PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) – Miles offshore, a fight is raging between angry anglers armed with guns and bombs and bottlenose dolphins, the marine mammals popularized in movies and TV shows like “Flipper.”Boat captains say dolphins, known for their toothy grins and playfulness, are growing increasingly aggressive in their quest for food, with some taking fish right off the hook – something that rarely happened just a few years ago.
In response, fishermen are pulling out everything from pipe bombs to .357-caliber Magnum pistols to fend them off – and breaking a federal law against harming the sea mammals.
The head of a national fishing organization, Bob Zales II, said the problem of bottlenose dolphins stealing fish has gotten “tremendously worse” in the last year. So have stories of retaliation by angry boat captains and ordinary anglers, who are paying hundreds of dollars for even short fishing trips because of high fuel prices.
(AP) In a Thursday, June 18, 2009 photo, fishing in the Gulf of Mexico south of Panama City, Fla.,…
Full Image“You have people who are getting so frustrated they’re shooting at them,” said Zales, of Panama City, who has fished for more than four decades and is president of the National Association of Charter Boat Operators.
The captain of a Florida-based fishing boat is serving two years in prison after pleading guilty earlier this year to making pipe bombs and tossing them at dolphins, which are protected by federal law.
Two other captains have pleaded guilty to shooting at the animals in the Gulf of Mexico, home to tens of thousands of dolphins, in the last three years. And four dead dolphins washed ashore with bullet wounds near San Diego, Calif., in 2007. Authorities offered a reward in the shootings, but no one was charged.
*It’s dangerous for dolphins to compete with people for fish, regardless of whether anglers fight back. Forty-six of the animals are known to have died along the Florida coast since 2005 after either swallowing recreational fishing gear or becoming entangled in lines, according to NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.
Marine experts and boat captains agree there’s a problem, but they differ over why some animals have become so brazen.
*Stacey Hortsman, dolphin conservation coordinator with the National Marine Fisheries Service in St. Petersburg, Fla., said studies have linked the dolphins’ behavior with people feeding dolphins, often from sightseeing tours that are common in many resort areas. Dolphins learn to hang around people for food handouts, she said.
“It’s a very complex management issue for us because it is such a widespread problem,” said Hortsman.
Zales blames the problem on state and federal fishing limits enacted in recent years to protect against overfishing of species like red snapper.
Rather than saving fish, he said, the rules cause many anglers to throw back large numbers of undersized ones – oftentimes right into the jaws of waiting dolphins.
“With us having to throw fish back, (dolphin) literally now live in different places where we go fish,” Zales said. “They know they have a free meal …”
Dolphin expert Randall Wells said anglers shouldn’t release fish around dolphins. But regulations require anglers to throw back undersize and excess fish without accounting for the presence of the mammals.
“It’s an area where the various fishery agencies need to come together and find a solution,” said Wells, a researcher at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla.
A federal agent who investigates reported attacks on dolphins said he hasn’t noticed an increase in violence against them. But he said no one really knows the extent of the problem because so many confrontations likely occur 20 to 30 miles offshore in deep waters.
“That far out the bodies are never going to wash up on shore,” said Allan Coker, who works with NOAA’s fisheries law enforcement office in Niceville, Fla.
Coker helped investigate a case last year when an informant reported that the captain of a 60-foot commercial fishing boat based in Panama City was making pipe bombs to toss at meddlesome bottlenose dolphin.
“When he was offshore and dolphins approached he’d light one and throw it in the water,” said Coker. “The deckhands said it would rock the whole boat.”
Authorities don’t know if any dolphins were killed, but a judge sentenced Capt. Garry Alvin Key, 51, to two years imprisonment in March after he pleaded guilty to illegally possessing explosives and taking or attempting to take marine mammals.
Two other captains, one from Florida and another from Alabama, have been placed on probation and fined $1,000 each since 2006 after admitting they shot at dolphins stealing fish from their boats. One used a .357-caliber Magnum, court records show.
Coker said complaints about such incidents often come from people who are upset at the sight of someone shooting at an animal that many still associate with the 1960s TV show “Flipper.”
“A lot of times it happens on a charter boat where there’s someone it doesn’t sit well with,” he said.
What BULL! See the asterisks? Did the dolphin(s) do these things to themselves? I’d say just as it is up here, with idiots leaving trash and garbage for the black bear, then wonder why there are bear attacks, near attacks or garbage strewn about, because it wasn’t properly disposed of or contained.
The “pipebombs” and firearms, indeed.
Some comments about SHARK fishing on Panama City Beach:
I really need your help to improve my chances of landing my 1st shark from the beach & some other questions.
I appreciate your help!
1. I will be going to Panama City in end of June & staying on the FAR FAR west end right where the condos & hotels stop. The beach is fairly shallow, is this going to be a problem with catching sharks? (very few people around our area even during the day)
2. Legally, is it against the law in Panama City to fish for sharks from the beach?…. Obviously I wouldnt be doing this during the day while people were swimming. Just very very early in morning & very late at night.
3. Would it be against the law to put a chum bag out at night while I am fishing? I didnt know if that would help draw them to the area where I am or not.
4. I have the proper gear… so any tips you can give me would be appreciated!
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I’d recommend doing your own research just to make sure; go to www.myfwc.com for a list of regulations. Obviously PCB might have additional ordinances regarding shark fishing. Fishing from the beach, (if you’re not a FL resident) you WILL need a fishing license…piers and boats usually have their own, which covers you in those cases.Shallow beaches probably won’t be much of a problem; I’ve seen 6-8 foot hammerheads in less than ten feet of water on each of my trips to the area. Tight lines!
————————Yeah, I know what you mean by getting hassled…I don’t “intentionally” fish for sharks, of course… but there’s quite a variance in laws from place to place. Obviously, it tends to get frowned on because of the feeling that tourists will get scared away. I’ve caught some small sharks (2 foot range) pier fishing, and invariably someone asks, wide-eyed, “There are SHARKS this close to the beach?!?” Umm, yeah, it’s the ocean…LOL.Same goes for chumming; some places (piers) prohibit it, but on the same piers you have folks cleaning their catch on the spot. The main thing is probably just to be discreet about it. The sharks won’t care either way…and the area you’re staying, you probably won’t have any trouble since it’s off the beaten path. I’m heading down that way in about 3 weeks; keep us posted on how it turns out for you!
So ummm, tell me again who the smart ones are, the human(s) or other mammals? “Pipebombs” and firearms, indeed.
