SHARKS IN JAPAN: SPECIES, FISHING, ATTACKS

SHARKS AND JAPAN

Megamouth shark at the Toba Aquarium, Japan

Of the world’s 500 species of shark, at least 124 species have been identified in Japanese waters. Japan is a long narrow country stretching over a long range of latitudes, and wide range of climates and oceanic conditions, and thus Japan is home to a wide variety of shark species, most of which are temperate zone coastal sharks and also oceanic and bottom-living sharks. [Source: Japan Wildlife Conservation Society]

The Japanese written character for shark is a combination of the characters for “fish” and “mixing” i.e. mating. The reason for this is that, unlike most fish, there are numerous species of shark that copulate. In many fish species the male simply squirts out his sperm on eggs ejected externally by the female. In the Kansai area of Japan, sharks are called “fuka”, the character for which is “fish” combined with that for “bring up” or “raise”, reflecting the fact that some shark species carry their young for a period before birth.

Sleeping sharks gather by the hundreds at Izu Oceanic Park. They are so lethargic they lay around on top of each other like a bunch of "sleeping drunks.” Fishermen on the island of Takara Jima have traditionally attracted sharks to their to their canoes by singing traditional songs and shaking coconut-shell rattles and then catching sharks with their hands. Local divers catch sleeping sharks by placing a rope around their tails and hauling them to the surface. A cave with a hundred or so sharks can be emptied in a couple of days. "We never take all the sharks," one fisherman said, " we always leave one or two, so they'll bring back their friends." [Source: Eugenie Clark, National Geographic, August 1981]

Use of Sharks in Japan

Sharks have never been widely eaten or widely used in Japan but the fish-loving and fish-using Japanese have been utilized them for various things and this has a long history. Shark flesh is ground and reconstituted into a variety of traditional shapes, colours and textures known as kamaboko, hampen and some other names. Shark skin is very rough and has traditionally been used in Japan to grate wasabi (traditional Japanese horseradish). Japanese say the fine hooked scales on the shark skin rip open the cells of the wasabi root releasing the flavour in a good way. [Source: Japan Wildlife Conservation Society]

Although not as big on it as Chinese and some other Asians, the Japanese do consume shark fin soup. In addition, the fins are rich in collagen and valued by women as a cosmetic. Shark liver oil contains vitamins A and D as well as squalene, all of which are used as medical and nutritional supplements.

Japanese sharkskin wasabi grater, from Tenzo

Squalene was used in World War II as a lubricant on high altitude planes because it had a low congealing point. Today the oil is used as a cosmetic base for lipstick and burn creams as well catch all treatment for an assortment of diseases. Thousands of Japanese take capsules of the oil called Marine Gold. [Source: Eugenie Clark, National Geographic, August 1981]

The chondroitin found in shark cartilage (chondroitin-6-sulfate) does not require a prescriptionin Japan and has become a widely used dietary supplement for the relief of joint pain. It is also valued as a cosmetic and to prevent rough skin, and consequently is high demand. In recent years questions have been raised about the presence of mercury and other heavy metals in shark products and the potential risk for unborn children.

Japanese used to catch basking sharks, which sometimes measure nine meters (30 feet) in length. They were easy prey for Japanese fishermen in small boats who harpooned them because they stay so close to the surface. After a four ton shark was caught it was towed to a processing plant where it was transformed into about a dozen different products. The massive liver yielded 100 gallons of oil, a hundred times the amount taken from a normal shark. A ton of meat was extracted and minced into fishburgers. The fins were cut off and dried for shark fin soup. Even the skeleton and cartilage was used: for fertilizer and feed. [Source: Eugenie Clark, National Geographic, August 1981]

Species of Shark in Japan

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, only 22 shark species have been evaluated in Japan. Two of them, scalloped sharks (Sphyrna lewini), and great hammerhead sharks (S. mokarran) are listed as endangered (EN). Others listed as vulnerable (VU), include, pelagic thresher sharks (Alopias pelagicus), bigeye thresher sharks (A. superciliosus), oceanic whitetip sharks (Carcharhinus longimanus), sandbar sharks (C. plumbeus), great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus), whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) and spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias). [Source: Japan Wildlife Conservation Society]

