Last on His List - Sharks, Anglers, and the New Executive Order

A new executive order, "Restoring American Saltwater Angling and Recreation," includes a section on sharks that had Dr. Frances Farabaugh firing off an infuriated text to Andrew the moment she read it. That text became this episode.

Section 7 of the order creates an Interagency Shark and Pinniped Depredation Task Force, targets "barriers" to shark fisheries such as CITES protections, and calls for a real-time app where anglers can report sharks taking their catch. To make sense of it, we talked with Dr. David Shiffman, marine conservation biologist, policy specialist, and author of Why Sharks Matter.

David explains what depredation is, why anglers' frustration is real, and why the obvious fix won't work. Shark populations haven't boomed, so culling them won't solve the problem. Instead, some sharks appear to be learning that the sound of a boat engine means an easy meal. He also explains what CITES listings actually do (and don't do) and why the makeup of the new task force matters so much.

Then we go down the rabbit hole of Donald Trump's strange history with sharks: getting blocked on Twitter after a Celebrity Apprentice fan chat, the shark fin soup fight at the Trump Taj Mahal, a Sharknado casting story, and a 2020 campaign rant about seals that suddenly looks like foreshadowing. Plus: why "Dancing with the Sharks" is exactly as bad as it sounds.