Why are more FL fishermen's catches being stolen by sharks?

It's a communal annoyance that has lone grown worse implicit the years — millions of Florida fishermen are successful a changeless conflict with sharks destroying their catch.

"We besides suffer wealth successful gear. We suffer wealth successful time, you know, hooks and lines. Everything costs money, truthful erstwhile a shark takes that from you, you suffer everything," said Jeremy Prouty, a commercialized and recreational fisherman.

Prouty is an avid angler who turned his passionateness into an award-winning career, becoming 1 of the champion successful the country. But lately, his livelihood has deed a snag. The prize catches that he's utilized to pulling successful are getting taken disconnected his hook.

"Where immoderate places we utilized to fish, you virtually can't food determination anymore due to the fact that each desirable food you hook, it's eaten by a shark," Prouty explained.

Researchers telephone it shark depredation.

It's go specified a occupation that scientists are present moving to travel up with immoderate solutions.

Professor Matthew Ajemian, an adjunct probe prof with Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, is starring the complaint connected the study, which is being sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

He said the origin remains unclear, but an summation successful shark populations implicit the years could beryllium the culprit.

"A batch of shark populations are showing immoderate signs of recovery, which they person travel backmost from being decimated decades agone acknowledgment to large absorption and things similar that," Ajemian said. "These populations are truly starting to recover, and this mightiness beryllium 1 of the consequences of that."

For his study, he's teaming up with section captains and relying connected DNA sampling to summation immoderate insight.

"When the sharks are biting the fish, the mucus, the residue which has pieces of their DNA, gets near connected the fish. It's fundamentally a marker, and we effort and cod that erstwhile we swab astir the fish," Ajemian said.

Ajemian is besides looking to survey anglers crossed Florida each 3 months to assistance find if the alteration successful seasons is simply a factor.

"In the wintertime here, arsenic you whitethorn know, a batch of sharks travel here, conscionable similar snowbirds, and bent retired here," helium said. "So, we're reasoning that determination mightiness beryllium higher interactions that clip of year, but it's not thing we person ever done experimentally, and we truly privation to usage the fisherman to assistance america effort and diagnose this."

The survey is expected to past for a year.

Once it's complete, Ajemian and his squad volition contiguous their findings to NOAA.

In the meantime, they are besides looking for much anglers to assistance cod samples, particularly those surviving successful Palm Beach and Martin counties.

To get involved, email Ajemian here.

This communicative was primitively published by Kamrel Eppinger connected Scripps presumption WPTV successful West Palm Beach, Florida.