Burnt Store Marina Host Location

Realmark Development and Burnt Store Marina will host the Qualifying Round of the Guy Harvey Ultimate Shark Challenge.

This event marks the official tournament kickoff on Friday, April 30th with a Captain's meeting and media day. Fishing will commence on Saturday morning with a shotgun start at 7:30am and end with 'lines out' at 4pm. Competition continues with the remaining top teams on Sunday fishing the same schedule.

The top 5 teams at the end of fishing on Sunday will advance to the Grand Championship at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium the weekend of May 21 - 23.

Mote Recognized by Florida House

Florida House Recognizes "Powerhouse" of Marine Research 

The Directors of the USC extend a personal congratulation to our science and research partner for this prestigious level of well-deserved recognition.  

In honor of Mote Marine Laboratory's 55th anniversary this year, the Florida House passed a resolution on Wednesday, March 10, recognizing the nonprofit organization as a "powerhouse of near-shore marine research" and commended its "tireless pursuit of answers to some of the ocean's most pressing questions" and its efforts to share "its knowledge with the world." The resolution, introduced by Rep. Keith Fitzgerald, D-Sarasota, was co-sponsored by 111 representatives during Oceans Day in Tallahassee. Florida Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, has also introduced a similar resolution in the Senate. (Click here to view a PDF of the full resolution at www.mote.org/hr9013.)

"Today is Oceans Day at the Florida Capitol and in honor of Mote Marine Laboratory's 55th anniversary, we'd like to commemorate the accomplishments of this important institution," Fitzgerald said Wednesday on the House floor as he introduced the resolution. (Click here for info about Oceans Day.)

Mote was created in 1955 by Dr. Eugenie Clark, who will herself be inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame later this month. From its beginnings as a small, one-room, one-woman operation focused on sharks, the Lab has grown into one of Florida's leading marine research and outreach organizations with a main campus in Sarasota and field stations in eastern Sarasota County, Charlotte Harbor and the Florida Keys. Mote has nearly 200 staff members conducting research on sharks, red tide, marine mammals, sea turtles, coral reefs, fisheries, coastal ecology and aquaculture. Mote's 1,300 volunteers contribute more than 200,000 volunteer hours to the organization.

Each year, 350,000 visitors are drawn to Mote Aquarium, one of the largest attractions in Southwest Florida, and another 28,000 students are educated through Mote programs on campus and even off campus through SeaTrek, Mote's premiere Distance Learning program.

The resolution also noted Mote's numerous academic affiliations with Florida universities, including its "landmark affiliation agreement with the University of South Florida that allows two of the state's leading research institutions to join forces in new science ventures, provide expanded learning programs, and create economic development opportunities for the region."

"On behalf of Mote's scientists, staff, volunteers and board members, I am truly honored to accept this recognition," said Mote President, Dr. Kumar Mahadevan, who was in Tallahassee Wednesday. Mahadevan and members of Mote's Board of Trustees were recognized on the House floor after the resolution was passed.

"Mote was just a small field station when it started," Mahadevan said. "Throughout the years, through the efforts of many, we've been able to increase the knowledge about Florida's environment and expand our research programs into other areas of the world. We could not have been so successful in our research, conservation and outreach missions without the support of Florida's residents, our local delegation members and the Legislature as a whole."

Sun Herald: Lemon Sharks, the USC

Photo provided by Andy Murch ©

Article By: DANA SANCHEZ
Assistant Englewood Editor, The Sun-Herald & The Sun Coast Media Group

Lemon Sharks Prohibited for Commercial, Recreational Fishing

Lemon sharks are off limits to recreational and commercial fishermen in Florida waters thanks to a new rule that aims to save the species from extinction.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has prohibited harvesting of lemon sharks within nine miles of Gulf shores and three miles of shores on the state's Atlantic side. The sharks congregate in South Florida waters and are considered important to the state's dive charter industry.

Until now, the bag limit was one shark per person, per day, or two per boat.

During late winter and early spring, lemon sharks congregate in shallow water to mate, making them vulnerable to harvesters, according to Lee Schlesinger, an FWC spokesperson in Tallahassee

Recent data shows at least 7.5 percent of tagged adult lemon sharks from a Southeast Florida congregation died from harvesting in one season. At that rate, they could be wiped out in a few years, Schlesinger said.

"This is not one of our marquee species like snook," Schlesinger said. "It's a small species: 7 to 10 percent for a few years and the fishery's gone."

Lemon sharks are not prolific breeders. They reach sexual maturity at 12 to 15 years. Juveniles have a 40-to-60 percent chance of survival. Once over-fished, it takes decades or centuries for them to recover.

"If they're exploited, they should be exploited wisely," said Robert Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota.

Hueter has been working with fishermen for decades, trying to educate them on the responsible way to fish for sharks.

In the past, he's had to fight the blood lust that shark tournaments count on for profits, he said.

"In the past, the emphasis has been on a big spectacle back at the dock, hauling these big sharks in and weighing them with blood coming out of their mouths, celebrating the killing of the great beast," he said. "It's promoted the wrong message to the public that it's OK to kill them for sport."

More shark species have been added to a prohibited list in recent years, with new size limits in state and federal waters, according to Schlesinger. The lemon shark prohibition stems from fears that regulations on other shark species could prompt fishermen to start targeting them.

"It's called effort shifting," Schlesinger said.

Hueter said he's made progress deputizing fishermen as field biologists to take data and tag the sharks they catch before releasing them.

But across the board, results are mixed, he said.

"In the last four, five years, it seems kill tournaments are coming back in some places," he said.

Sean Paxton and Brooks Paxton II of North Port participated in workshops leading to the FWC ruling on lemon sharks.

Known as The Shark Brothers, they are organizing the Guy Harvey Ultimate Shark Challenge, an all-release tournament planned for April 30. Participants will combine sports, science and conservation during the tournament which, they say, is being touted as the new gold standard for responsible, competitive shark fishing.

Research teams will work with anglers, tagging and measuring sharks boat-side. Certain species will be candidates for satellite tracking. A new approach of live streaming video from the boats back to the marina on big screen TVs eliminates the need for a bloody weighing-in, the brothers say.

The grand championship for the tourney will be held in May at Mote.

"As lifelong recreational anglers, we're also advocates for sustainability of our natural resources, sharks in particular," Sean said.

Mote's Hueter backs up the gold standard claims.

"These guys solved the problem of taking away the weigh-in site and the spectacle," Hueter said. "It changed the whole balance of the terms of running a tournament and made for something that's going to be exciting but highly environmentally sensible. And not a single shark killed."

E-mail: danchez@sun-herald.com

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