In 1990 a new species of shark was discovered off of Japan. Named “Trigonognathus kabeyai”, it is 10 to 20 centimeters long and has a protruding forehand and jaws, In February 2014, fishermen in Sado, Niigata Prefecture, got a surprise when they found a four-meter cow shark in a fixed net. Cow sharks are considered primitive beasts; the local fixed-net fisheries cooperative sold the shark to a research institute in Ibaraki Prefecture through a wholesaler. [Source: Nikkei, May 9, 2014]

from Shark Sider sharksider.com

Banded Houndshark — one–1.5 meters — Not aggressive
Basking Shark — six – nine meters — Not aggressive
Bigeye Thresher Shark — 3.5– five meters — Not aggressive
Blacktip Reef Shark — 0.9–1.2 meters — Moderately aggressive (if provoked)
Blacktip Shark — 1.5–2.4 meters — Moderately aggressive
Blue Shark — 1.8–3.5 meters — Not aggressive
Clouded Angelshark — 1.5–1.6 meters — Not aggressive
Common Thresher Shark — 3.7–5.5 meters — Not aggressive
Dusky Shark — 2.7 –3.7 meters — Not aggressive (until provoked)
Great Hammerhead Shark — 4.6–six meters — Highly aggressive
Great White Shark — 3.5–4.9 meters — Highly aggressive
Gulper Shark — 0.8– one meter — Not aggressive
Japanese Angel Shark — 0.5 to 0.8 meters — Not aggressive
Japanese Bullhead Shark — 1.2–1.3 meters — Not aggressive
Japanese Wobbegong — 0.9–one meters — Not aggressive
Longfin Mako Shark — 3.7–4.3 meters — Highly aggressive
Nilson’s Deepsea Dogfish — 1.5–1.6 meters — Not aggressive
Oceanic Whitetip Shark — three–four meters — Highly aggressive
Pelagic Thresher Shark — four–5.5 meters — Not aggressive
Sand Tiger Shark — two–three meters — Not aggressive (due to their small mouths)
Sandbar Shark — 0.5–0.8 meters — Not aggressive
Scalloped Hammerhead Shark — 2.7–3.7 meters — Moderately aggressive
Shortfin Mako Shark — two– three meters — Highly aggressive
Smalltooth Sand Tiger Shark — 3.7– 4.3 meters — Not aggressive
Smooth Hammerhead Shark — 2.4–3.7 meters — Not aggressive (but are potentially dangerous)
Spiny Dogfish — 0.2– 0.3 meters — Not aggressive (due to their small size)
Tawny Nurse Shark — 2.8 –three meters — Not aggressive
Thresher Shark — three–5.5 meters — Not aggressive
Tiger Shark — three–4.3 meters — Highly aggressive
Whale Shark — 5.5–10 meters — Not aggressive
White Spotted Bamboo Shark — 0.6–0.9 meters — Not aggressive
Whitetip Reef Shark — one– 1.7 meters — Moderately aggressive (only when provoked)
Zebra Shark — 0.8–1.2 meters — Not aggressive. [Source: Shark Sider sharksider.com]

Megamouth Sharks in Japan

As of 2006, seven of the 21 confirmed megamouth catches took place off of Japan. A male caught in April 1997 off Owase, Mie Prefecture, weighed more than a ton and was 5.4 meters long. Others have been caught off Hamamatsi in Shizuoka Prefecture, in Hakata Bay in Fukuoka and in Tokyo Bay off Ichihara. A 4.2-meter, 460-kilogram specimen has been stuffed and is now displayed at a museum in Japan . Another four are preserved in formaldehyde in Japan, Los Angeles, Hawaii and Australia.

