2026-03-11T06:15:00-0400 / CBS新闻
更新于：2026年3月11日 / 美国东部时间上午6:21 / 美联社
近年来，当地小型渔船渔民捕捞如ehu（一种鲷鱼）、onaga（一种鲹鱼）和新年餐桌上广受欢迎的红鲷鱼等珍贵底栖鱼类时，发现鲨鱼频繁突袭并撕咬他们的渔获，这一现象令人不安地激增。
“他们基本上在亏损，因为捕不到鱼了，”倡导组织”夏威夷渔民保护与传统联盟”主席菲尔·费尔南德斯（Phil Fernandez）表示。”鱼市场不会收购有咬痕的鱼。”
他说，这种被称为”鲨鱼捕食”的事件在夏威夷沿海水域和太平洋其他地区已变得极为普遍，许多底栖渔民、拖网渔民和其他依赖渔获为生的人正濒临放弃这一行业。
一些渔民将这种掠夺性捕食戏称为”向鲨鱼缴税”，而且”税款”数额还在增加。报告显示，在夏威夷水域，每4次有执照的捕鱼作业中，至少有1次渔获会被鲨鱼咬食。水生生物学家布莱恩·石田（Bryan Ishida）表示，目前这些比例达到了该州近20年来收集相关数据以来的历史最高水平。
利用鲨鱼对某些化学物质、电荷和磁场的厌恶感制成的各种驱鲨剂，已在佛罗里达等其他地区的海洋游泳者和渔民中销售和使用，因为那里的休闲渔业十分发达。
然而，太平洋地区的研究人员和渔民刚刚开始测试这些驱鲨剂，以确定哪些类型和设计在当地效果最佳。到目前为止，结果好坏参半。
“说实话，我对西太平洋的情况一无所知，所以我很想实地测试这些驱鲨剂，”研究与开发公司SharkDefense的合伙人埃里克·斯特劳德（Eric Stroud）表示，该公司生产化学驱鲨剂。
他特别希望前往关岛，因为那里的鲨鱼捕食事件尤为严重。他想研究当地人的捕鱼方式，并看看他的公司如何能为他们提供驱鲨剂。
在去年西太平洋区域渔业管理委员会举行的一系列听政会上，太平洋沿岸渔民提出的最紧迫问题之一就是鲨鱼捕食。该组织于今年2月举行了后续研讨会，进一步探讨解决这一问题的努力，并计划在3月17日西太平洋渔业管理委员会下次科学与统计委员会会议上报告调查结果。
与此同时，夏威夷大学马诺阿分校夏威夷海洋生物研究所的科学家正在培训当地渔民使用法医DNA检测工具包，对被撕裂和咬伤的鱼进行检测，以追踪是哪种鲨鱼物种抢走了他们的渔获。
研究所官员表示，他们还在长期追踪鲨鱼的活动轨迹，观察它们访问关键渔场的频率，最终试图减少与小型渔船渔民的遭遇。
“我们正在开展首次真正全面的努力，”研究所研究教授卡尔·迈耶（Carl Meyer）在电子邮件总结中表示，”以了解并减轻这些渔业中的鲨鱼捕食问题。”
类似的鲨鱼偷鱼事件也在加利福尼亚、马萨诸塞州和南卡罗来纳州上演。
磁场和臭驱鲨剂
自20世纪80年代末以来，费尔南德斯一直在科纳海岸外进行拖网捕鱼。他表示，在夏威夷岛开始捕鱼时，鲨鱼捕食并不是一个问题。他说，这种事件仅在过去20年中开始出现，过去几年间已成为小型渔船渔民的严重关切。
斯特劳德等人表示，目前尚不清楚这种掠夺行为增加的原因。一些人猜测，这可能与气候变化导致海水升温有关，迫使鲨鱼捕食的鱼类转移到其他区域。
“有很多猜测，”费尔南德斯说。许多渔民认为，当地的礁鲨、加拉帕戈斯鲨、虎鲨以及造访该海域的远洋白鳍鲨已经学会将小型渔船与容易捕获的食物联系起来。
在莫洛凯岛附近的企鹅银行渔场频繁作业的小型渔船，现在不得不不断移动以躲避附近的鲨鱼。费尔南德斯补充说，一些渔民在捕到鱼后立即关掉发动机，因为他们担心鲨鱼会将螺旋桨的声音与易获取的食物联系起来。
“鲨鱼非常聪明，”他说。
鲨鱼对磁场有独特的敏感性，而渔民所捕捞的ahi（黄鳍金枪鱼）等鱼类则没有这种敏感性。开发商已制造出利用磁铁和金属合金在水中产生磁场的产品，当鲨鱼靠近时可以驱赶它们。
斯特劳德表示，磁场可能非常有效，就像在它们眼前闪光一样。
他说，要成功应用这些驱鲨剂，需要设计出价格合理且能与不同地区使用的渔具无缝兼容的产品。费尔南德斯称，科纳海岸外的一些测试已经开始，但到目前为止，他们使用的电磁驱鲨剂在那里并不实用。
“它们太长且形状不合适，”他解释道。”鱼钩容易缠绕在这些装置上，导致渔获损坏。所以这还在试验阶段。”
其他驱鲨剂则在鱼钩和鱼饵附近的水中产生电荷，斯特劳德表示，这类设备每件成本在150至300美元之间。
SharkDefense公司生产的化学驱鲨剂闻起来像腐烂的鲨鱼。他说，其中一些化学物质是合成的，但大部分是从佛罗里达海岸合法捕获的鲨鱼中提取的。在夏威夷，所有鲨鱼捕捞都是被禁止的。
斯特劳德表示，SharkDefense的化学驱鲨剂是一种类似黄油的物质，要么混入钓鱼诱饵中，要么放在鱼钩旁的笼子里，使其在水中融化。他说，每个鱼钩的成本约为1美元。
斯特劳德补充说，使用多种驱鲨剂可能更为有效，因为鲨鱼在过度刺激或过载时可能会暂时”关闭”某种感官。如果鲨鱼关闭了电磁感应，化学驱鲨剂就可以作为后备。
远洋渔业科学家马克·菲切特（Mark Fitchett）表示，当地小型渔船渔民对鲨鱼及其日益严重的捕食行为持有不同看法。他说，许多渔民感到厌烦，认为鲨鱼从过多的环境保护中受益，而另一些渔民则将这种变化视为生态系统相对健康的代价。
“很多渔民也认识到，这些动物在某种程度上是……海洋的园丁，这是他们岛屿文化的一部分，”他说。”所以他们对这些动物怀有尊重。”
