If you catch a shark or skate while fishing or see one washed up on a beach, we want to hear from you! Here are some steps you can take quickly and with little equipment. Note if a beached shark is alive or shows any responsiveness - do NOT touch it. If you happen to catch the shark while fishing please take a photo and release the animal alive.
Essential information to record
- Record date, time and location including GPS coordinates (if possible)
- Length from tip of nose to tip of tail (use your foot length if no equipment is available)
- Behaviour - if alive what was it doing
- Sex – males have claspers
- Any marks, injuries or fishing gear that suggests how the animal may have died
Photograph details to take
- Whole animal, preferably the SIDE view (include hand or foot for scale)
- Underside of the head and under the pectoral fins
- Underside of the pelvic fins (verifies shark’s sex)
- Teeth, close-up (verifies species identification)
The juvenile Salmon Sharks are back for their 3rd year of August strandings in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve area (that we have documented). Sadly, the ~3 foot little guys seem to get disoriented or sick and push ashore until they die. Many kind people have tried to put them back in the water but they often wash up dead the next day and not far away. Keep trying though!
This particular shark stranded itself on Long Beach for a good 45 mins before someone came across it and put it back in the water. Amazingly, it was still alive! Not for long though; it was dead by the next morning. We are still trying to figure out why this species strands so often...when we find out, we'll let you know.
The juvenile Salmon Sharks are back for their 3rd year of August strandings in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve area (that we have documented). Sadly, the ~3 foot little guys seem to get disoriented or sick and push ashore until they die. Many kind people have tried to put them back in the water but they often wash up dead the next day and not far away. Keep trying though!
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