Megamouth sharks (Scientific name:Megachasma pelagios) are very large plankton-feeding sharks that reside in relatively shallow water. One of the least known of all sharks, they were only discovered in 1976, when one accidentaly got caught near Oahu after it became entangled in an anchor of US navy research vessel. As of 2006, only about 21 had been found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. As of 2023, there had been just 273 sightings of megamouths, most involving sharks caught in fishing gear. Only five have been spotted swimming freely in the wild. As of 2019, all that was known about megamouth sharks was based on 124 records. [Source: Live Science, Animal Diversity Web (ADW)]

Megamouths can reach a length of 5.5 meters (18 feet) and weigh 790 kilograms. Not only are they a unique species and genus they represents a new family of sharks. Their gills and fins configurations are like that of other sharks but their head and teeth are very different. Somewhat related to mackerel sharks, megamouth sharks have round heads that grows large at the mouth end. They have small teeth between six and seven millimeters in length, ideal of collecting plankton. Their body is very soft.

Places to See Sharks in Japan

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whale shark in the Osaka aquarium In South-west Shikoku’s Ainan area in Ehime Prefecture scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini), oceaning black tip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) and blacktail reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) have been observed. These sharks have also been spotted in south Kyushu’s Satsunan islands (especially the Amami and Tokara islands), Okinawa’s Kume and Kerama islands, as well as islands in the Yaeyama group including Iriomote and Yonaguni. [Source: Blue Japan bluejapan.org]

In Kansai, near Osaka, manta rays and occasionally hammerhead sharks are sometimes spotted in the summer months on sites of the Pacific coast. Carpet sharks such as the Japanese Angel shark (Squatina japonicus), and the Japanese bullhead shark (Heterodontus japonicus) can be seen on nearly every dive at a dive site in Koka, Mie Prefecture.

In Shikoku, thresher sharks (Alopias vulpinus) are often seen in Tokushima Prefecture’s Mugi area, in the early summer months. The more remote Uguru Island area, or more exposed Pacific coast sites of Okitsu and Muroto in Kochi Prefecture all offer good chances of seeing occasional manta ray, mola-molas or hammerhead sharks. Kan-no-ura, on Kochi Prefecture’s Pacific coast, is one of the few places in Japan where you can see whitespotted bambooshark (Chiloscyllium plagiosum) spawn in May and July.

The Ogasawara and Bonin islands are famous for their populations of toothy, but relatively docile sand tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus), also known as ragged-tooth sand sharks or “raggies”. These sharks can bee seen all year round in the area. In Tohoku in northern Japan, Japanese banded houndshark (Triakis scyllium) are often seen in the spring, especially around the island of Tobishima in Yamagata Prefecture.

Where to See Thresher, Whale and Tiger Sharks in Japan

Pelagic thresher sharks (Alopias pelagicus) are sometimes spotted at different sites at Izu and Ogasawara islands in Kanto’s Nanpo islands due to the combined effects of currents, relative isolation and access to deep water. Thresher sharks may also be seen in Shikoku’s Mugi area in Tokushima Prefecture in the early summer months, as well as Kyushu’s Yamakawaoki Kamise in Kagoshima Prefecture and Nichinan and Nobeoka areas in Miyazaki Prefecture.[Source: Blue Japan bluejapan.org]

Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are occasionally seen at different sites in Kanto’s Nanpo islands in Izu and Ogasawara islands, but also around Chubu’s Mikomoto Island, in Kyushu’s Amami and Tokara islands. In Okinawa, they are occasionally spotted around Kume island (located 100 kilometers west of main island of Okinawa and around Yonaguni Island and in the Yaeyama islands group.

Tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier), sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) and oceanic black tip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) can be seen off Mikomoto island. There are rare sighting in the Okinawa area.