菲切特说，现在的问题是渔民们能接受多大程度的鲨鱼捕食而仍能继续捕鱼。
西太平洋渔业管理委员会将于3月24日至26日在阿拉莫阿纳酒店举行下一次季度会议，进一步讨论这一问题。菲切特表示，委员会计划在会议后几周内发布一份更详细的情况报告。
（配图：夏威夷瓦胡岛附近海域的加拉帕戈斯鲨鱼。Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images）
Sharks are taking a bigger bite of fishermen’s catch in Hawaii: “Paying the tax man”
2026-03-11T06:15:00-0400 / CBS News
Updated on: March 11, 2026 / 6:21 AM EDT / AP
In recent years, local small-boat fishers who pursue prized bottomfish such as ehu, onaga and the red opakapaka that’s popular on table spreads across Hawaii each New Year’s have seen a troubling spike in sharks that swoop in and tear their catch off the hook.
“They’re basically losing money because they can’t bring in the fish,” said PhilFernandez, president of the advocacy group Hawaii Fishermen’s Alliance for Conservation and Tradition. “The fish markets won’t buy a fish that has a bite on it.”
The growing incidents, known as shark depredation, have grown so common in Hawaii’s coastal waters and other parts of the Pacific, he said, that many of those bottomfishers, trollers and others who rely on the catch for their livelihood are on the verge of giving up the trade.
Some fishers call such depredation “paying the tax man,” and the tax is growing. Reports indicate sharks now bite off catch in at least 1 of every 4 licensed fishing trips out on Hawaiian waters. The rates are currently at their highest on record in the 20 or so years the state has been collecting that data, aquatic biologist Bryan Ishida said.
Various shark repellents that exploit the animals’ aversion to certain chemicals, electric charges and magnetic fields are already for sale and used by ocean swimmers and fishers in other regions, such as Florida, where recreational fishing is a big draw.
However, researchers and fishers in the Pacific have only just started testing those repellents to see which types and designs might work best locally. So far, the results have been mixed.
“Personally, I didn’t really know anything about the Western Pacific, and so I would love to get out there and test,” said Eric Stroud, a managing partner with the research and development company SharkDefense, which makes chemical repellents.
