Some people love them.

They're beautiful and amazing.

They're one of the coolest things in the ocean.

Some people fear them.

Terrifying, absolutely terrifying.

But one thing is for certain, sharks have long captured the imagination of people around the world.

Decades of negative media coverage focused primarily on shark attacks have given the animals a bad reputation, but a growing understanding of their vital role in the ecosystem, combined with a new focus on safe encounters have begun to change their image.

We ve gone through this really big shift.

I need to get rid of the sharks to I need to save the sharks.

Despite increased protections of sharks, many populations are still threatened, and some experts say it s not just commercial exploitation that is having an impact.

Recreational fishing could sometimes go under the radar because it's thought it s really small scale and negligible because it's just one person with a rod and one hook as compared to commercial fishing where a single boat can have thousands of hooks.

But if you have millions of people with one hook, you can still have a big impact.

Shark fishing from beaches, piers, and bridges is an increasingly popular activity in parts of the United States and scientists are finding that despite good intentions, catch and release doesn t guarantee the fish survives.

If the sharks are actually dying after release, we may be looking at a bigger impact than the commercial fisheries on shark populations in the United States.

To learn more, scientists in Florida are working closely with recreational anglers.

The first thing we have in mind is the safety of the animal we're catching.

It's a sport for us.

That sport is not complete unless we have the safe release of the animal.

Most anglers care about sharks, just as much as a marine scientist just in maybe a slightly different way.

But all of us have to work together in order to save these animals.

What impact does land-based fishing have on Florida s shark populations?

And how are scientists and anglers working together to protect these awe-inspiring animals from extinction?

Major funding for this program was provided by The Batchelor Foundation, encouraging people to preserve and protect America's underwater resources.

Additional funding was provided in loving memory of David G. Perrot, by the Perrot Family Endowment for Environmental Education.

Dr. Neil Hammerschlag leads the Shark Research and Conservation Program at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School.

In 2011, Neil and his students began investigating the impact of recreational angling on coastal species such as nurse, tiger, and great hammerhead sharks.

Florida is actually a recreational shark fishing hotspot.

And many of these sharks are actually released because they're not intended to be eaten.

The scientists wanted to find out why these seemingly powerful animals sometimes die after being released.

So our team use a variety of different techniques to figure out the behavioral and physiological responses to sharks, to being captured on a line.

To catch the sharks, the experts set baited lines that remained in the water for one hour, just enough time to attract sharks without subjecting the animals to additional stress.

We would on our lines deploy hook timers that measure how long a shark was on the line once it bit the hook.

The other thing we would do is we deployed something called an accelerometer on the lines themselves.

The accelerometer measured the frequency and intensity of force a shark exerts on the line.

So when a shark bit the line, not only we know how long the shark is on the line, but how hard they were fighting by using the accelerometer.

When the shark was brought to the boat, we'd quickly take a blood sample and what we'd be looking for in their blood is various metrics that were associated with stress, this included glucose and lactate.

Glucose is actually telling us if sharks are mobilizing or breaking down energy stores into their blood to use it to fuel activity.

Lactate is similar to when humans produce lactic acid in their blood, which would give you like a stitch if you run too fast or you can t get enough oxygen to your blood when you re exercising.

Increased levels of lactate indicate that an animal is exerting itself and not getting enough oxygen.

The researchers also recorded the behavior of the shark.

Did they look tired?

Were they biting down on the hose really hard?

We also check their reflexes.

Mostly sharks we work with have actually something called a nictitating membrane.

When they feel pressure towards the eye, it lifts up to protect their eye.

And what we would do is actually squirt a little bit of water in the shark s eye.

And what we found is that in some cases, sharks that were very stressed actually did not raise that membrane.

Also once they were released back in the water what was their disposition?

Did they swim up hard and vigorous, or were they swimming slowly?

Was it hard for them to maintain balance and orientation?

The experts discovered that not all species of sharks react equally to being hooked on a line.

For example, on one extreme, you have the nurse shark.