Hammerhead River

Schools of hammerhead sharks can be seen in h"hammerhead river" around Mikomoto Island usually from June to October, depending on the water temperature. Mikomoto Island is a small, rocky, uninhabited island located off the southern coast of Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka Prefecture. Many divers from around the world come dive around the island, hoping to see a hammerhead school. The sharks prefer warm water of above 20̊C (68̊F), which occurs between July to September. The Kuroshio Current can raise the water temperature regardless of the air temperature. The appearance of hammerheads in Mikomoto Island is greatly affected by this current, for it flows very close to the island and makes it possible, , depending on the current, to see hammerheads almost all year round. [Source: Marine Diving Web]

Mikomoto island is located a roughly 30-60 minute boat-ride away from the town of Shimoda at the western tip of the Izu Peninsula (Shizuoka Pref.). The largest congregations of hammerheads are usually seen between the months of June and October, with July to September normally being peak “hammer season”. The schooling hammerheads are seen on a boat drift dive, congregating near the current swept islets. [Source: Blue Japan]

Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks are the species seen at Mikomoto island. Schools can also bee seen at Izu Ōshima, one of the Nanpō archipelago’s Izu islands. Here you can see hammerheads on a very early morning shore-dive, mainly between mid-June and October.. Schooling hammerheads also gather at the Yonaguni island, the last major island of the Nansei-Ryukyu archipelago, and part of the Yaeyama Islands group in Okinawa Prefecture, near Taiwan. Here you can see the sharks in a blue-water dive, mainly between November and June. Sightings are concentrated on the Irizaki site, to the west of the island.

Hammerhead sharks are also often spotted, less regularly, in other areas of Okinawa, including the Yaeyama’s Iriomote, and further up north, around current swept sites Kume Island (Tombara area, in the winter months) and also in the Kerama islands. Another seasonal hammerhead shark viewing point is in southwest Shikoku’s Ainan area (Ehime Prefecture), where hammerheads and other pelagic sharks are spotted between July and September. Hammerhead sharls are sometimes spotted off other islands of the Nansei and Nanpō archipelagos, dive sites of Kansai’s Pacific coast, Shikoku’s Uguru Island area and the Pacific coast sites of Okitsu and Muroto, Kyūshū’s Tokara islands.

In the summer of 2007, large numbers of hammerhead sharks were spotted close to beaches in Fukuoka and Shizuoka Prefectures. A school with several hundred hammerheads was spotted in waters between 200 meters and 500 meters from the beach in Koga, Fukuoka Prefecture, in northern Kyushu. Two hammerheads over 3.5 meters were seen at Usami beach in Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture. These sharks usually spend their time out at sea. The presence of the sharks so close to shore was attributed to the diversion of a warm currents close to the coast. Beaches on the Sea of Japan were closed in the summer of 2001 when large numbers of hammerhead sharks were spotted near the shore. There are nine species of hammerhead, with smooth and scalloped hammerheads being the ones most often spotted in Japanese waters. These are often seen several kilometers off the coast of Japan following warm currents north during the summe

Sharks and Rays in the Kanto and Izu Areas Near Tokyo

Pelagic thresher sharks, whale sharks, and scalloped hammerhead sharks are sometimes spotted at different sites in the Nanpo islands as a result of the combined effects of currents, relative isolation and nearness to deep water. Smaller sharks such as sleeping white-tip reef sharks (Triaenodon obesus) are often seen in winter months at Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture. Guitar-sharks (shovelnose rays Glaucostegus typus), Japanese bullhead sharks (Heterodontus japonicus) are spotted from time to time in much of the area, including the Izu Islands. [Source: Blue Japan bluejapan.org]

A popular diving attraction in Chiba Prefecture is Tateyama-Ito’s “Shark Scramble” (or “Shark City”) where it possible to dive with hundreds banded hound-sharks (Triakis scyllium) and red stingrays (Hemitrygon akajei) during a frantic feeding/chumming session that evolved out of way to keep these sharks and rays out the areas of fishing nets. “Since we started chumming, the number of sharks swimming into the nets has dropped to about one-20th,” said Shinobu Yoshida, the head of a group of fixed net fishermen, told the Japan News.. “It saves a lot of trouble because it used to take a lot of effort to get them out.”

