The sudden rise of the hundreds of millions of dogfish sharks, voracious predators, is impacting every fishery in the region. This threat brought an unprecedented alliance of commercial, recreational and party/charter boat fishermen and associated businesses. They have formed Fishermen Organized for Rational Dogfish Management (FORDM) to deal with a looming crisis. FORDM has requested assistance from Dr. Jane Lubchenco, newly appointed National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head, in dealing with an out-of-balance population of highly predatory spiny dogfish that is depleting other Northeast and Mid-Atlantic fisheries.
It s told that the increasing numbers of these ravenous sharks is holding back the recovery of New England groundfish and many others fish stocks, either feeding heavily on the more valuable species or on their prey. Throughout their range spiny dogfish are also seriously interfering with traditional fisheries. Ray Bogan, legal counsel for United Boatmen and member of one of New Jersey’s oldest party/charter fishing families, opined that there are more spiny dogfish than he has encountered ever before in a lifetime spent on Mid-Atlantic waters.
Cape Codgillnetter Jan Margenson informed that the codfish gear they haul is plugged with dogs and the occasional cod we catch is stripped to the bone of flesh. They act just like piranha, only it’s our catch that they’re eating. Craig Banks, operates a commercial fishing website, said that the general consensus is that dogfish numbers have been building and now they often make fishing impossible. One of the biggest concerns is the voracious appetite of the hordes of dogs that travel the coast, eating everything in their path.
According to Jim Donofrio, Executive Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance and an organizer of FORDM, tens of millions of recreational fishermen, tens of thousands of commercial fishermen and the thousands of businesses that depend on them are suffering a double whammy because of a management philosophy distorted by foundation-funded marine ‘conservationists’ with no regard for fish or fishermen, just the crises they create.
