Diver loses his catch to tiger shark
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
A diver in about 20 feet of water east of Sandy Beach Park on Sunday gave up his catch to protect himself when he encountered a 12-foot tiger shark.
Advertiser library photo • Oct. 3, 1999
The diver was only about 100 yards off shore, at the end of his dive, and he had a fish on his spear and a couple in a net bag, said lifeguard Dwight Perkins.
Beachgoers spotted a tiger shark, the breed shown in this photo, near Sandy Beach over the weekend.
The shark just took the bag and the fish on the spear, said Jim Howe, chief of operations for the city lifeguards.
"The diver knew it was the best thing he could do," said Perkins.
It was considered a rare encounter with a shark this large in these waters, and the diver's report to lifeguards prompted the closure of Sandy Beach at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday. The beach was reopened yesterday morning.
"I've been out here a long time, almost 20 years, and I cannot remember a tiger shark this large," Perkins said.
Earlier Sunday, there had been an unofficial sighting in the same area, Perkins said.
The confirmed sighting of a large tiger shark was the second in Hawaiian waters in four days. A 20-foot tiger shark dining on a dead sea turtle was spotted about a half-mile off shore Thursday on West Maui, said John Silberstein, Maui chief lifeguard. The beach wasn't closed, but lifeguards monitored the shark's activity throughout much of the day, Silberstein said.
"That was the largest tiger shark the lifeguard had ever seen," Silberstein said. "The area between the islands is known to have large predators."
Sharks, either great whites or tigers, also were seen off O'ahu's Leeward Coast recently feeding on dolphins. Authorities last week urged caution in the waters off the Wai'anae Coast.
The concern with large tiger sharks is that as they grow beyond about 8 feet, they change from bottom feeders to top feeders and might mistake a body boarder for a sea turtle. These kind of sharks are opportunistic feeders, said Howe.
In determining what action to take, city lifeguards follow a procedure set up by the State Shark Task Force that involves a sighting by a credible source, a report to a safety officer such as a police officer or lifeguard, a confirmation and a determination that the shark is in a feeding pattern.
"We err on the side of caution, and we advised swimmers of the sighting," Howe said.
