A 5.5-meter great white shark weighing 1 ton found by a vacationer on a beach near Yongyu Island, Incheon, Saturday.
/ Courtesy of Incheon Coast Guard |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Vacationers visiting western coasts should watch out for sharks Coast Guard officials said Monday after two sharks were caught over the weekend.
A trawler pulled out a 4.7-meter-long dead shark Saturday evening, according to the Coast Guard. The ship's owner said the shark was dead in its net and had many wounds.
A vacationer found another 5.5-meter-long white shark on the beach near Yongyu Island the same day and reported it to officials. The witness said the shark was alive but died after about an hour on the foreshore.
Both sharks were auctioned at a joint market for 1.6 million won and 2.2 million won, respectively, with the proceeds going to the ship's owner and the discoverer.
Experts say warm ocean temperatures have attracted mackerel and squid, which are sharks' main food sources, nearer to the coast and the predators might have followed.
"Sharks do not settle on a certain region but move constantly, so it doesn't mean that the shark habitat had moved closer to Korea," said an official of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute.
"However, sharks can be found anywhere on the Korean coast as its water temperature has risen to over 20 degrees Celsius."
The Coast Guard will strengthen beach patrols and asked visitors to report any sightings via the 122 emergency number.
"The great white shark found on the Incheon beach is the one famous for its appearance in the movie Jaws. These sharks attack humans, so vacationers should watch out when they go swimming on beaches," an official said.
White sharks are occasionally found off Jeju Island, Donghae in Gangwon Province, and Taean in Chungcheong Province. In June 2005, a female diving for abalone was badly injured by a suspected great white.
meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr
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