The baby sharks were likely killed in a gill net.
In late June, almost 100 dead hammerhead sharks were discovered near Honolulu’s Keehi Lagoon. The sharks were all babies, and it’s likely they were caught in a gill net.
“I see sharks right from here and then I walked farther and I see all these fish, the sharks across this barricade,” Samuel EtrataIt, the man who made the discovery, told KHON2. “It’s very shocking, yeah.”
Summertime is pupping season for hammerheads, and the area around Keehi Lagoon is a known nursery for hammerhead sharks. Since sharks need to move to breathe, gill nets are a very real danger to them. “To breathe they have to keep moving,” Andrew Rossiter, the director of the Waikiki Aquarium, explained. “So once they’re in the net for even two to three minutes, they’re unable to breathe and they suffocate.”
After Etrata found the sharks, he called the State Department of Land and Natural Resources. An investigation is currently underway, and the incident has caused experts to call for stricter fishing laws in the area. “When it’s the pupping season and it’s a pupping area then maybe they should restrict or ban the use of gill nets just for a couple of weeks to give them a chance,” said Rossiter.
Tougher laws when it comes to gill netting isn’t a new idea, however. State Senator Mike Gabbard has been trying for years to pass one. The grisly find is just a reminder that something needs to be done.”I’m sick to my stomach about what’s happened today,” he said to KHON2. “It’s really giving me the incentive to make sure that this bill gets passed in 2019.”