When a nurse shark bit a line, it would pretty much just relax and sit on the bottom.

Didn't show any disruptions in their behavior or their physiology.

On the other extreme, you have the great hammerhead shark.

When they bit a line, they would go crazy.

In the middle, you have the black tip shark.

Where when a black tip bit a line, it would fight really hard.

And then when it tired, it would relax until it regained its strength.

And then it would fight a little hard again, and then it would relax.

What we found out is that sharks that were fighting really, really hard, like the great hammerhead, had high levels of lactate in their blood, essentially their blood is becoming acidic.

They also showed more like an impairment in terms of balance and orientation after release and these are the animals that exhibited post-release mortality.

Satellite tags used to record the movement of the sharks after being released revealed if the fish survived.

Our tracking work has shown us that these animals might die usually within the first two hours after release, but sometimes, up to 10 days or more after that encounter.

These findings are significant given the population status of various species.

While nurse and blacktip sharks are still relatively abundant, great hammerheads are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature s Red List.

This is showing us that some species might make for good candidates for catch and release fishing.

And some species are not good candidates for catch release fishing.

Up the coast in Palm Beach County, President of the American Shark Conservancy Hannah Medd is working directly with the angling community to understand the impacts of shore-based fishing on great hammerhead sharks.

We were approached by a few members of the public when they had come across dead sharks on the beach and they had a lot of questions.

There was a few guesses.

And one of them was that they had died from being caught and handled by shore based shark fishermen.

And it happened to coincide when a tournament was happening that incentivized anglers to catch the largest hammerhead.

We started to kind of ask a lot of questions about shore-based shark fishing and realized there weren't a lot of answers.

Hannah reached out to the angling community to partner on the research.

We were very nervous in like contacting these anglers.

I feel like they were really cautious about working with scientists and, you know, definitely were a little defensive.

So we really wanted to make sure they knew this was a scientific study that we were very neutral and immediately, they were like, yeah, sure, come see what we do.

And from there, it's just sort of been word of mouth.

I just think sharks in general are awesome.

Especially as a kid seeing sharks for the first time you become obsessed with them.

I've caught every range of big game fish out there.

And when you're talking about hooking a potentially a thousand-pound shark from the beach, it's much different than the boat.

Uh it's you it's solely you versus what's on the other end of that line.

And it can be very humbling.

I think that's what gets it for a lot of people is, um, just feeling that powerless situation where you're attached to something that's much, much, much stronger than you.

Dan and Kaytlin are two of more than 50 anglers Hannah collaborates with.

We'll have the rod and reel anchored to the beach in a PVC pipe.

And we'll use the kayak to bring out the bait.

And then we just kind of lounge around waiting for a bite.

Once we get a bite, you'll hear a really loud screeching noise.

[reel screeching] We get into the harness, buckle up, cross our fingers and just start cranking.

And you'll fight the shark to the beach..You have everyone with an assigned role.

You either cut the hook out dehook it, get the shark oriented so it's not rolling around getting beat up.

Hannah records the length of the fight time - from when the reel goes off until the anglers have their hands on the shark.

Then from the time they have their hands on the shark to when they release it is considered handling time.

So those are the two main factors that we're looking at correlating with the fate of the shark.

The team works as quickly and safely as possible to collect data.

In the case of hammerheads, Hannah also attaches satellite tags on the animals to see if they survive after having been caught.

One of the things I've learned more with working with Hannah is the great hammerheads themselves, um, and how they deal with stress.

And so the fact that sometimes they get stressed a little more easy, just kind of blew my mind that something that big and crazy powerful can, can get hurt from being stressed.

So it kinda made me want to learn more about this research project to hopefully make us better anglers.

And just to try to spread the word around the community.

I fear a lot of people will see videos of shark fishing and say, oh, I can do that .

And come out here, not completely equipped to handle what could happen and people get hurt, sharks don't live.

It s not just taking that awesome picture on the beach with a huge animal.

