Charter captains say ‘tax authorities’ out of control as shark populations grow

Anyone who is more than an occasional saltwater fisherman has almost certainly encountered the “taxman.” This nickname is meant to describe any shark that steals a hooked fish (or part of a fisherman’s line). And with Shark populations are increasing in many areasIt seems like more and more saltwater fishermen on the east coast are having to pay taxes.

Although sharks are found on all major coastlines, they have become a particular problem along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, where many charter captains say they are losing more fish than ever before. More than a few striped bass have fallen victim to sharks in Chesapeake Bay and the greater New England area, while anglers in the Gulf are often driven from their prime spots by the sharp-toothed predators.

The warm waters of the south seem to be a particularly tough place for fish-stealing sharks, and I have experienced this myself at least a few times over the years. I can recall a recent trip to the Mississippi coast, a great wading area, but one of the most shark-infested places I have ever fished. Six of us were in chest-deep water, catching one speckled trout after another. Soon a school of sharks appeared, their fins cutting the surface and sending the trout flying in all directions.

The gang worked closer and when the 4- to 6-foot sharks started to swipe our hooked trout just a few feet from our rod tips, we finally gave up and retreated to a beach. Then we looked at the stringers attached to our wading belts and saw that only the trout heads were left. Those fish had been eaten within reach and we didn’t even feel it.

Sneak through the shallows, patrol the depths

Nearly every charter captain working in the Gulf of Mexico has a story like mine. Captain Mike Frenette fishes around Venice, Louisiana, where the rich waters near the mouth of the Mississippi River attract huge schools of shrimp and baitfish, along with a wide variety of game fish, including cobia, tuna, dolphin, wahoo and marlin. This also brings a staggering number of sharks to the area, and Frenette says he’s seeing more of them now than ever before.

“Over the last 10 years I have seen a huge increase in many shark species,” says Frenette Outdoor living“They are not only in the deep water at the mouth of the Mississippi River, but also in the shallow waters of the Delta.”

Frenette says he’s seen bull sharks attack redfish in water as shallow as two feet. And when he’s fishing for larger bull reds and tuna in deeper water, shark encounters are almost a given.

“There are places at the mouth of the Mississippi where giant sand tigers, bull sharks and silky sharks may attack as many as 80 percent of the yellowfin tuna [tuna] “We’re hooking,” Frenette says. “I’ve never seen as many sharks as I do now in the coastal and offshore waters around Louisiana.”

Captains in other southern coastal states will tell you the same thing. Offshore crews encounter tax collectors on a daily basis, and the Florida Keys have about as many sharks as anywhere else in the country. Sharks see a lot of fishermen there, so it doesn’t take long for them to associate fishing boats with free meals.

“The sharks that roam along ledges and reefs are trained to come up to fishing boats and hang out there, waiting for an easy meal,” said Capt. Joel Brandenburg, who Ana Banana Charter Fishing in Marathon, Florida. “Feeding sharks with the fish we catch is a daily activity for me and almost all the other charter captains I know in the Florida Keys.”

Ruining tournaments and eating world records

Sharks eating hooked sportfish is bad news when it happens, but there are times when it’s especially problematic — both for anglers and the source itself. On Friday, for example, Florida held a one-day season for Atlantic snapper, with a NOAA-imposed limit of one fish per angler due to Fed concerns about fish populations.

Legions of anglers loaded their boats with fuel, ice, tackle and friends and headed out to sea in hopes of catching one big snapper per person. Fishing was rare by most accounts, but sharks took a deadly toll, according to many local fishermen.

“I would bet my bottom dollar that anyone who fished that one-day snapper season off northeast Florida had a hard time catching their hooked snapper, triggerfish or grouper,” said Capt. Danny Patrick, a veteran offshore angler who fishes out of Jacksonville.

It’s doubtful any of those stolen fish would have broken any records, but that exact scenario played out in July 2023, when Florida Capt. Daniel Delph watched a client lose what could have been a world-record snapper to sharks. They were fishing near the Dry Tortugas, 75 miles from Key West, when the fisherman hooked a heavy fish in about 300 feet of water. Sharks immediately descended on the snapper, and by the time the fisherman reeled it in, all that was left was a giant red head.

Read more: Shark eats what could have been a new world record red snapper

“Our best guess was that the fish whole and intact weighed about 55 pounds,” Delph said. “It probably would have been an IGFA all-tackle record for red snapper, which weighs just over 50 pounds.”

Delph says he remembers having problems with sharks in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. But he explains that the problem is twice as bad now as it was then, and he often has to change areas or target a different species when the taxman comes.

“We work hard to avoid sharks,” he says. “We never anchor or fish in one spot for more than 10 or 15 minutes. We have to constantly move around to avoid them.”

Some anglers have even lost money to the pesky predators. Sharks are a constant presence at most fishing tournaments, and the 65^e The annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament in Morehead City, North Carolina, was no exception. In June 2023, a team of anglers competing in the tournament got the disappointment of their fishing lives when they weighed what was believed to be the largest marlin caught at the event.

That 619.4-pound blue marlin would have earned them a $3.5 million payout. But tournament officials noted a shark bite near the fish’s head, automatically disqualifying it.

Is it time to change shark management?

Sharks have been in the oceans for much longer than we have been fishing with rods and reels, and fishermen have always had to pay taxes. But many of those fishermen will tell you that the problem has become particularly serious in the past few decades, as various laws have been passed to protect sharks from being caught.

These regulations were created in part to counter negative perceptions people had about sharks and to curb demand for shark fins abroad. Now, some fishermen believe the restrictions have gone too far, replacing scientific management with protectionist ideologies. They say shark populations have gotten out of control in the absence of pressure, and they would like to see catches of certain species increase, particularly bull sharks, one of the three shark species most likely to attack a human, although attacks remain statistically rare.

“It doesn’t matter where you are, sharks are everywhere,” Delph says. “So many people think [all] sharks are endangered, but they are not. It is just so frustrating because it is devastating to our marine fisheries.”

Sharks are notorious for eating hooked tarpon, another world-famous sport fish that is a conservation priority in many states. As a result, these fish are almost always released, but that doesn’t mean they always swim away.

Read more: Great White Shark Stories from Cape Cod Charter Boat Captains

“The biggest threat to my charter fishing is when sharks attack tarpons [caught] “My clients,” says Capt. Ray Markham, who fishes out of St. Petersburg and has a background in marine biology. “Every year, sharks follow the northward migration of tarpons. I see guys in waist-deep water holding their tarpons for a photo. You won’t catch me doing that, because I’ve seen 15-foot sharks — hammerheads, bull sharks and others — take a tarpon out of your hand as you try to dislodge and release it.”

Another loyal and respected Florida guide, Capt. Lenny Moffo, recalls once holding an estimated 100-pound tarpon boat to the side so his client could take a photo. Moffo pulled the tarpon’s head up as the photo was taken, but as soon as he let go, there was an explosion of water, blood and scales as a shark devoured the trophy fish.

I remember one outing at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor when two friends and I had one of the best tarpon fisheries of our lives, catching 13 tarpon weighing between 50 and 150 pounds. After losing four of those huge tarpon to tax men, we stopped fishing for the day, not wanting to feed any more quality fish to the large hammerheads and bull sharks that lurked in the water.