OC fisherman upset with new shark fishing ordinance

Ocean City Town Council passed the ordinance last Monday at an emergency meeting called after citizens brought up their concerns about sharks being reeled in and released too close to swimmers. 

Ocean City Beach Patrol Captain Butch Arbin tells 47 ABC that you now can’t use a vessel or a convulsion device to launch your line. You also cannot do chumming or blood baiting anytime of the day or night. The hope is that this will stop fishermen from bringing in large sharks and scaring the people on the beach.

Except one Ocean City surfisherman says it’s not fair to those who already follow the rules. Before the changes surfishermen were allowed to use vessels and convulsion devices after swimmers were out the water at night. Ocean City resident Sean Clarkson says these changes will make it extremely difficult to fish for sharks something he’s been doing legally for several years.

“We can’t afford a 20 thousand dollar boat to go out a mile and catch a shark–so what we do we pay a hundred dollars for a surfishing rod” says Clarkson.

He plans on protesting the new ordinance on Wednesday at City Hall.