Authorities Call Off Shark Hunt Operation In Inhambane, Mozambique

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Authorities Call Off Shark Hunt Operation In Inhambane, Mozambique

1:22 CAT | 03 Dec 2015

In file Club of Mozambique

The Inhambane provincial government in southern Mozambique last week decided to end the operation to hunt down the shark which killed one person and injured two others in the Bay of Inhambane in October.

At its height the shark hunt mobilized about 60 people. It lasted for a month, and produced few results. The hunters killed two juvenile sharks, which the independent television station STV promptly announced were bull sharks, a species which it dubbed “the terror of the seven seas”.

However, STV’s own footage clearly showed a prominent black mark on the dorsal fin, making it almost certain that these were black-tipped reef shark juveniles – and this species is harmless to humans.

The hunters also killed a guitarfish. This species is not a true shark at all, and has a body form intermediate between sharks and rays. It too is harmless to humans.

Eventually the hunt did catch a real, female bull shark. Fishermen declared that this was the animal responsible for the three attacks, although they had no way of knowing that. Indeed, it is not certain that all three victims were bitten by the same shark.

Nonetheless, the death of this shark, plus the fact that no further attacks had occurred in the Bay of Inhambane, led the provincial government to call an end to the hunt. The maritime authorities warned, however, that this did not mean that there were no more sharks in the bay. Such a guarantee could never be given since the Bay of Inhambane is not a closed body of water, and sharks can easily move between the bat and the open sea.

The media attention on the shark hunt brought to light an environmental crime. The STV crew discovered that further south, in Coconuts Bay, in Jangamo district, fishermen were regularly setting off for the high seas to catch sharks. On two separate days, STV saw the fishermen unload the carcasses of no less than 18 sharks, of various species.

This had nothing to do with the Inhambane Bay shark hunt, and the fishermen told STV they had been catching sharks for the last five years. They claimed they sold the sharks as food to local Jangamo residents.

The STV crew noted that some of the shark carcasses were missing their fins, which gives a clue as to the real purpose of this illegal hunt. Shark fins are considered a delicacy in China, and the ravaging of shark populations across the globe is undertaken largely to feed Chinese appetites for shark fins. The fins can sell for more than 80 dollars a kilo.

Unlike the shark hunt in the Bay of Inhambane, the fishermen in Jangamo were operating illegally, and had no authorization to fish for sharks. The Inhambane maritime administration is now threatening legal action against them.

Source: AIM