wire leaders – Shark Stewards

Pacific Fisheries Managers Move to Protect Sharks

In a surprising decision, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has outlawed shark lines and wire leaders, both of which are used by industrial-scale fishers targeting sharks and leading to major declines in Pacific shark populations.

I am in strong support of the new rules prohibiting the use of wire leader within 1 meter of any hook deployed in Hawaiian deep set longline fishery.

Threatened Oceanic whitetip sharks ( Carcharhinus longimanus) and Silky Sharks (Carcharhinus falciformus) are especially impacted by this gear. Under the Endangered species Act, National Marine Fisheries has already committed to zero retention of oceanic whitetip sharks, and tis rule will help achieve that in US waters.

Eliminating this gear will protect sharks, increase safety for fishermen and limit harmful trailing line and ensure a hight survival rate of these threatened sharks.