A 12-foot-long tiger shark spotted in Honolulu Harbor. There’s even video of it swimming right up to the shore.
The video of the shark eating a dead fish was posted on social media Thursday afternoon.
It was spotted again Friday in the same location.
Ray Eulaia has worked at Pier 38 for 14 years. He said this was the first time he’s ever seen a shark there.
“Around 10 o’clock this morning, when I was loading up ice by our ice plant, I see one black spot just moving across the water all the way up here,” Eublaia said as he gestured further into the harbor. “And from there, it just left.”
Though it was his first shark sighting, he said others have seen it before.
“Usually the guys that eat here the most see it a lot…they usually feed the aholehole, the fish…and then the shark just come,” Eublaia said.
Workers weren’t surprised that a shark was spotted in the harbor given the amount of seafood restaurants and fishing vessels at Pier 38.
But how often do tiger sharks frequent the area?
Dr. Kim Holland, a research professor at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at University of Hawaii has been involved with the Hawaii Tiger Shark Tracking Program. He said it’s not unusual.
“Over the years, we’ve put satellite transmitters on a large number of tiger sharks and at least two of those have reported from inside of Honolulu Harbor and they have made repeated visits into the harbor.”
The GPS tracking system on the Hawaii Tiger Shark Tracking website showed at least one of the sharks inside the harbor at least six times over a three month period very close to where the shark was sighted on Thursday and Friday.
Why does the shark go into the harbor?
To eat, of course.
“Tiger sharks make a living by covering a lot of territory and looking for feeding opportunities. They just check out everywhere and Honolulu Harbor is just another place for them to check out.”
