Sawfish: An Unexpected Catch in Islamorada
While our tarpon-hunting in the Keys fell a little bit short of expectations, we had a blast catching a wide variety of species. They included redfish, snook, speckled trout, tripletail, mangrove snapper and all manner of sharks. Our friends Lee Byrd and Bill Roberts also added permit, which for some reason I didn’t expect, but the real surprise was that our traveling partners Duncan Maccubbin and Jennifer Combs hooked and landed two smalltooth sawfish estimated at 250 pounds apiece. They can grow up to 16 feet long.
Not only did I not expect to catch sawfish, I’m not even sure that I knew they existed.
Sawfish look like sharks with a hedge trimmer attached to their snouts. They’re actually more closely related to the ray family, and that nose extension is formally known as a “rostrum.” It has 22 to 29 teeth on each side.
Despite our group’s luck in running into them, they are an at-risk species, and were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2003, which made them the first marine fish to receive federal protection. Even though they are nearly 2 feet long at birth, and come out of the yolk sac with a fully-formed rostrum, their reproductive process is slow – they don’t reach sexual maturity until they are 7 years old. Gestation takes approximately 12 months and females can breed in alternating years.
Fortunately, Jennifer and Duncan, fishing with guide Nate Weinbaum, handled the fish properly and returned them unharmed. We were interested to find a notice at the docks from the National Sawfish Encounter Database (NSED) explaining proper release techniques and encouraging anglers to report their encounters. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has a solid guide that explains what to do when you accidentally hook one.
Through my subsequent web research, I also learned that there is a 501(c)(3) Sawfish Conservation Society formed to “connect the world to advance global sawfish education, research and conservation. The SCS is a group of researchers, aquarists, managers, fishers and enthusiasts that came together to rescue sawfish from extinction.”
Each October there is an International Sawfish Day.
Of course, this being America, there is some sawfish-related gear aimed at celebrating the species, educating us about them and contributing to their recovery.
Mang Gear offers sawfish performance shirts for men and women, plus hoodies, and they have a strong mission behind all of their gear.
Nautical Treasure Jewelry has sawfish pendants in gold and silver.
Amazon offers a soft sawfish that’s safe for kids
If you want to crochet your own sawfish to cuddle with, check out the patterns from Love Crafts.
If you can’t make it to Florida, or don’t catch one there, here’s a list of aquariums around the world where you can view sawfish.
If your kids want to learn more about sawfish, here are some books about them:
And here’s a novel about a monstrously large, man-eating sawfish:
