3 Questions with Guy Harvey - Florida Politics

“3 Questions

While best known for paintings of sea life, marine biologist Dr. Guy Harvey — through his institute at Nova Southeastern University — compiled significant data on shark migration in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Harvey met today with DeSantis about his recent cause: Stopping shark finning and encouraging sustainable shark diving tourism. He’s been working with Shark Allies on raising awareness; we spoke with him this week. (Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.)

Florida Politics: Why do you feel shark fishing has become a significant ecological threat?

Harvey: In the last 30 or 40 years, numbers of sharks have declined dramatically because of overfishing. We [at the Guy Harvey Research Institute] were first to identify the number of sharks killed annually. We estimate 40 million to 73 million sharks have been killed in the shark fin trade. Our research work has taken us into the Caribbean. I live in the Cayman Islands, but this affects Florida, the Bahamas, Bermuda. We have done work on a variety of sharks, and we have found mortality rates in the last decade to be eye opening. We have found mortality rates of about 30 percent of sample size, which is 10 items higher than normal. So alarm bells went out.

FP: What should Florida be doing to address this issue?

Harvey: Our neighbor, the Bahamas, had the vision 30 years ago to ban commercial long line fishing in territorial waters, and the reason is they have sharks in the archipelago. My institute with a charitable trust and the Bahamas national trust have worked to further strengthen protections. They have banned all commercial shark fishing, and they have a wonderful robust shark tourism eco-business that brings $110 million to $130 million a year without killing a single animal. We have double that figure in Florida, with about $200 million made in shark ecotourism. But that’s in a precarious position where the fishing and any type of commercial exploitation of these species flies in the face of sustainable use of this resource.

FP: Shark finning is already illegal in U.S. waters. What else can Florida do to stop it?

Harvey: The problem Florida faces is that 13 states have banned all trade in shark fin, so Florida is a bit of a hub for the trade. What happens is, people come in from other countries and operate with little oversight or control. We have loopholes that exist currently. You can’t separate the legally- and illegally-caught sharks because you can’t tell which species fins come from unless you are an expert. What will help is Florida taking a more robust position in banning the shark trade in the state. The thing is, any sensible person believes the shark fin trade is diabolical and we shouldn’t put up with it.”