Mikomoto island and the Izu Peninsula dive sites are famous for Japanese bullhead sharks, carpet sharks such as the Japanese angel shark and Japanese wobbegong (Orectolobus japonicus) and , large schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks, oceanic black tip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) and sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus). If you are lucky maybe yu will see a whale shark, oceanic sunfish or sailfish.

Schools of Japanese eagle rays (Myliobatis tobijei) can sometimes be seen in the summer months at Nishikawana in Chiba Prefecture. Other rays like Mobula japanica, Mobula thurstoni, and giant “oceanic” manta rays (Mobula birostris) are sometimes seen in the area. Schools of Japanese eagle rays (Myliobatis tobiei) can be seen in the spring to summer months in the Atagawa and Arari areas and the Numazu and Ita areas, west of the Izu Peninsula.

Places to See Sharks and Rays in Kyushu and Okinawa

Off of Kyushu, white-tip reef sharks, black-tip reef sharks and different types of carpet sharks are very common on the coral reefs of the Satsunan islands. Bigger pelagic sharks and rays are also commonly spotted from winter to spring and in the summer months, especially in the Satsunan Islands (especially in the Amami and Tokara islands) all the way down to Okinawa. [Source: Blue Japan bluejapan.org]

There have been sightings of small schools of oceanic black tip sharks, tiger sharks, hammerhead sharks, spotted eagle rays and baitballs around the Satsunan islands. Eagle rays, thresher sharks and oceanic sunfish are sometimes spotted in Miyazaki Prefecture’s Nichinan and Nobeoka areas, and hammerhead and thresher sharks are also sometimes spotted in Kagoshima’s Yamakawaoki Kamise area. Reef manta rays are regularly spotted in the Tokara islands, especially around Kuchinoshima, between the end of October to mid-May. Spotted eagle rays are seen here in the autumn months. Whale sharks are seen from time to time.

White-tip reef sharks, black-tip reef sharks, carpet sharks and zebra sharks are common sights around Okinawa reefs. Scalloped hammerheads, tiger sharks and oceanic black tip sharks are particularly spotted off Iriomote, Yonaguni and other islands in the Yaeyama group, as well in Kume and the Kerama islands. Schools of cownose rays have been observed in the spring off the Kerama islands.

Shark Attacks and Japan

According to Global Shark Attack File there have been 27 unprovoked shark attacks in Japan, with 12 non-fatal attacks and 15 fatal attacks as of 2016. Shark attacks in 1997: 34 in United States; 5 in Australia; 4 in Brazil; 3 each in the Bahamas and South Africa; 2 each in Japan and New Guinea; 1 in Mexico, Fiji, Reunion Island and Vanuatu. [Source: Global Shark Attack File (GSAF), compiled by the Shark Research Institute, sharkattackdata.com, 2016]

In the waters around Japan, great white sharks, tiger sharks and bull sharks have been involved in attacks. Sharks sights are more common in the waters of the Chiba and Izu Peninsula. Shark warnings, if necessary, are issued through local news, social media, and beachside warnings. Ama divers carry small wooden amulets with them when ever they dive for protection against sharks. [Source: Shark Sider sharksider.com]

On July 4, 2022, 60-year-old Kazuki Takahashi, known for creating the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise and penning its manga collection, was killed in a shark attack off Nago on Okinawa Island. On July 6 his body was found floating just 330 yards off the shore of Nago by Japan Coast Guards who were investigating the scene after a passing boat reported a sighting of the body. Takahashi was identified after police in another part of Okinawa contacted the coast guard saying a rented car had been found abandoned on a beach. The car had a driver’s license, confirming the identity. It was later confirmed that he had been attacked by a reef shark and died two days prior to authorities discovering his body. [Source: Global Shark Attack Files]

Blacktip reef shark like the one believed to have killed Kazuki Takahash; usually these sharks don't harm humans

