Hungry sharks in the Gulf of Mexico cause concern for these local Bradenton fishermen
When Tim Lehman started diving and spearfishing frequently in 1988, sharks were a rare and often non-existent sighting.
“From the time I got big into it until around 2005, I didn’t see any pelagic sharks,” said Lehman, a native of Bradenton who has spent his lifetime on the water. “I’ve done probably 3,000 dives. We used to see none and now we see a shark on almost every dive.”
What Lehman and other offshore sportsmen have noticed is the number of sharks has increased exponentially in recent years. I recently posted a video on YouTube documenting the presence of sandbar sharks, which are protected, on small pieces of hard bottom where we hogfish this time of year.
On five straight spots that were miles apart, each one led to a shark run-in. The sandbar sharks seem conditioned to the sound of boats and immediately show up to cause issues for anglers reeling up table fare fish from the bottom or spearfishing.
“We used to stay down, shoot fish, cut their throats and bleed them out so there was always a steady blood trail when we were in the water. And we never saw sharks other than nurse sharks,” Lehman said. “Now we see a shark on almost every single spot, and it’s only a matter of time before people start getting seriously hurt.”
The increase of shark populations is credited to many by the lack of commercial shark fishing and longline boats as protections have been put in place on sandbar sharks, the one most commonly seen by offshore anglers. In 2008, the National Marine Fisheries Service banned all commercial landings and sandbars were protected.
Sandbar sharks reach sexual maturity in about 14 years, so we’re right at the point of an entire generation being protected as populations continue to increase.
Closely resembling bull sharks, I’ve noticed sandbars and other offshore species, such as tiger sharks and dusky sharks, have become increasingly content toward humans. Lehman has noticed the same.
“These animals are getting conditioned. They hear a boat, a speargun, a hooked fish and show up. Last time I dove, I had five or six fish on my stringer,” Lehman said. “A shark got on it and took off with it with my buddy and I in pursuit. I lost most of those fish and the stringer. In the process, I left my dive light on the ledge. So my buddy and I went back down a little later to get the dive light and some fish, and on that dive, another two sharks showed up! If they had any fear of divers, it’s diminishing.”
“When pulling a speared fish out from under a ledge, I use the ledge to my advantage by stringing the fish while still under the ledge rather than pulling them all the way out and having them flailing all over the place,” he continued. “There’s a lot of vibration and a dust cloud forms where an aggressive shark could easily make a mistake if making a run at a fish. We used to solo dive all the time, but I’m more reluctant to do so now and dive with a buddy so we can watch each other’s backs. We also have personal protection devices called power tips ready to go in case anything starts to happen.”
Anglers fishing deeper than the 5- to 20-mile hogfish bottom I frequent have also complained about the increase in shark run-ins. Many say they are often overrun as sharks attack grouper and snapper they are reeling up.
Be it 50 miles or 100 miles offshore, it’s much of the same as social media is being flooded with pictures of half-eaten fish returning from the depths. Each year the problem is getting worse and the balance is hurting fish populations as anglers need to hook more fish to get their legal share for keeping.
It’s not uncommon to have six to eight fish taken by sharks while attempting to catch a two-fish limit.
Over the summer when red grouper were closed, we watched as sharks attacked the legal-sized red grouper we attempted to release. Many were released to their gruesome deaths at the jaws of sharks. We would leave one spot only for the same to keep happening elsewhere.
With so much pressure and resources put on fish stocks and seasons being restricted, Lehman believes sharks are causing issues beyond what we can comprehend.
“More heavily restricting the human side of that isn’t the solution. Some days, one can only get one fish up for every ten hooked. That isn’t normal.”
