Bycatch and catch-release mortality of small sharks in the Gulf coast nursery grounds of Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor

The bays and estuaries of the southeast United States coast generally are thought to serve as nursery areas for various species of coastal sharks, where juvenile sharks find abundant food and are less exposed to predation by larger sharks. Because these areas typically support substantial commercial and recreational fisheries, fishing mortality of sharks in the nurseries particularly by bycatch, may be significant. This two-year project assessed the relative importance of two estuaries of the southwest Florida Gulf coast, Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor/Pine Island Sound, as shark nursery areas, and examined potential fishing mortality of these young sharks in the nurseries.