A nurse shark is hunted in San Andrés after the death of an Italian tourist

The deadly attack by a tiger shark on Mr. Antonio Roseto Degli Abruzzi, a tourist of Italian origin, caused an unusual stir in the Pox Hole or La Piscinita sector, southwest of the San Andrés archipelago. Three days after the incident, the Archipelago corporation, Coralina, alerted on its social networks that a group of people caught a nurse shark.

Since it became known of the attack on the Italian tourist, the Navy reported that a group of people arrived in the rocky bay last Saturday with the purpose of sacrificing one of the sharks approaching there, in order to take “revenge” for Roseto's death. Despite the fact that the entity prevented them from hunting any sharks that day, the same did not happen this Sunday with the fishing of the nurse shark.

“The CORALINA Corporation rejects actions of mistreatment of marine fauna, illegal fishing and violation of the MPA zoning,” the entity wrote through its Twitter account sharing some images of suckler shark fishing, which “poses no danger to man.”

The director of Coralina, Arne Britton, said they will go to the last consequences to find those responsible. They also recalled that there are a number of sanctions for illegal fishing, which is regulated by Article 328 of Law 1453 of 2011, and violations of the permitted uses in the zoning of the marine protected area, a rule established in Agreement 002 of 2019.

The entity asked the inhabitants to protect the species found in their natural habitat and invited citizens to contact 123, in which case they saw illegal fishing activities for sharks, rays, chimeras, protected species in the territory. They also called on coastal and floating businesses around San Andrés Island to avoid throwing food waste or baiting marine fauna into the sea, they added on their Twitter account.

The behavior of a tiger shark

Faced with the controversy caused by the tiger shark that bit Roseto, Coralina provided information about the behavior of this species.

According to the statement issued by Coralina, tiger sharks only approach the shores of the ocean at night, since during the day they prefer deep waters. Therefore, seeing them from the banks is extraordinary.

On the other hand, tiger sharks are alpha predators: they eat virtually everything from fish, reptiles and mollusks to other sharks. As biologist Carlos Julio Polo explained to the newspaper El Tiempo, they do have some preferences: human flesh is not appetizing for sharks due to its lack of fat and that is why they put other marine mammals, such as seals, sea lions, whales, among others.

In the presence of a human in the ocean, a tiger shark can attack because it is hungry, mistook the person for a seal and decided to hunt it. It will be more difficult for you to discern thanks to the reflection of the sun in the water and the poor vision of your eyes.

According to what Coralina's protected areas coordinator, Nacor Bolaños, told W Radio, “it's easier to win the lottery twice than a shark bites you.” In the few cases where a squalo has attacked people in the archipelago, they are fishermen who carry fresh fish and attract the hungry animal.

It should be recalled that in the case of the tourist, the authorities assured that he was warned of the danger, but did not manage to save himself from the shark.

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