Which sharks are legal to keep?

Reading shark regulations in the S.C. Department of Natural Resources’ regs guide confuses most people, because they are complicated. Add to it that, at first glance, sharks pretty much alike to most people; some of them are a lot bigger than others.

The bottom line is that when fishing for sharks, there is a good chance of breaking the law if you keep one. “Sharks of South Carolina”, published by SCDNR’s Marine Resources Division, lists no less than three dozen species that can be found in South Carolina waters, with at least 12 likely to be in our nearshore waters in the summer.

The simplest solution for the hark angler who may want to keep a shark for dinner is to learn to identify the two or three sharks you are most likely to catch in our shallow waters: bonnethead, Atlantic Sharpnose and blacktip.

Regulations group sharks according to size and bag limits. Spiny and smooth dogfish have no size or bag limit, but most of them have migrated north by summer, so you will not likely catch one. The two summer sharks with no size limit are the Atlantic sharpnose (limit two per day) and the bonnethead (limit one per day). Bonnetheads are easily identified by the rounded, flattened head. Atlantic Sharpnose is a bit more difficult, but they have two easily recognized features: the first dorsal fin originates posterior to the free tips of the pectoral fins, and the second dorsal fin originates well posterior of the origin of the anal fin. They have a pointed nose and no black tips on their fins.

The next category of sharks are those that can be kept when they are at least 54 inches fork length, which incidentally is a pretty big shark and very tough to handle. This category includes 18 sharks, but only a few of them are commonly caught in shallow water in the Lowcountry. Learning to distinguish the blacktip shark from the others would cover you most of the time. Blacktips are common in our shallows, are great fun to catch because they often jump out of the water, but they rarely grow to keeper size, so plan on releasing them all.

The final group lists the sharks that are totally off-limits.

Simply put, the only sharks you are likely to encounter and are good to eat that you can legally keep if they are less than 54 inches long are the Atlantic sharpnose and the bonnethead, so release all the other ones you catch.