ode red warning to recreational fishermen and tourists, as one of its members has recently reported catching and detecting an unusual number of sharks off Taiwan’s eastern coast. Wu You-chin, an official of the Taitung county government, said that the county government will ask experts to look into the phenomenon and will set up warning signs along the coastline.
Chen Shou-ching, a member of the association, posted the warning on the association’s Web site July 3 after he reported catching three sharks weighing 18 kilos to 60 kilos during the period June 14 29.
Two of his friends also caught five sharks weighing 12 kilos to 72 kilos during the same period, Chen stated.
At the time, Chen said, his and his friends’ fishing lines were snapped off a dozen times by sharks, which left them to deduce that there must be bigger sharks in the area.
Chen said he caught two more sharks July 7, which prompted him to raise his warning to a higher level.
Lee Chi-hao, a local fisherman, said that the chances of catching sharks off the coast are usually very slim because they seldom swim in coastal areas.
In the past, about 10 sharks were caught around that area every year on average, Lee said, noting that the number caught this year is now nearly 50.
Some people have attributed the increased shark population in the area to a surge in the number of Monk goby fry currently migrating to eastern Taiwan’s rivers from the ocean, Lee said.
In June and July every year, large numbers of Monk goby fry swim back to Taiwan’s eastern rivers after they are hatched in the sea.
The sharks might be hunting small and medium-sized fish that are chasing after the fry, Lee suggested.
Chuang Shou-cheng, a professor at National Taiwan Ocean University, described the appearance of sharks in the island’s coastal waters as “accidental” and predicted that the situation will not last for long.
Among the sharks caught recently by the fishermen was the blue shark, one of the 10 most ferocious attack sharks in the world.
Terms of use