A photo from the 61st Street Pier's facebook page popped up on my news feed today. It was a proud woman filleting a sandbar shark (sandbars are a protected species... they can't be harvested no matter what). I started sifting through their photo section and was appalled by the number of blatant poaching acts being proudly displayed. (I figure since they are willing to show these pictures on their facebook page, i've got no problem using there name here.)

The had all kinds of violations from protected species of sharks being killed and cleaned, to untagged bull reds, to people keeping too many bull reds, to keeping sharks clearly below the length limit.

Unfortunately piers and jetties across the country are notorious for this kind of behavior. So what can we do to fix this behavior? Should the pier share some kind of blame for allowing this to go on? These pictures are taken by the employees of the pier and then proudly displayed on their Facebook page!

I think a lot of this has to do with people not understanding the regulations or not being able to identify species correctly. The other half is people that just don't care.

I wish there was a simple solution, but realistically I know there isn't. All we can do is share our knowledge with the people fishing beside us and hope to provide guidance when we see stuff like this going on.

These pictures gave me a vivid memory of why I haven't set foot on a fishing pier in 10+ years.

Here is the picture of the sandbar... just one of the many, blatant violations proudly displayed on their page.

Well maybe she is a noob and dose not know. Its not their fault if they don't know right? I mean was she fishing with some fancy stuff or just rented stuff. I think shes just having a good time with nature. Still it is wrong. knowledge is key.

It is her fault if she does not know. I am new to saltwater fishing, and often throw fish back if I cant identify them. I constantly do research and look at pics and carry a size chart with me. That's a shame, and a bigger shame that the pier takes the pics, and post them on their facebook page.

I hope you commented on the photos and the page, and you should post the piers facebook name, and I will also post.

People need to know what they are cutting before they do it, and if you don't then learn or suck it up and ask. Also we as a community need to do a better job of educating those around us when we see people doing these things.

That's not a sandbar shark. Look where the dorsal fin is. From what's left, it looks like a sharp nose. Sandbar's are somewhat rare around here

It is most definitely a sandbar( the relation of the pectoral fin to the dorsal fin says it al)l. It is positively not a sharpnose (rear dorsal and the anal fon give that away).

Sandbars really aren't that rare. This time of year they show up in large numbers. Once the water warms up they pretty much disappear, but in the month of march you can almost be sure that most sharks you catch will be a sandbar.

This is just one example from their photo section. There are literally countless poaching violations.

wish I could click the like button for fishernoob

I've been commenting back and forth with the owner on their page. Look them up. The name of the page in Facebook is 61st Street Fishing Pier. See how many violations you can count in their photo section.

ignorance of the law is not an excuse!

I agree that ignorance is no excuse but I think ignorance is why the majority of folk, especially pier fishers, keep "exotic" species like shark regardless of classification. I am not interested in catching shark so it doesn�t matter what species it is I am not keeping it but some people think it is "cool" to catch shark and they are clueless about the rules. I think the piers should post guidelines and pictures of endangered species. They own the pier so they should be responsible for informing patrons AND employees.

Texas Game Wardens are constantly complaining that they lack funding for fuel to patrol the waterways by boat. So how about they take an occasional drive to the piers and write multiple citations to make examples of the violators? If they are not doing that now, frequently enough to have an effect, then they are not doing what we are paying them for.

It's a major part of their job and easy enough to do. It wouldn't take long for the word to get around and bring compliance with the law. It would be very cost effective too.

I would think that would also cause the pier owners to post notices of the regulations, and maybe remind their customers of the laws. Otherwise people will get tired of coming and getting busted, and their client base will diminish.

I agree that the pier owners could do a better job educating their customers on the regulations. I doubt you are going to see to many Game Wardens patroling the piers and issuing citations for illegal catches as well as in many cases not having a license. Tourists make up a lot of the customer base on these piers and to begin ticketing them would have a negitive impact on tourism.

I don't think it has anything to do with tourism.

That does not seem to stop DPS from issuing traffic tickets to Winter Texans. Game Wardens need to enforce the laws equally for residents and visitors alike, but they DO need to enforce them.

Maybe if there was a donut shop next to the pier, we would see some action.

Call the game warden:

Report illegal hunting and fishing � call 1-800-792-GAME (4263).
"This information will not be used for any purpose other than to attempt to apprehend the offender being reported."
Straight from http://www.ogttx.com

Contact the news media and see if they will run a story. That will get more action than anything.