Like Tunapopper said, if you go the route to cut the tail...do not cut it off! I don't cut anything except fer gutting, and have never had a problem w/ the meat. If you take all organs out of a shark, you take all the blood except what are in the veins and they will bleed out after gutting. I put a rope around the tail and let the water flush it out fer a bit...I'm glad I looked up the regs. cause the new 54 inch length...:letsdrink
Straight from FWC:<P class=Body>New shark regulations took effect January 19, 2010 statewide for all recreational and commercial harvesters. These regulations:<UL class=Body><LI>Prohibit all harvest of sandbar, silky, and Caribbean sharpnose sharks, <LI>Require sharks to be landed in whole condition, this includes landing sharks with heads and tails intact. <LI>Established a minimum fork length of 54 inches for all sharks except Atlantic sharpnose, blacknose, bonnethead, and finetooth, as well as smooth dogfish; <LI>Made hook and line the only allowable gear for harvesting sharks and prohibited the use of natural bait when using multiple hooks, and <LI>Commercial updates - changed season dates, required wholesale dealers to have a federal permit, and closed state waters to commercial harvest when ASMFC or NOAA Fisheries closes adjacent waters. <LI>Effective March 23, 2010, all harvest of lemon sharks in state waters is prohibited.</LI>[/list]