US shark fishing quotas rise for 2025 after fishermen didn't catch enough in 2024
What happened
US regulators increased the amount of shark that commercial fishermen can catch in 2025. This means fishermen have more opportunities to catch sharks than they did in the previous year.
Why it matters
The US government sets annual limits on how many sharks can be caught to manage fish populations. When fishermen don't catch their full quota, the unused amount can sometimes roll over to the next year. This adjustment means that the total allowable catch for sharks is not a hard cap each year, but can fluctuate based on prior underharvests.
The signal
Watch whether commercial shark fishermen actually catch the increased quota in 2025, or if underharvests continue, leading to similar adjustments in future years.