Sawfish sightings-Have you seen one?

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SharkyJillian

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Current base of Operations: Bimini, The Bahamas
# of dives
I'm a Fish!
On May 1 one of my divers was fortunate enough to spot a 15 sawfish on the eastern

facing ledge of the third reef off Pompano. The sighting was remarkable and extremely rare. Found more commonly in the Keys, but not this far north. Declared endangered in 2003 very little is known about their size, age, maturity and reproduction. It is known that the larger animals may be found further offshore near reef are artificial wreck sites, while smaller ones are usually within a mile of the coast. They can grow upwards of 20 ft and are rather lethargic animals. If caught alive they be very dangerous.

We are interested in helping these animals and would like the assistance of South Florida divers. If you have seen or heard about a sighting please let us know. If you have any questions we would be happy to help.

As a behavioral biologist I was fortunate enough to participate in Sawfishing srveying on the western coast of Florida. They are amazing animals and the diving community can provide valuble information.

Hope to hear from you.

Cheers,

Jillian
 
They used to be very frequent in Charlotte harbor. I haven't seen one in years, though.
 
Years ago they were plentiful in the Indian and Banana rivers...Now virtually non existant
 
I was diving with Jupiter Dive Center on Sat, May 9th and had the pleasure of having a 6 - 8 footer swim right by me. Thank goodness I had camera in hand. I will check with JDC to see what reef we were on at the time. Please let me know if you need any more info.

Scott Cameron
 
I've only seen them in aquaria
 
If I'm not mistaken one was caught by a surf fisherman a couple years ago off of Melbourne Beach. I did an archive search on the Florida Today website but they want to charge to receive archive articles.

diving_emtp
 
I saw one on May 13, 2007 in 88 feet of water cruising over the sand just off the ledge on Crocker Reef off Plantation Key. It was about 12 feet long.
 
This is fantastic, I hope I get to see one :)
 
we saw one off of Boynton 3 yrs ago. 75' of water or so. it had a rope caught around its saw, was able to remove most of it, but some of it still remained. MOTE marine in sarasota has a survey on there webpage for sightings and collects the info.
 
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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