OAK ISLAND, N.C. – The shark attack on a girl about 100 yards from a pier has prompted this town to consider at least a temporary ban on shark fishing, a move already undertaken by several cities along the East Coast.
Fishing piers can be a magnet for sharks even when people aren’t looking to land them because live bait is in the water and the pilings from the structure itself offer refuge for fish. There are also fish guts and blood from caught and cleaned fish that are sometimes tossed back into the water.
“That’s going to attract fish and that’s going to certainly attract sharks,” North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries Director Louis Daniel said. “If they get into the surf zone where the water is a little muddy and cloudy and there’s dead fish parts floating around and they’re gobbling it up,” the sharks can get confused and bite a person.
Fishermen say they don’t think they should be blamed or punished for the rare shark attacks, but local officials in Oak Island want a shark fishing ban to limit the food supply for sharks close to shore – at least through the popular Independence Day holiday weekend, town manager Tim Holloman said. It’s not clear how a ban could be enforced, but could involve limiting the use of certain types of hooks, rigs and bait used for shark fishing.
Experts say swimming farther away from piers is a good idea, regardless of whether a shark fishing ban is in place. At Oak Island, two young people lost limbs in separate, life-threatening shark attacks within 90 minutes of each other on Sunday. One happened in the shadow of a fishing pier. The other was 2 miles away.