Panama City Laboratory

"The shark drift gillnet fishery developed off the east coast of Florida and Georgia in the late 1980's. Initially, vessels in this fishery strike netted and drift netted for king mackerel, Scomberomorus cavalla, Spanish mackerel, S. maculatus, bluefish, Pomotomus saltatrix, and occasionally for sharks November through March. As the fishery developed, some fishers drift gillnetted for sharks October through April before and after the mackerel seasons (Schaefer et al., 1989). By 1987, many fishers were drift gillnetting for king mackerel April through September to compensate for the reduction in quotas in the winter fisheries. However, as the king mackerel drift gillnet fishery was further restricted in 1990, more fishers began drift gillnetting for sharks during all times of the year (Trent et al., 1997). In 1999, some vessels involved in this fishery also began strike netting for sharks during winter months. Originally, there were about 11 shark driftnet vessels operating between Cape Canaveral and Jacksonville, Florida, but currently only about 4 to 6 vessels fish drift or strike gillnets for sharks off the east coast of Florida"--Introduction, paragraph 1.

Technical Memorandum

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)