1st DFO shark survey in 8 years to focus on endangered porbeagle

The federal Fisheries Department is preparing to go on a shark-catching expedition this summer.

"I am very, very excited," said Heather Bowlby, the principal investigator for the shark survey, which is set to begin in late June.

"I think it'll be a great learning opportunity,and I think it'll be really fun."

The department has put out a tender seeking bids from fishermen with tuna and swordfish licences who have the longline equipment necessary to catch the endangeredporbeaglesharks the survey is concentrating on.

The large sharks, which can grow more than three metres in length, can befound aroundthe continental shelf off Eastern Canada, according to DFO's website.

Bowlbyestimates the survey will take 40 to45days at sea as sharks are caught, tagged and returned to the ocean alive. The projecthas a $390,000budget.

Little known about porbeaglenumbers

Little is known about the current state of the porbeagle shark population in the waters off Nova Scotia. Bowlby said it's estimated there are 200,000 in the northwest Atlantic.

About 840 sharks were caught during a survey in 2007, but those numbers dropped when the last survey was done in 2009. Thelast commercial shark fishery in the region closed in 2013.

"There's very few data sources on sharks in the northwest Atlantic right nowwith the closure of all the directed fisheries," Bowlby said.

"One of our only sources of information would be a dedicated surveyto look at abundance change from historical surveys to now."

The survey hopes to shed light on theconservation status of the porbeagle shark. Analyzing the data could help DFO with recovery planningor determine whether by-catch rules need to change.

Population on the rise?

"We need somethingbecause without the commercial fishery, you have no way of knowing whether the stock has rebounded, has stayed the same, or has declined," said Troy Atkinson, president of the Nova ScotiaSwordfishermen'sAssociation.

Atkinson said his groupintends to put a bid together in the next week to take on the DFO work.

"All indications from some other fisheries that interact with the species withby-catchare that they are becoming more abundant, but you need something more than fishermen's say so," he said.

Atkinson said a rebound in theporbeaglepopulation might not make a big financial difference to his members,but they want to be sure populations are sustainable.

"I don't expect there's going to be a big run for another commercial fishery, or is it going to mean any more money for my members, but it would be nice to monitor the health of the population," he said.

'We're hopeful'

The survey will take place at 60 stations in Atlantic Canadian waters between the BayofFundyand the Grand Banks. Between two and five vessels will dothe work.Each vessel will have 600 hooks onlonglines, which will be in the water for about four hours at a time.

The vessels will use squid bait,J-hooksand wire leaders, which sharks cannot bite through and escape.If any sharks die when they are caught, their stomach contents will be studied.

Bowlbysaidshe hopesabout 1000 sharkscould be caught in this year's survey if theporbeaglepopulation is indeed on the rise.

"The hope is always that we'd find more, since the fisheries were closed as a management measure to benefit the population, to reduce mortality," said Bowlby.

"There are some anecdotal reports that people are catching more porbeaglebut because now they're all released, it's very hard to translate that anecdotal information into a size estimate.

"So we're hopeful."