Small dogfish aren't the only sharks adversely affecting East Coast fishermen.
Bert Jongerden, general manager of the Portland, Maine Fish Exchange, recently contacted Ebb & Flow about a new plague — porbeagle sharks (Lamna nasus) that have been lately costing offshore Gulf of Maine gillnet fishermen thousands of dollars in lost fish and gear. This is happening at a time when fish prices are often cheap, gear,fuel and unemployment are high and groundfishermen have become the endangered species.
The porbeagle problem "…is unbelievable," said Capt. Tim Maguro of Portland, who runs that port's 47-foot gillnetter Shannon Christine with Maine residents Bobby Johnson of Long Island, Devin Bain of Arundel and John Woodbury of Portland.
Once nearly fished out, especially by longlining in the 1960s, "the latest international scientific assessment of the porbeagle shark for the Atlantic Ocean determined that the species was 'overfished,' which means the overall population of this highly-migratory pelagic shark species is not considered healthy or sustainable …," reports NOAA spokesperson Monica Allen.