The sharks are turning up in fishermen's nets more often, but scientists say it's not clear whether their Alaska population has risen.
Salmon sharks appear to be turning up in Kodiak fishermen’s nets and washing up on public beaches around Kodiak Island in greater frequency this summer. But there isn’t enough data to determine if the shark population is growing off the coast of Alaska.washed up on Boy Scout Beach, near the Buskin River. And a few fishermen around Kodiak have reported seeing or catching more sharks than usual in their fishing gear this summer too.
“Historically they were called salmon sharks because they were seen at the river mouths up in Alaska eating salmon,” McInturf said.and Chinook this summer, McInturf said salmon sharks are known to eat a variety of forage fish, mainly ones that are commercially viable like pollock, herring and even squid. Salmon sharks’ eating habits also depend on several other factors like their age and gender.
“They don’t occupy two-dimensional space, right? Like they could be around but at depth. So in addition to thinking about their distribution geographically, we also have to think about their distribution throughout the water column,” McInturf explained. “So even if we haven’t been seeing them at the surface, they could have been around but perhaps feeding on something more at depth.
Wildlife Kodiak NOAA Salmon Shark
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