From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 13, 2025
1.5 meter sandbar shark found dead on Hadera beach
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
The body of a 1.5 meter (5 foot) long, 60 kilogram (132 pound) sandbar shark is found on a beach in Hadera in central Israel.
An initial examination reveals a small fishing hook and torn fishing line in the shark’s mouth.
Samples from several organs will be sent to laboratories to test for pathogens.
“The bycatch from fishing in Israel directly damages protected natural values, including sharks and sea turtles,” says Yaniv Levy, director of the Sea Turtle Rescue Center at the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, who was involved in the initial postmortem. Bycatch refers to maritime creatures accidentally caught and then discarded by anglers.
“In fact, they endanger spectacular and rare animals that are found in the Mediterranean Sea. We see these damages in sea turtles that come to us after being caught on fishing hooks and fishing nets,” Levy says.
Adult dusky and sandbank sharks are common around the Hadera power plant in the winter months, where the water is uncharacteristically warm.
Several weeks ago, the corpse of a pregnant female sandbar shark washed up with fishing hooks in its stomach.
The Times of Israel Community.