Can recreational shark fisheries be more sustainable? With Hannah Medd and Jill Brooks

You might be familiar with fishing for sport, but have you ever heard of reeling in great hammerheads for fun? This episode we take a deep dive into the lesser known world of catch-and-release shark fishing, discuss the potential impacts on shark populations, and how it might become a more sustainable practice. Digressions include the wonders of the gulf stream, sharks with anxiety, “snowbirds” and 3am spaghetti Bolognese rituals… Our guests this week are Hannah Medd, scientist and founder of the American Shark Conservancy (ASC), and Jill Brooks, PhD candidate at Carleton University and researcher with ASC. Together, Hannah and Jill lead a research project (https://saveourseas.com/project/shark-survival-from-the-shore/) aiming to understand the impact of catch-and-release recreational fishing on endangered great hammerhead sharks in Florida, in order to help draft better, more sustainable practices for the future. As they explain in the episode, the project is almost split into two halves: the ecological information they obtain from tagging data, and the social information gained from working directly with the angling community. The importance of having both is a theme throughout our conversation, and Jill and Hannah stress the need to facilitate knowledge exchange, and build trust and relationships, to help encourage sustainable practice. You can find out more about ASC here https://www.americansharkconservancy.org/, or by following @SharkStudies. You can find Hannah at @sharkhugger and Jill at @jillbrooks85.  This podcast was brought to you by the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF). You can find out more about us here: www.saveourseas.com