Marco Island shark fishing debate: What it actually looks like—and what could change

MARCO ISLAND, Fla (WINK) — Fishing lines stretch across the sand on Marco Island as the sun sets.

Drones lift bait into the air, flying it hundreds of yards offshore before dropping it into the Gulf. Nearby, fishermen watch and wait.

This is what a night of shark fishing looks like here.

And it’s exactly what could soon be restricted.

City leaders are considering a proposal that would ban beach fishing from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. during sea turtle nesting season, which begins on Friday. The ordinance would also require permits for groups of 10 or more gathering on the beach at night.

Supporters said the goal is to protect sea turtles, especially as nesting season begins.

“This ordinance… is a proactive ordinance,” Marco Island City Council member Bonita Schwan said during a recent meeting. “We already know we have the most false hatchlings taking place… right here in Marco Island.”

False hatchlings happen when baby turtles become disoriented, often by lights, and head away from the water instead of toward it.

But fishermen out on the beach say they’re already adjusting to prevent that.

As midnight approaches, the start of nesting season, David Boggs says everything changes.

“No white lighting at all,” he said. “Everything will be amber or red… because we don’t want to interfere with the turtles whatsoever.”

Boggs says protecting turtles isn’t something fishermen are fighting, it’s something they already do.

“What everyone can have common ground on is everybody loves sea turtles,” he said. “If that’s really our goal… it should be easy for us to work out any differences.”

The process itself is more controlled than some may expect.

Fishermen use drones to carry bait past the sandbars, placing lines where sharks are more likely to swim, and away from people closer to shore.

“It just gets us away from the beach,” Boggs said. “Right where the bigger fish will start coming in.”

He said it’s also safer than how it used to be done.

“In the middle of the night, we used to be out there in a kayak,” he said. “Now it takes the human out of that risk.”

Concerns about crowds, safety, and enforcement have also come up during city meetings. But according to Marco Island police, there haven’t been confirmed issues recently tied to shark fishing.

“In the last couple months, everything that has been forwarded to FWC has not returned anything as substantiated,” a Marco Island police representative said during the meeting.

That lack of confirmed violations is now a key part of the debate, whether new restrictions are necessary if there’s no documented pattern of problems.

There’s also a legal question. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which regulates fishing statewide, has raised concerns that the proposed ordinance could conflict with state law and may be unenforceable.

For fishermen like Boggs, the issue goes beyond rules.

“It’s not a party… it’s not cruelty,” he said. “This is our friends, our families, our kids… it’s a way of life.”

He says what happens on this beach at night is about more than catching a shark, it’s about connection.

“When we catch a shark… it’s a memory that will last a lifetime.”

City council is expected to take a final vote on the proposal next week. If it passes, the kind of fishing happening on Marco Island beaches at night could soon be off limits for nearly half the year.