THE joy expressed by anglers at the wholesale lifting of the ban on catching mako sharks may be misplaced.

In Canberra last month, the Federal Government passed an amended Bill to allow anglers to resume fishing for mako sharks.

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The Government said the original international decision to list mako sharks was based on concerns for Mediterranean stocks.

Fisheries Victoria executive director Anthony Hurst said it was good news and a significant decision as mako sharks are an important game fishing species in Victoria's marine waters.

"Game fishing is important to many anglers and recreational fishing creates jobs in regional ports such as Portland, Queenscliff and Lakes Entrance," Mr Hurst said.

He added that the Victorian bag limit of one shark per day could include one mako shark.

Given that no one is sure about the state of mako shark numbers in Australian waters, I wonder whether the government thought the process through.

Surely some catch-and-release guideline would have been a sensible outcome.

Many anglers won't agree with me but killing a shark, not just makos, for the sake of a photograph, which is all too often the case, is a sorry state.

Too many sharks are being brought to the gantry for weighing and hero pictures.

It takes years for sharks to grow, and about 1/250th of a second to shoot a digital picture.

When Mother Nature designed mako sharks, she got it right.

From the tips of their tails to the sharply pointed nose, makos are thoroughbreds of the shark world.

They are sleek, hydrodynamic hunting machines that can make a supercharged run when hooked, and sometimes shoot out of the water like a Polaris missile as they endeavour to toss a hook.

Bring a large mako close to the boat and you are aware of the shimmering pulse of the dark blue colouring and there is that uneasy feeling that comes from being scrutinised by those trademark jet black eyes.

American angler and author, the late Lee Wulff, coined what is possibly the most pertinent phrase in angling back in 1938 when he wrote: "Game fish are too valuable to be caught only once".

The phrase has equal application to mako sharks. If the shark dies during the fight then it is understandable that the anglers might want to bring it to port and make use of the meat.

The problem with big sharks though is that there is often too much meat; at least put an upper size limit on killing makos and other sharks to ensure these creatures are not wasted.

John Willis, who was an outspoken critic of the mako ban when it was introduced late last year, agreed.

"There is a case for a code of conduct to be introduced for shark fishing," John said. "The problem we had when we were talking to the Federal Government was that it was all or nothing; there was no room to manoeuvre.

"If we had let the government get away with a ban on fishing for mako sharks then thresher sharks and southern bluefin tuna were next on the agenda."

However, John said there was a case to be made for limiting the size on sharks. "I reckon an 80kg ceiling would be about right, anything bigger should be photographed in the water and released, unharmed," he said.

Alaskan hunters are compelled to clean and carry back the meat from caribou carcasses.

It limits the kills and ensures the environment is kept clean.

In Victoria, too many sharks are out to sea and dumped.

Catch and release is as much about sustainable fishing as anything else, but to manage a fishery and ensure it remains healthy we need information.

We do not know enough about the numbers of mako sharks in our waters but at least the CSIRO has applied for funding to assess the available information on makos in Australian waters to inform management of these species and, perhaps, point to areas where we need additional data.

Meanwhile, mako sharks are an excellent opportunity for Victorian anglers to do battle with acrobatic speedsters, but anglers need to understand that makos are a finite resource.

Meanwhile, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission has voted to ban the taking of thresher sharks in waters under its area of competence, including Victorian waters.

The decision is due to conservation concerns over the big eye thresher. Identification is so difficult that all thresher sharks are included under the ban.