By Jane Musgrave
A month after the Manalapan Town Commission passed a law cracking down on shark-fishing from its shores, elected leaders learned they overstepped their authority.
Regulating fishing, even reeling sharks into shore, is the sole province of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Town Attorney Keith Davis told commissioners at their June meeting.
Peppered with letters from shore-based shark anglers, who claimed the measure passed in May is unconstitutional, Davis said he called the general counsel for the wildlife commission.
“He said, ‘The problem comes anytime you try to restrict activity on property you don’t own,’” Davis said. “We don’t have a town beach.”
In July, another measure will be proposed, Davis said. While he didn’t use the word repeal, that’s essentially what will happen.
The proposed measure will ban trespassing and creating a nuisance. It will rely on education of both town residents and anglers about what is allowed.
But, Davis conceded, without a municipal beach, the town can’t impose restrictions on shark-fishing.
Such laws violate Florida’s 2024 constitutional amendment which guarantees state residents the right to hunt and fish.
Town commissioners thought they had threaded a very thin hook by not banning shark-fishing entirely. Instead, the measure bans fishing at any beach that “may endanger the health and safety of swimmers and other beachgoers.” It explicitly banned practices that attract sharks — such as chumming and blood baiting.
Creating such restrictions is up to the wildlife commission, Davis said.
“There are very strict regulations for shark-fishing activity,” he said. In fact, those shark-fishing from shore need special permits.
Town Manager Eric Marmer said the measure was needed because the town had become a magnet for shore-based shark fishing. Anglers were running baited lines hundreds of yards off-shore. More sophisticated anglers are using drones to chum the waters.
But anglers, who wrote the town to protest the law, said the threat was being exaggerated.
Boynton Beach Vice Mayor Thomas Turkin said there is little risk to swimmers from shark-fishing.
“The overwhelming majority of land-based shark fishing along Florida’s Atlantic coast occurs at night, after swimmers, sunbathers, paddlers, and near-shore boaters have left the water,” wrote Turkin, who described himself as an “avid angler.”
Others pointed out that there is no evidence shore-based shark fishing has led to an increase in attacks on swimmers.
‘The overwhelming majority of documented shark bite incidents tracked by the International Shark Attack File involve swimmers, surfers, snorkelers, or other in-water recreational users — not at all where licensed surf anglers were fishing from shore,” wrote angler Christopher Dilecce, who operates a shark-fishing charter business in Brevard County.
Other coastal cities, including Delray Beach and Boca Raton, have passed measures to limit shark-fishing from their public beaches.
But other cities, including Miami Beach and Marco Island, were forced to abandon their laws when the wildlife commission said their efforts were unconstitutional.
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