He’s interested in getting to Guam in particular because incidents there are especially high. He wants to study how people there fish and see how his company could supply them with repellents.
Shark depredation was among the most pressing issues that fishers around the Pacific raised during a series of listening sessions that the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council held last year. The group held a follow-up workshop in February on efforts to further address the problem and plans to report on the findings at Wespac’s next Scientific and Statistical Committee meeting March 17.
Meanwhile, scientists with the University of Hawaii Mānoa’s Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology are training local fishers to use forensic DNA kits on torn and bitten fish to trace which shark species nabbed their catch.
They’re also tracking shark movements over time to see how often they visit key fishing grounds, institute officials said, to ultimately try and reduce those encounters with small-boat fishers.
“We are building the first truly comprehensive effort,” institute research professor Carl Meyer said in an emailed summary, “to understand and mitigate shark depredation in these fisheries.”
Similar incidents of sharks stealing fish have unfolded in California, Massachusetts and South Carolina.
Magnetic fields and stinky erpellants
Fernandez, who’s been troll-fishing off the Kona Coast since the late 1980s, said shark depredation wasn’t an issue on Hawaii island when he started fishing there. The incidents only started to emerge in the past 20 years, he said, and then grew into a serious concern for small-boat fishers in the past several years.
It’s still not clear what’s causing the uptick in plundering, Stroud and others said. Some suspect it’s related to warming waters due to climate change driving the fish that sharks prey on to different areas.
“There’s a lot of speculation,” Fernandez said. Many fishermen think the local reef, Galapagos and tiger sharks as well as pelagic oceanic whitetips that visit the area have learned to associate small fishing boats with an easy way to grab a meal.
Galapagos Sharks are seen in the Pacific Ocean off Oahu, Hawaii in this undated file photo. Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images
Small boats that frequent the Penguin Banks fishing grounds — which are off of Molokaʻi — now constantly move around to avoid sharks spotted nearby. Some fishers turn off their engines the moment they catch a fish, Fernandez added, because they’re worried sharks connect the sound of the propeller to an easy meal.
“Sharks,” he said, “are very smart.”
They also have a unique sensitivity to magnetic fields that the ahi and other fish species sought by fishers don’t have. Developers have made products that use magnets and metal alloys to create magnetic fields in the water as a result to repel the sharks when they get within a few feet.
The magnetic fields can be very effective, Stroud said — akin to flashing a bright light in their eyes.
What’s needed to succeed, he said, is to design the repellents so they’re affordable and work seamlessly with the fishing gear used across various regions. Some of those tests have started off the Kona Coast, Fernandez said, but so far the electromagnetic repellents they’ve used aren’t very practical for fishing there.
“They’re too long and they’re the wrong shape,” he said. “The hooks tend to wrap around these devices, and now the hooks are all tangled up. So it’s a work in progress.”
Other repellents produce an electric charge in the water near the hook and bait, and Stroud said those devices tend to cost between $150 and $300 apiece.
Stroud’s company produces a chemical repellant that smells like decaying sharks. Some of the chemicals are synthetic, he said, but much of it is harvested from sharks caught legally off the Florida coast. In Hawaii, all shark fishing is prohibited.
The SharkDefense chemicals are part of a butter-like material, Stroud said, that’s either mixed into fishing chum or placed in a cage by the hook to melt in the water. It costs about $1 per hook, he said.
It might make sense, Stroud added, to use multiple types of repellants because sharks can sometimes “turn off” a sense temporarily when they get too stimulated or overwhelmed. If the shark turns off its electromagnetic sense, he said, the chemical repellent could work as a backup.
Mark Fitchett, a pelagic fisheries scientist, said local small-boat fishers hold a range of views on the sharks and their growing depredation. Many of them are fed up and believe the sharks benefit from too many environmental protections, Fitchett said, but other fishers see the changes as the cost of having a relatively healthy ecosystem.
“A lot of them also recognize that it’s part of their island culture that these animals are sort of … the gardeners of the water,” he said. “So there’s that respect for the animal.”
Now, Fitchett said, the question is how much depredation they can accept and still keep going.
Wespac will further discuss the issue at its next quarterly meeting, March 24-26, at the Ala Moana Hotel. Fitchett said the council plans to release a more detailed report on the situation several weeks after the meeting.