Date — Area — Activity — Sex / Age — Injury — Species
2022–07–04 — Nago — Snorkeling — male aged 60 — FATAL
2017–09–03 — Iwata City — Surfing — male — aged 42 — Injury to ankle & feet
2016–07–24 — Irino Beach — Surfing — male — aged 29 — Lacerations to left leg
2014–12–23 — Diving / Filming — male — No injury, shark snagged its teeth in diver's suit — Goblin shark
2014–06–08 — Aichi — Surfing — male aged 43 — Left arm bitten
2014–01–04 — Off Miyako Island — Sea disaster — male aged 31 — 5 centimeters bite to left foot
2004–07–15 — Susami — Fishing for squid aboard the trawler Shikishima–Maru when the shark leapt into the boat — male aged 51 — Suffered broken ribs when the shark's tail fin slammed into his chest — 3.5 meter (11.5 foot), 350–kilograms (772 pound) Longfin mako shark
1998–11–02 — 460 miles off Iwakuni — Fishing for tuna — male aged 52 — Provoked Incident Knee bitten by shark trapped in net — 6' shark
1995–04–09 — Atsumi Peninsula — Scuba diving for bivalves — male aged 47 — FATAL — six meter (20-foot) great white shark
1994–08–22 — Tatsugo–cho — Survived
1993–03–17 — Iyo — Yuji Yamamoto — Survived — Possibly great white shark
1992–06–17 — 1.5 kilometers north of Igata–cho, 60 kilometers south of Matsuyama — Preparing to fish for jack–mackerel — 5.75 meter wooden boat — No inujury to occupant. Shark bit boat repeatedly, leaving two teeth in the bottom keel of the boat — great white shark
1992–03–08 — Matsuyama — Hookah diving for pen shells — Kazuta Harada — male aged 41 — FATAL, body not recovered — five meter (6.5 foot) great white shark
1992–03–08 — Nagahama–cho, 40 kilometers southwest of Matsuyama — Fishing for yellowtail — wooden boat — No injury to boat or occupant
1992–02–14 — Matsuyama — Diving for pen shells — male — No injury, steel diving helmet bitten 3 times — five meter (16.5 foot) shark
1992–01–03 — Matsuyama — male — Survived
1988–08–19 — Ogasawara Islands — male — Survived
1982–08–29 — Ariake Bay — Yako Yajima — male — FATAL
1967–08–26 — Sakaide — male aged 19 — FATAL
1964–08–03 — Saidaiji — Swimming — male aged 12 — Leg bitten, surgically amputated
1959–08–11 — Isonoura Beach, Wakayama City — Swimming — male aged 13 — FATAL, left thigh bitten — three meter (10 foot) blue shark
1959–07–25 — Ushimado — male aged 22 — FATAL, right thigh bitten — Blue shark?
1958–01–09 — Mito — male — aged 50 — Torso recovered from 206–lb shark — Shark involvement prior to death was not confirmed
1955–08–30 — Mikura–jima Island, 150 miles south of Tokyo — Fishing — male — FATAL
1955–07–25 — Usimado–no–Seto — male aged 22 — FATAL — Blue shark
1954–10–02 — Oomura Bay — Boy clad in shirt & white linen pants — male aged 13 — Body found in gut of 2000–lb white shark — Shark involvement prior to death was not confirmed
1950–07–21 — Ariakeno Bay — Swimming — male — aged 19 — FATAL
1945–09–16 — American minesweeper USS YMS–350 lost in a typhoon – swimming to shore — sailor — male — FATAL
1895–07–16 — Hunting seals — William Lloyd — male — FATAL
Sep–1882 — Clinging to shipwrecked junk — Japanese fisherman — male — Lacerations to elbows & knees

Second Oldest Known Shark Attack Victim — From Japan

In June 2021, researchers announced that had good evidence that severe injuries found on the remains of a man who lived in Japan roughly 3,000 years ago could have been caused by a shark attack according to a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. Before the news of the Peru victim was announced he was recognized as the world's oldest shark attack victim. Fox News reported: “The man’s remains, which date back to Japan’s Jōmon era, were excavated from the Tsukumo archaeological site in Okayama in the last century. His body was noticeably missing a leg and hand and was riddled with deep serrated cuts. [Source: Cortney Moore, Fox News, June 30, 2021]

Second oldest shark attack victim, in Japan, from Kyoto University

“Through close evaluation, radiocarbon dating and 3D modeling, researchers have theorized that the injuries likely came from a shark anytime between 1370 and 1010 B.C.E. "The victim has at least 790 perimortem traumatic lesions characteristic of a shark attack, including deep, incised bone gouges, punctures, cuts with overlapping striations and perimortem blunt force fractures," the study’s abstract states. "The distribution of wounds suggests the victim was probably alive at the time of attack rather than scavenged."

