Generally, they're looking for juveniles, hoping to establish where female sharks go to give birth and how picky they are about it. The study also will provide data on whether shark populations are rallying or dwindling. Over three years we'll at least have an idea of how the sharks are doing. That could tell us something about their populations. It went back up to about 93,000 pounds in 1996.
Recreational landings are much harder to estimate, but they can be very high.
In terms of commercial shark landings, Mississippi ranks ninth out of 18 Atlantic and Gulf states, according to Parsons. The University of Mississippi. All rights reserved.