"It's happening way more now," Trevor Berwick, a captain for Reel Cast Charters out of Old Saybrook, said Wednesday.
Berwick posted a photo on Facebook of a client's striped bass caught on Aug. 2 in Fishers Island Sound off the state's southeastern shore. Rather, it was part of a striper. The 25- to 30-pound fish had been chopped cleanly just below the pectoral fins, the half circle of a sharp-toothed mouth evident.
Berwick posted the picture in response to a call for such photos on the Facebook page of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's fish and wildlife division. Other anglers also contributed shots of ragged fish heads they pulled up after lines went slack.
"Seeing this makes 'Gonna need a bigger boat!' echo in my head," the DEEP Facebook page administrator wrote below one such photo, referring to the often-repeated line in the movie "Jaws."
"We hear of this happening more and more over the past couple of years," the administrator wrote.
Although other commenters posted photos from "Jaws," sharks in the Sound are mainly the smaller sand tiger, dusky and brown, or sandbar species, which have been slowly rebounding along the entire East Coast, DEEP marine biologist David Molnar said. Once popular catches for Connecticut anglers, the three coastal shark species are protected and cannot be killed.
On the East Coast, and particularly in New England, sharks have been recovering due to improved water quality and fishing industry regulations. The regulations also have helped seals recover, and seals are both predators of striped bass and other fish, and prey to larger sharks, such as the great white. Biologists say ocean warming also is changing where sharks are hunting.
However, because different species of sharks have different temperature tolerances, migratory habits and food preferences, predicting what will happen to sharks as a whole is challenging. But as surface and near-shore waters warm, more southerly species of sharks are likely to come north and stay for longer periods.
Coastal sharks come to the Connecticut shore in July and August to bear one to three live pups each, then head south in the fall. Because they bear so few young that take up to 15 years to mature, the ongoing rebound will take time, Molnar said. Asked if anglers can expect more chomped stripers, flounder and other mangled catches, he noted that sharks are opportunistic feeders and will pursue struggling fish. Typically, he said, the coastal sharks feed on the more abundant menhaden.
Larger thresher sharks have been seen off the state shore, including one that Molnar said was feeding recently on bluefish in the eastern part of the Sound. Juvenile great white sharks also roam the Sound, but most sharks here account for relatively few encounters with humans, said Eric Grunthaner, a curator at Mystic Aquarium and expert in fish biology.
David Cochran, senior director of fish and invertebrates at Mystic Aquarium, said determining whether more chomped fish are due to more sharks in the Sound may be difficult.
"It could be due to water temperature and the summer season," Cochran said. "Sharks that are found in the sound are generally more active up here in the summer months and where the water temperature is warmer. The warmer water temperatures could also be bringing more of certain species of fish into the sound, and the sharks are more likely to follow. There could be a number of contributing factors in cases like these."
Sand tiger sharks average 6 to 9 feet long and weigh up to 300 pounds. They are easily recognizable, according to Mystic Aquarium's description, by numerous protruding teeth and the large notched upper lobe of the tail. The sandbar shark, which can grow to eight feet long, has large dorsal and pectoral fins. Dusky sharks are very slow growing, but can reach up to about 12 feet in length.
The striped bass that the sharks like to snatch from anglers' lines are protected by emergency regulation in Connecticut and other states after a decision by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission that became effective in July. Keepers are limited to fish 28-31 inches long. The range had been 28-35 inches.
The emergency action followed an estimated 91% increase last year in the coast-wide recreational catch of striped bass, which jeopardized success of a rebuilding plan, according to DEEP. The plan targets an age group of fish, Molnar said, with the goal that the stripers will mature and spawn.
The agency, according to an official statement, "recognizes that the emergency regulation will curtail opportunity for striped bass harvest this year, but is confident this short-term sacrifice is necessary to ensure that populations of this iconic sportfish can be successfully rebuilt."
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August 21, 2023 at 04:04PM
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More Long Island Sound sharks are sinking their teeth into fish caught off the Connecticut coast - CT Insider
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