March 10, 2026 — 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 Hawaiʻi 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 Phil Fernandez, president of the advocacy group Hawaiʻi 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 Hawaiʻi’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.