July 14, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Sandbar sharks were the most common shark caught during the 2021 Large Coastal Shark Bottom Longline Survey. This survey of large and small coastal sharks was conducted from April 12 to May 28 by scientists from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Apex Predators Program.
The survey is conducted in U.S. waters from Florida to the mid-Atlantic area every two to three years to provide relative abundance indices of coastal shark populations. Working from the contracted commercial longline vessel F/V Eagle Eye II, scientists from the center’s Narragansett Laboratory in Rhode Island and vessel crew caught 2,462 sharks of 11 species. The vessel left Port Royal, South Carolina to begin the survey just south of Fort Pierce, Florida. The survey ended at the North Carolina–Virginia border.
“We had a lot of weather delays this year, but we were still able to complete the majority of stations we cover each survey,” said Cami McCandless, who along with Lisa Natanson were the two scientists on board for the survey. Both are from the center’s Apex Predators Program based at the Narragansett Laboratory. Natanson has been the chief scientist on this survey since its inception in 1996. She retired in 2020 but returned this year to help lead the survey one last time before handing over the reins.
“The survey was designed to sample coastal sharks just prior to their northward migration along the coast,” Natanson said. “The 47-day survey consistently occurs in early to mid-April and ends at the Memorial Day weekend. Since the inception of the survey, there has been an increase in weather days. This has resulted in a decrease in the number of stations although the geographic extent of the survey has remained the same over the years.”