Lawmakers Consider Shark Monitoring Off Leeward Oahu

February 11, 2005

Release from: Tina Shelton
KHON2 (Hawaii)

Fishermen along Oahu's Leeward Coast want the state to spend $25,000 to tag and monitor sharks in the area. The study is needed, they argue, because of the area's potential to host a booming aquaculture business.

Already moi are being raised in underwater cages two miles off Ewa. Fishermen in Waianae believe it's only a matter of time before more cages will be established.

"We all know as fishermen anything you put in the ocean it attracts things," said Waianae Harbor Master William Aila.

Things like sharks. Some fishermen seem to see more of them, and they want to know if there's a connection.

Aila said areas ripe for study include whether sharks are attracted to the cages, and what the behavior of sharks is once they are drawn there.

"For us, it's not too bad," said commercial fisherman Carl Jellings of Waianae. "Because we have a four-man team. But a lot of people who go out there and work by themselves. And sometimes two or three sharks come around and they have to stop working and leave."

Aila said the loner fishermen include aquarium fish collectors and net divers. They are not calling for an aquaculture ban. They want a simple program to tag and monitor sharks in the area.

Aila explained the process this way: "They would go out to the sharks, usually at night, huli them over on their bellies where they become immobilized, do an insertion, stick the tag in there, stitch it back up, then release the shark."

University of Hawaii marine biologists would do the job, under a bill at the legislature. One state scientist told us the sharks the fishermen see are harmless sand sharks.

But the fishermen said no shark is completely harmless.

"I don't think they're harmless," said Jelling. "You have to be cautious, you know. To do your job and keep one eye on the animal and one eye on your job is really hard. Really hard."

Another scientist told us that in an island state, any research about sharks is welcome. He said we don't know enough about them.

The fishermen also argue even a sand shark can bite, causing bleeding that could be fatal by the time a diver makes it to shore.

The House Agriculture Committee is considering the proposal for shark tagging and monitoring.