{"id":109147,"date":"2020-01-12T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2020-01-12T18:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=109147"},"modified":"2020-08-07T12:19:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T22:19:08","slug":"shark-study-fish-hooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/12\/shark-study-fish-hooks\/","title":{"rendered":"Shark study: Old fishing hooks remain threat to sharks"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_86157\"  width=\"676\" height=\"676\"  data-origwidth=\"676\" data-origheight=\"676\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UFRJ0YII70g?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Shark study: Old fishing hooks remain threat to sharks\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>Startling data fresh off an eight-year tiger shark study in French Polynesia shows severe impacts the creatures of the sea face long after they are cut loose from fishing lines.<\/p>\n<p>Many sharks are swimming around with stainless steel hooks lodged into their jaws. New research revealed sharks can retain those hooks for at least seven years and possibly an entire lifetime.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;That can have profound consequences for those animals. It can injure or even perhaps kill them because they\u2019re unable to feed properly after these interactions,&rdquo; said University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.himb.hawaii.edu\/\">marine biology<\/a> Associate Professor <strong>Carl Meyer<\/strong>. The notable shark expert is one of four researchers assigned to the project that launched in 2011.<\/p>\n<h2>Millions of sharks impacted by hook-and-line fisheries<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_109152\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-109152\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"close up of shark with hook in jaw\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-109152\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-2-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-2-630x353.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-2.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-109152\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Embedded hooks can restrict eating abilities and may cause internal damage to organs, poisoning or infection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>According to the study, many tiger sharks are accidentally hooked by long line fisheries targeting tuna and swordfish. Data confirmed fishing boats hook millions of sharks each year, and about one-third bite through the line or are set free with hooks protruding from their jaws. Some sharks had up to seven deeply wedged hooks, according to researchers.<\/p>\n<p>Meyer\u2019s four-member team studied 55 tiger sharks just outside Tahiti\u2019s northwest coast. And it was common for sharks to have more than one hook present.<\/p>\n<p>Meyer\u2019s team published their findings in Fisheries Research and are hopeful the study\u2019s data will result in a mandatory overhaul of fishing gear.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If fisheries were to switch from using stainless hooks to carbon steel hooks then the impact on the sharks would be reduced simply because those hooks would fall out much more quickly,&rdquo; Meyer explained.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers found sharks shed carbon steel, or corrodible hooks, within two-and-a half years. Stainless steel hooks are no longer permitted for use by longline fisheries in Australia and various entities in the <abbr title=\"United States\">U.S.<\/abbr><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-4-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"degrading fish hooks\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-109168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-4-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-4-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-4-630x353.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-4.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>According to the study, hook retention is a widespread issue that likely affects millions of shark species, including blue sharks, silky sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks, mako sharks and thresher sharks. Meyer says it torments tiger sharks in Hawaiian waters, as well. Within a few weeks at the end of 2019, he managed to remove four hooks from sharks off <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The study is geared toward heightening insights into shark conservation and management issues. The World Conservation Union designates tiger sharks as &ldquo;near threatened&rdquo; which means they are at risk of becoming endangered.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8212;By <span aria-label=\"Moanikeala\">Moanike&#699;ala<\/span> Nabarro<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_109153\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-109153\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-1.jpg\" alt=\"shark with hook in jaw\" width=\"676\" height=\"251\" class=\"size-full wp-image-109153\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-1.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-1-300x111.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/manoa-marine-biology-shark-hooks-1-130x48.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-109153\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Study found sharks can retain stainless steel hooks for at least seven years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An eight-year <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ<\/abbr> tiger shark study shows startling data of severe impacts on sea creatures cut loose from fishing lines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,12],"tags":[53,1363,175,9,56],"class_list":["post-109147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-video","tag-hawaii-institute-of-marine-biology","tag-manoa-research","tag-marine-biology","tag-uh-manoa","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109147"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124476,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109147\/revisions\/124476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}