Shark law's problem is `bycatch' loophole

Quince de Mayo.

It was a day worthy of celebration for commercial fishermen in Mexico.

But a dark day for recreational anglers and conservation groups who predict trouble for marlin, sailfish, dorado and other fisheries.

On May 15, 2007, NOM-029, the infamous shark norma -- a hotly debated work in progress for the past decade -- became law.

In Cabo San Lucas, a gargantuan resort community born of the popularity of big-game angling, 600 people aboard 120 boats paraded the marina waving banners in protest.

In the U.S., e-mail campaigns -- see www.billfish.org and www.seawatch.org -- are requesting that people who are following this issue direct any outrage to fisheries officials and Mexico President Felipe Calderon.

Concern is warranted. NOM-029 will permit long-line fishing from more than 3,000 skiffs, with 350-hook lines, as close as 10 miles; and from 233 medium-size vessels, up to 89 feet and with 1,000-hook lines, as close as 15 miles.

Larger vessels must remain 50 miles out and cannot enter the Sea of Cortez.

Government officials and non-government organizations supporting NOM-029 -- and they include Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife and other heavyweights -- have rightly claimed that a management plan is long overdue.

"We welcome it as a long-awaited, essential first step," said Sonja Fordham, shark conservation program director for the Ocean Conservancy. "Effective safeguards must be taken now, before it is too late."

NOM-029 limits fishing pressure through permits and imposes gear and area restrictions designed to ensure sustainability. It bans the capture of certain sharks and rays; phases out of drift gill-nets; and outlaws finning, or slicing fins from sharks and throwing their writhing bodies overboard.

But it does not adequately guard against exploitation of "bycatch" species such as dorado, or mahi-mahi, marlin and sailfish -- species that gave rise to sportfishing-related tourism and supposedly are off-limits to commercial fishermen.

Long-line hooks do not discriminate. Marlin, sailfish and dorado fetch a higher price than sharks, which are already depleted. So it's reasonable to assume the bycatch species are really what the fishermen are after.

"I don't know that they'll be throwing anything back," said Ellen Peel, president of the Florida-based Billfish Foundation.