Whats Going On?

[samsteele115]

I have noticed that people seem to be complaining about sharks taking their fish more and more and more now than ever before. I have only been boat fishing for a few years now so do not have experience from 10 years ago to judge. But this year I have been sharked most tuna sessions and I'm not the only one.

Some say they are becoming clued on knowing that boats mean an easy meal and I totally agree with that because I have witnessed this first hand, but fishing boats have been around for many years now so why is it much more of a problem now? Is it because there are now more fishing boats on the water than say 20 years ago? 

This can't be good for the ecosystem with less fish in our waterways and more sharks. Doesn't seem balanced to me. 

Or is it just me noticing more comments on social media about this issue and being sharked myself the last few trips? 

I feel @aussie123 and many others will have good input for this. 

[Old Scaley]

Sharks haven't survived this long without having a brain. Maybe that learned behaviour is now part of some species' inherited knowledge?  I remember seeing a fishing show from South Africa. They were fishing the mouth of a river. A big bull shark sat under the boat and kept knocking off the fish.  Every time they moved the shark would find them and sit under the boat.  I don't think the sharks are eating more fish, just getting lazier or smarter.  Sucks to be a fisherman.

[samsteele115]

8 minutes ago, Old Scaley said:

Sharks haven't survived this long without having a brain. Maybe that learned behaviour is now part of some species' inherited knowledge?  I remember seeing a fishing show from South Africa. They were fishing the mouth of a river. A big bull shark sat under the boat and kept knocking off the fish.  Every time they moved the shark would find them and sit under the boat.  I don't think the sharks are eating more fish, just getting lazier or smarter.  Sucks to be a fisherman.

Definitely getting smarter. I guess it is the same kind of thing that happens with humans feeding wild birds etc; they just become reliant on that source of food over time. Maybe it's the exact same thing with the sharks because we are feeding them unintentionally.

[benno573]

I think the problem is a lot simpler than there being an increase in shark population. Of course the Vic hislops of the world will beg to differ as to them the only good shark is a dead one.

 

Sharks don't have a lot of predators, the main one being a bigger shark. So they are fairly good at maintaining their own population in that sense. We of course have a far greater impact, not so much locally but in a wider sense - we are responsible for a massive decline in shark populations globally. So why do we need sharks? Every ecosystem needs a keystone predator. This maintains the balance. Take out the big fish and the medium fish population increases, coinciding with a massive decrease in the population of little fish to feed the medium sized fish and eventually the system collapses. I think shark populations may have increased locally in the past say 30 years sure, but call this a bounce back to how things used to be.

 

So why then are we seeing more reports about people getting sharked?

 

I personally don't often get sharked, I think a lot of it goes back to where you are fishing. If you are fishing in an area with massive bait schools, heaps of predatory fish, heaps of activity, invariably there will be sharks about and of course a struggling fish on the line sends out several millions of distress signals - candy to sharks. Go back 20 years and hardly anyone chased tuna on light tackle and lures around bait schools, nowadays it is commonplace meaning more people are putting themselves in the firing line to be sharked and for a longer period of time. If you are fishing an isolated smaller reef out off Fraser as an example, you rarely find sharks to be a major problem. The larger reefs that hold large amounts of bait or where there is a lot of activity - there will always be sharks.

 

as to sharks getting smarter - I don't agree that they are getting smarter. They have always been smart. I would say they are becoming more accustomed to people, same as the Dolphins that hang around at harries and the dam cormorants around mud island. This has been going on for some time though, not just a recent thing. There used to be two massive tiger sharks of 20ft-ish in length that would follow the rubbish barge out from heron island like big stripy toothy puppy dogs in the "good" old days where everything could be dumped in the ocean. They wouldn't follow other boats but knew the sound of the rubbish barge. 

[kmcrosby78]

I definitely think the increase in social media would make it feel like it is happening more and Benno raises a very good point regarding the lighter tackle being used nowadays. Sharks don't seem to follow me around - presumably they've worked out that I'm unlikely to hook many fish ...... (smart buggers!!).

[samsteele115]

Makes sense @benno573. Thanks for the input! Some very valid points you have raised. 

[fifis101]

Fishing is more about the sport, than catching for a feed these days. Meaning people use lighter setups to make the experience more fun. We all know how long it can take to land tuna on light spinning setups. More time for a shark to find your fish.

[samsteele115]

The issue is they eat your fish within a minute quite often, even on heavy gear you would still have the same problem. But yes the longer you fight a fish for the more chance of it being found. I've found I've only gotten sharked within the first minute or two and not at all after that which suggests the shark/s were hanging around the boat.