sharks out of Cameron
 

fished a rig yesterday about ten miles out of Cameron. Caught bunch of shark were they legal to keep and are they any good to eat?

depends on type and size. chances are you had a bunch of blacktips. and sharks have to be like 54" or something like that. the smaller ones are good.

depends on the species

Shark, Atlantic
Sharpnose and
Bonnethead No size limit 1 daily per person - possession

Other Sharks
(EXCEPT
prohibited, silky and
sandbar)6
54” min fork length
1 in aggregate per vessel per trip -
possession. No silky or sandbar
sharks or prohibited species.

6 Sharks:
CLOSED SEASON: All Louisiana
state waters out to the seaward boundary
of the Louisiana Territorial Sea
shall be closed to the recreational and
commercial harvest and possession of
all sharks between April 1 and June
30 of each year.
Small Coastal Sharks:
Atlantic sharpnose shark; bonnethead
shark; blacknose shark; finetooth
shark
Large Coastal Sharks:
Blacktip shark; nurse shark; smooth
hammerhead; bull shark; sandbar
shark*; spinner shark; great hammerhead;
scalloped hammerhead; tiger
shark; lemon shark; silky shark*
*NOTE: Recreational harvest of
sandbar and silky sharks (ridgeback
sharks) is not allowed.
Pelagic Sharks:
Blue shark; porbeagle shark; thresher
shark; oceanic whitetip shark; shortfin
mako
A person subject to a bag limit shall
not possess at any time, regardless of
the number of trips or the duration of
a trip, any shark in excess of the bag
limits mentioned above. The practice
of “finning,” that is, removing only
the fins and returning the remainder
of the shark to the sea, is prohibited
within and without Louisiana waters.
Notwithstanding other provisions of
this part, a person may fish for, but
not retain, white shark (Carcharodon
carcharias) with rod and reel only
under a catch-and-release program,
provided the person releases and
returns such fish to the sea immediately
with a minimum of injury.

blacktips are the only ones good to eat around here. They actually have a bladder so their urine is excreted like a human. Other sharks simply leak their waste through their muscle mass and through their skin. Not a pleasant taste. Used to keep 1-2 blacktip sharks on my offshore outings. Simple to clean and tasty on the grill. Mako is another outstanding table fare but not too many around here.

I love some good shark but that's one animal that won't be put in my ice chest. The reports that I'm getting say that there are a bunch of sharks that look like a black tip but if your not a marine biologist you'll never know. If you put a shark in your ice chest, you better know exactly what it is! I had a trip last year where we hooked up to a rig and before we could get a hook in the water we had about 40 sharks around the boat...all different colors, shapes, and sizes. After what we caught and what I saw it made me a believer.