Date:    Tue, 14 Jul 1998 02:14:03 -0700
From:    Jim Morris 
Subject: Environmental Group Wants Texas Rules Strengthened to Help Sharks

Forwarded the following article as well.

Best regards,

Jim Morris
http://starbulletin.com/97/12/22/features/index.htmlarchive/


Environmental Group Wants Texas Rules Strengthened to Help Sharks


States
13-JUL-98

WASHINGTON July 10 (States) -- Texans are 148 times more likely to be
struck by lightening than to be eaten by sharks, an environmental
organization pointed out in a study released Monday, so why not help the
sharks?

The Ocean Wildlife Campaign, a marine environmental coalition that
includes the National Audubon Society, was scheduled to release a report
Monday that called the Lone Star State's efforts to protect sharks "Less
than satisfactory."

"It's not that they are doing a terrible job, but they could do more,"
said the Audubon Society's Dr. Merry Camhi, author of the report.

Camhi's study rated each North Atlantic and Gulf states according to how
well it measured up to federal standards of shark protection.

While Texas imposes bag limits -- the number of sharks allowed to be
caught in one expedition -- the state does not take action in several
areas in which the federal government does.

Texas does not close its fishing waters during a federal closure, it
does not impose limits on the size of shark permitted to be caught, the
process of cutting off fins and throwing the carcass back in the water
is not forbidden and the state does not prohibit the catch or possession
of protected shark species.

But state wildlife officials and experts in the field say that the study
skews current need and existence of shark protections.

"We have a lot of those (policies) covered elsewhere, (in regulations)
not specifically directed at sharks," said Larry McEachron, science
director for the coastal fisheries division of the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department.

"We believe the bag limits we have in effect are more conservative than
what we see elsewhere," McEachron said.

Texas law prohibits a fisherman from taking more than five sharks in any
one trip, McEachron said, which makes commercial fishing uneconomical
for all but a few small enterprises.

Dr. Steven Brandstetter, an expert in shark fisheries, thinks Texas
doesn't need more regulations.

"As far as I'm concerned I don't think that Texas is out of line," said
Brandstetter, program director for Gulf and South Atlantic Fisheries

Development Foundation, in Tampa, Fla."Some states need to have
additional regulations for shark fishing....Texas doesn't need them.
Compared to the other areas, it's really a minor (shark-fishing) area."

Texas accounts for three percent of the shark fishing for the North
Atlantic Coast, according to McEachron.

Camhi said that Texas falls in the middle of the states she studied in
terms of its actions.

"It's nowhere near as progressive as Florida, but much better in
Louisiana," Camhi said.

Along with the Audubon Society, the groups in the Ocean Wildlife
Campaign include the National Coalition for Marine Conservation, the
Natural Resources Defense Council, the Wildlife Conservation Society and
the World Wildlife Foundation.

Although the report did point out that between 1959 and 1990, 148 people
died from being struck by lightening while only one died from a shark,
it did not predict that more surfers would be in trouble if Texas helped
increase the shark population.


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