The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has now approved a rule to set the recreational bag limit of Atlantic shortfin mako sharks (Isurus oxyrinchus) to zero. This applies to all Florida state waters in both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. The rule modification by the FWC was done at their December Commission meeting.
This move was done by the FWC to make Florida’s state regulations consistent and in line with current federal regulations for the shortfin makos. Earlier this year on July 5, 2022 federal regulations shifted for shortfin makos to not allow landing or retaining the sharks. The new regulations changed the retention limit for both commercial and recreational fishermen on shortfin makos to zero. All these regulation changes were done to address the overfishing of shortfin mako and support coordinated U.S. and international efforts to better manage the Atlantic shortfin mako shark population. The commercial harvest of shortfin mako was already prohibited in state and federal waters. before the recreational regulation changes.
Before these changes from the December Commission meeting happened the shortfin mako shark had a daily harvest limit of one shark per person a day. The vessel limit of the sharks was 2 fish per day regardless of how many people are on the vessel. The shortfin makos were placed in Group 3 of harvestable sharks where in they needed to have a fork length minimum size limit of 83 inches from the tip of the nose to the fork of the tail.
Learn more about shark regulations by visiting MyFWC.com/Marine and clicking on “Recreational Regulations” and “Sharks” under the “Regulations by Species – General Species” tab or download the Fish Rules App at Instagram.com/FishRulesApp or Facebook.com/FishRulesApp. For more information on the Commission meeting, including the Nov. 30–Dec. 1, Commission meeting presentation, visit MyFWC.com/Commission and click on “Commission Meetings.”
