Sharks and the Pier

As a tourist, sight seer, invader to your land, I have to say the Pier was one of the things that convinced me to finally give in to going to Alabama with the wife and kids for spring breaks. We had a lot of fun fishing the pier in the past, and want to continue to do so in the future. That being said...if what I hear is true about the sharks decimating the fish population around the Pier, and not even be able to catch said sharks, it seems to me to be one less reason to spend our money in your communities. As much as I like sharks, and truly I do...I don't want them to screw up my fishing.

I would encourage you bdl to go to the alabama state park site under gulf state park and fill out the survey and say that to them.

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Originally Posted by Robert(Tato)Piteo

I would encourage you bdl to go to the alabama state park site under gulf state park and fill out the survey and say that to them.

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I will do that Robert.

I had this same thought. It's only a matter of time before something happens and there goes the recent growth in tourism. I would think they could post limits on shark fishing, perhaps only at night when tourism is low? I also saw a study that was using dead shark carcasses to create a shark repellent that seemed to be working. Maybe that could work? IDK, I'm no expert and maybe showing my ignorance...

You do realize that many sharks eat other sharks, including cannibalizing their own species.
That said gutting/bleeding some shark species in the surf is said to shutdown the bite on that species.
So it might work somewhat on some, it very likely wouldn't on all species.
Millions of dollars & thousands of man hours have been spent on researching shark repellants/barriers.
Even the best amongst them, nets, aren't 100%, but they sure do a good job at indiscriminately killing a wide range of sharks, turtles & other species.
Intense fishing/killing works as good or better than nets and allows for better targeting of species.
If we could only shark fish within the current state/federal laws. We could thin the hordes of Blacktips & Spinners which are the primary bane of the pier.
I would happily kill & eat every legal fish of those two species, both are very palatable.

Alabama needs to follow Florida's lead on regulations. Black tips and quite few other sharks have no size limit, just a one per person per day limit. That would make a huge difference in Alabama.

AL's current size/creel limit (54" FL, 1 per day) doesn't matter when they make it very hard for shore/pier bound fishermen to fish/land them legally.
Wanna fish sharks in AL, get a boat or get well off the beaten path.

That too Chile.