It's making sure that everything's done properly.

In addition to the field work, Hannah and her research partner Jill Brooks sent surveys to over 14-thousand shore-based shark anglers to analyze their motivations, fishing practices, and economic impact.

So the majority of the respondents said that they practice catch and release.

They very, very rarely keep the sharks.

Um, and it will obviously depend on the shark that they catch.

So there are some that they're legally able to harvest, um, but it is limited.

Sometimes smaller sharks are actually used as bait to catch larger sharks.

The study found that the fishery has grown in popularity since 2010.

Anglers are catching tens of thousands of sharks, and the activity is likely contributing tens of millions of dollars to the state s economy both figures that surprised the scientists.

The surveys also revealed that the majority of anglers expressed an interest in learning how to increase shark survival.

We've gotten pushback from people in the conservation community that are horrified that we're working with anglers.

But we just stick to the point, it's happening.

They're fishing, whether we want them to or not.

And this information is not going to get collected on its own.

But so what size hook is it?

A 10/0.

Ok.

When we say, okay, scientists are going to go find out things about shark populations, and then they're going to tell anglers what to do it's not a model that works well.

Standing by for anchor when you re ready.

Dr. Catherine Macdonald heads the Miami-based Field School and is a lecturer at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School specializing in shark ecology and conservation.

Engaging anglers in the regulatory process is one of the best ways to ensure that they feel heard.

And they understand why the rules are being made the way they are and perceive them as reasonable and legitimate.

Collaborative community-based management is vital to develop conservation solutions that actually work.

Uh, thanks for being here tonight.

Appreciate y all joining us.

In 2018 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC, held a series of public meetings online and in person on pending regulations for land-based shark fishing.

Landing in legal definition is as she said reduced to harvest.

The online comments were much more polarized.

And then when you brought people together to discuss this, the shared value that they place on healthy shark populations was much clearer.

And in general, even where they disagreed either about the science or about the values and regulations that should follow from those values they were much less likely to kind of try to demonize each other.

They were much more willing to acknowledge that the other side might also have a point.

If you re chumming, you re feeding in the argument.

You re attracting sharks toward the beach.

So that overall hurts our purpose more than it helps.

I spoke at a lot of those meetings that FWC was having.

There's guys that have been shark fishing from land for several years that all showed up to these meetings to give their input because it makes a big difference how you catch these sharks.

The meetings resulted in new FWC regulations put into place in 2019, which require a free permit to fish for sharks from shore.

So it's, in addition to your saltwater fishing license, you have to go through a short course about shore-based shark fishing, identifying sharks, what the new regulations look like, and some good tips and insights into what equipment to have with you.

Hammerheads, tiger sharks, lemon sharks, they're all on the prohibited species list and must remain with their gills covered in the water.

There is a line in the regulations that basically says angler safety sort of supersedes any of the other regulations.

Some consider that a loophole.

Having been out there, I do consider it a safety measure.

The regulations also require the use of specific types of gear that will increase the sharks survival.

You need to be using circle hooks.

Sharks swallow their food whole.

So if it takes the whole bait as that's coming out of, it's a digestive tract.

If it's a J hook it'll hook on the stomach, on the throat, in the gills.

If it's a circle hook, it will hook in the jaw right in the side of the mouth.

So it's easy to cut out, much easier for the animal to recover from that.

You need to have gear on hand to remove those hooks.

Additionally, the anglers must use non-stainless steel hooks.

So things that are meant to rust out.

So if you can't remove your gear, for some reason, that that will disintegrate in the ocean much faster than stainless steel.

All of those are really great measures.

So we're not getting rid of shark fishing, but we are making it so that if it's happening, we're not doing damage, we're releasing those animals in better condition.

Along with the new regulations, the experts believe educational outreach on best practices will increase the fish s post-release survival rates.

Of the 14 great hammerhead sharks Hannah tagged as of February 2021 while working with responsible anglers, only one died after being released.

