Oak Island officials request ban on shark fishing

OAK ISLAND, NC (WWAY) — Oak Island town leaders are asking the state for a temporary ban on shark fishing.

Town Manager Tim Holloman said they asked the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries for a ban on shark fishing through July 4. This comes after two teens lost limbs from shark attacks over the weekend.

“There are always big sharks here,” Fisherman Thomas Cutler said.

Fisherman and Marine Biologist Thomas Cutler said the sharks swimming along Oak Island Beaches are nothing new.

“I’ve lived here for 10 years,” Cutler said. “There is a run of bull sharks that are 10 feet long in the middle of December chasing the Blue Fin Tuna and no one knows about it.”

He said they have also been catching them for years.

“We shark fish and cull them out,” Cutler said.

Cutler said fishermen do not cause shark attacks.

“Fishermen really have nothing to do with it,” Cutler said. “We don’t chum. There has never been any chumming on this pier or the other pier.”

If the town puts a ban on shark fishing, Cutler says there could be more sharks.

“There is no shark fishing in Horry County at all, and they have sharks crazy jumping out of water next to piers,” Cutler said.

He said that might mean fewer fishermen and beach goers.

“I’ve had people ask me,” Cutler said. “They said if they are banning shark fishing, they are going to go somewhere else now just if that does come into effect, so it’ll definitely slow revenue down.”

Visitors like Charlie Armington said something needs to be done to prevent anymore life-threatening shark attacks.

“They’ve got to find a balance to keep that between the residential, the tourists swimming, and when they are going to fish for the sharks,” Armington said. “The two can’t mix. We ought to have regulation at least.”

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries Director Louis Daniel said he is looking into the town’s ban request, but said he is concerned about enforcement and wonders if it will even deter shark attacks.

Daniel said he is waiting to hear back from his attorney about the matter, but he said a better option might be encouraging public education on swimming and fishing in the ocean.