Overview

The Bahamas is a world leader in shark diving and conservation. However, despite this status community support for sharks is rapidly eroding with fishers reporting increased depredation (sharks taking or damaging fish), fear of safety and a desire to harvest for food or economic benefit. There is an urgent need to understand shark-fisher interactions, and their perception on sharks and the shark sanctuary to protect the welfare of fishers while promoting sustainable, long-term shark conservation. Here we will conduct in-person interviews with >300 fishers in the Bahamas to understand their experiences with sharks, perceptions and attitudes towards sharks, and opinion of shark management. Results will include strategies to mitigate shark-fisher interactions; improve dialogue between fishers, researchers and other stakeholders; and identify areas for collaborative research, including depredation reduction methods. Data will also be used to support shark conservation in the Bahamas.

Conservation concern

In 2011, the Bahamas established a shark sanctuary preventing the harvest, capture, and targeting of any shark for commercial or recreational purposes. This national prohibition has benefitted various sectors in the Bahamas, with an estimated 113mn USD generated annually from shark diving, and huge media coverage with mainstream networks highlighting the Bahamas as a shark conservation success story. However, despite these visible shark tourism and management achievements, over the past few years there have been frequent reports of escalating conflict between sharks and fishers, with depredation highlighted as a major problem. Indeed, in 2020 the Bahamas Commercial Fisher Alliance recommended to the government to temporarily lift the shark harvesting ban, and last year board members of the Professional Fishing Association reported that shark-fisher problems were widespread throughout Bahamian fisheries. Of further concern was some fishers admitting to harvesting sharks for consumption, stating that “their populations are out of control”. The varied context, locations, and species involved in these reports, alongside increasing frequency and illegal harvest of sharks clearly highlights the urgent need to understand more about shark-fisher interactions in the Bahamas. Critical to this will be understand the scale of this issue, identify key areas where depredation is a problem, the species responsible and to understand the perception/attitudes of fishers towards sharks with regards their continued protection in the Shark Sanctuary.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Identify prevalence and pervasiveness of shark interactions in Bahamian fisheries, impacts sharks have on fishers, and how fishers currently mitigate these.

• Determine fishers’ perceptions and opinions towards sharks, and current management strategies for sharks in the Bahamas.

• Assess if fishers recognize the economic and ecological importance of sharks, and that sharks are protected across the Bahamas.

Funding and Donors

• The Dashlight Foundation

• Storm Story

• Saving the Blue, you can support this project by donating via the link found below, or CLICK HERE