late June.
"I think it'll be a great learning opportunity, and I think it'll be really fun."
The department has put out a tender seeking bids from fishermen with tuna and swordfish licences who have the longline equipment necessary to catch the endangered porbeagle sharks the survey is concentrating on.
The large sharks, which can grow more than three metres in length, can be found around the continental shelf off Eastern Canada, according to DFO's website.
Bowlby estimates the survey will take 40 to 45 days at sea as sharks are caught, tagged and returned to the ocean alive. The project has a $390,000 budget.
Little known about porbeagle numbers
Little is known about the current state of the porbeagle shark population in the waters off Nova Scotia. Bowlby said it's estimated there are 200,000 in the northwest Atlantic.
About 840 sharks were caught during a survey in 2007, but those numbers dropped when the last survey was done in 2009. The last commercial shark fishery in the region closed in 2013.
"There's very few data sources on sharks in the northwest Atlantic right now with the closure of all the directed fisheries," Bowlby said.
"One of our only sources of information would be a dedicated survey to look at abundance change from historical surveys to now."
The survey hopes to shed light on the conservation status of the porbeagle shark. Analyzing the data could help DFO with recovery planning or determine whether by-catch rules need to change.
Population on the rise?
"We need something because without the commercial fishery, you have no way of knowing whether the stock has rebounded, has stayed the same, or has declined," said Troy Atkinson, president of the Nova Scotia Swordfishermen's Association.
Atkinson said his group intends to put a bid together in the next week to take on the DFO work.
"All indications from some other fisheries that interact with the species with by-catch are that they are becoming more abundant, but you need something more than fishermen's say so," he said.
Atkinson said a rebound in the porbeagle population might not make a big financial difference to his members, but they want to be sure populations are sustainable.
"I don't expect there's going to be a big run for another commercial fishery, or is it going to mean any more money for my members, but it would be nice to monitor the health of the population," he said.
'We're hopeful'
The survey will take place at 60 stations in Atlantic Canadian waters between the Bay of Fundy and the Grand Banks. Between two and five vessels will do the work. Each vessel will have 600 hooks on longlines, which will be in the water for about four hours at a time.
The vessels will use squid bait, J-hooks and wire leaders, which sharks cannot bite through and escape. If any sharks die when they are caught, their stomach contents will be studied.
Bowlby said she hopes about 1000 sharks could be caught in this year's survey if the porbeagle population is indeed on the rise.
"The hope is always that we'd find more, since the fisheries were closed as a management measure to benefit the population, to reduce mortality," said Bowlby.
"There are some anecdotal reports that people are catching more porbeagle but because now they're all released, it's very hard to translate that anecdotal information into a size estimate.
"So we're hopeful."