Jill and Hannah s research shows that with the appropriate gear and experience, along with shorter fight and handling times, shore-based shark fishing may not be as detrimental to great hammerheads as previously thought.

The unintentional negative effects of recreational angling not only harm sharks, but also their close relatives, the manta rays.

So manta rays are the largest rays in the ocean.

They're large filter feeding rays.

And they're distinguishable by the two fins on the side of their head, which are known as cephalic fins.

Founder of the Marine Megafauna Foundation s Florida Manta Project Jessica Pate is the first to study the elusive manta rays in southeastern Florida.

Jessica discovered the region is a potential manta ray nursery, but one that is threatened by human activity.

In 2018 in the United States, manta rays were listed under the endangered species act as a threatened species.

And it's illegal to capture them in Florida.

But despite these new protections, the charismatic animals are still feeling an impact.

Over a quarter of the mantas Jessica has surveyed are entangled in fishing line.

Recreational fishing can have a lot of different impacts on manta rays.

We see manta rays with hooks in their skin.

Depending on how much line is there, the manta rays, when they feed, will do this barrel rolling technique and the line gets wrapped around their body when they do that.

I've also seen it wrapped around their cephalic fin.

One of the manta rays we saw last year, it was a female who had fishing line wrapped around her cephalic fin.

We saw her again this year and that cephalic fin is gone.

So this is gonna affect her ability to feed.

To increase awareness, Jessica is collaborating with the Field School s Dr. Julia Wester.

We surveyed 200 recreational fishermen at popular fishing piers and inlet jetties in Palm Beach County.

We found very few people would want to target a manta ray.

A couple of people expressed interest in wanting to fight one, just because it's something big and exciting, but in general, most people realize that it's going to take their fishing gear or they thought they were really cool and beautiful and just wanted to let them pass.

Only about half of them could identify a manta ray.

They can more easily identify it when looking at a picture under water versus looking at a picture from the top.

Cause of the things on its face is how I can tell.

The overwhelming majority of them thought that if manta rays are endangered and in need of protection, that we should protect them, that they should be conserved and that the environment is important.

So what that tells me is this is a group that has the same values that I do about conserving the ocean.

We just need to make sure that they have the right tools and the right information to act on those values.

And the best way to do that is to not treat them like they're the bad guys in this story, because there are no bad guys in the story.

There's just us.

Using the data gathered from the surveys, the experts designed educational signs to post at piers in Palm Beach County.

These signs include information on what gear to use, how to identify a manta, and how to report a sighting to the Florida Manta Project.

We will be doing a follow up survey to see if these signs are effective.

So we'll go back and ask the fishermen the same question and see if their knowledge has increased because before the vast majority of fishermen didn't know that manta rays were endangered, that they were a protected species in Florida or anything about them really.

And we'll also quantify the amount of fishing line we see on the manta rays and see if that's actually changing and we're noticing an effect and hopefully we'll see a reduction of fishing line interactions on the young manta rays.

I hope that manta rays, being the unique animals they are will make people look at fish a little bit differently.

Recreational fishing is just one of many activities threatening the survival of sharks and rays.

While their motivations may differ, the scientists and anglers involved in the research agree that working together is key to the long-term survival of the species they all love.

At first I had a pretty, you know, single-minded, uh, perspective of shark fishing.

I definitely didn't like it.

I didn't want to see it, but once I realized it was legal and we didn't know that much about it, I kind of set that aside.

And it definitely shattered some misperceptions I had about shark fishing.

I think conservation is one of the most important things we can do.

As a fisherman in general, you need to take care of your source.

I want my kids, my grandkids, I want them to be able to do this.

The narrative that it's these bad fishermen or these bad anglers that are the problem for sharks is not only not true because they are a potentially really important ally for us in trying to protect our natural resources in Florida.

But also if you think that the problem is somebody else, then you don't look at your own impacts.

And really it's all of us.

It's everything.

It's water quality.

It's restoring ecosystems.

It's climate change.

It's all of it together that's going to get it done.