Sharks Feeding

Caribbean Reef Shark at fish cleaning station in Bullock's Harbour.

At the end of the day at Great Harbour Cay Marina, we noticed a small gathering of cruisers watching while a local fisherman cleaned his catch. Brenda and I joined the group, and watched as sharks gathered for the daily event. These were not the Nurse sharks that we've seen in other locations in the Bahamas at fish cleaning stations, but Caribbean Reef sharks.

Big ones. As in, seven to eight feet long. There were about six of them, slowly swimming in circles and surrounded by schools of mangrove snapper. The largest of them were accompanied by several remoras, that tag along (literally, they have the ability to attach themselves to the host shark) and feed on scraps of left over food.

Sharks circling and waiting.

The fisherman had caught a large Mutton Snapper, and was filleting the fish. Head, tail, fins, and anything not filet was tossed into the water, which in turn created the feeding frenzy below. Interestingly, the big sharks did nothing until the big snapper's head hit the water. The smaller bits went to the snapper.

Local fisherman and catch. Note the dock cat, waiting patiently for his dinner.

We have seen this activity in other places in the islands. Unfortunately it can change the normal behavior patterns of top predators like sharks. Not much different than feeding bears in a National Park. Once they get used to being fed, they stick around and wait for the next meal.

With big animals like sharks (and bears), that increases the potential for human interaction, and interferes with their normal feeding behavior. The fisherman noted that in his experience, reef sharks are not dangerous, but he considers Blacktip Sharks to be far more aggressive.

As for me, I decided that diving down to check on Pandion's props will have to wait.