“Japan’s Seto Inland Sea is around 57.3 miles away from the Okayama Prefecture. The body of water is said to be linked to modern shark attacks, according to researchers.The study has narrowed down two shark species that could be responsible for the fatal attack on the Jōmon man. So far, they believe a great white shark or tiger shark are likely culprits.

Before researchers determined the Jōmon man could be the oldest shark victim on record, the world’s oldest known victim was thought to be a person who lived around A.D. 1000.“The joint study was conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford, University of Florida, Kyoto University, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Tokai University’s School of Marine Science and Technology, University of Tokyo and Tokyo Metropolitan University.

For a while the Okayama vcitim was recognized as the world’s oldest known shark attack victim. Now, a roughly 6,000-year-old skeleton of a teenage boy missing a left leg, excavated in Peru in 1976, is recognized as oldest known case of a human killed by a shark. Bruce Bower wrote in Science News: In 1976, bioarchaeologist Robert Benfer of the University of Missouri in Columbia and Harvard University anthropological archaeologist Jeffrey Quilter had participated in an excavation of a roughly 17-year-old boy’s skeleton that bore signs of a fatal shark encounter. The boy’s left leg was missing and his right hip and right forearm bones displayed deep bite marks characteristic of those made by sharks, the scientists say. “Successful shark bites usually involve tearing off a limb, often a leg, and ingesting it,” Benfer says. An unsuccessful attempt to ward off a shark presumably resulted in the boy’s arm injuries. [Source: Bruce Bower, Science News, July 30, 2021]

Shark Fishing in Japan

The main shark fishing nations are Indonesia, Spain, India, Mexico, and the United States. They account for about 80 percent of the world's annual shark catch. Others include China, Ecuador, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Pakistan, Portugal, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Taiwan.

The total shark catch for Japan in 2007 was 34,628 tons. It was higher in the past. Records for the last two decades show that during the late 80s the catch fell below 40,000 tons, while during the 90s it fell further, to below 30,000 tons. Since 2005 the annual catch has risen again to over 30,000 tons. The value of production in 2009 was 57.7 billion yen. [Source: Japan Wildlife Conservation Society]

The prefecture with the biggest shark catch was Miyagi at over 55 percent of the total. In particular, the fishing port of Kesennuma is famous for landing the most sharks in Japan. In 2007 catches totalled 13,000 tons. Most of the rest of the catch was landed at ports in the northern part of the Pacific Coast, viz. Iwate, Aomori and Hokkaido

There are some shark fin factories in Japan. Ones in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture were devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. A shark fin processor there resumed operations at a makeshift factory nearly four months after its original plant was destroyed by the tsunami. At the new factory set up on higher ground employees steam shark fins using boilers taken from the damaged factory.

Estimated figures from 1992 to 2000 show an average of 12,400 tons of blue shark per year, constituting 76 percent of the shark catch. The next most common species was salmon shark (Lamna ditropis), 13 percent, 2,200 tons; followed by shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus), 6.4 percent, 1,100 tons; and thresher sharks (Alopias spp.) 3.1 percent, 530 tons1.

Regarding catch by location, it is of note that while landings in Miyagi and Chiba prefectures consisted primarily of blue shark followed by salmon shark, those in Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures (mainly oceanic longline tuna fisheries) consisted mostly of shortfin mako followed by threshers, and those of Aomori and Iwate prefectures (mainly trawlers) consisted primarily of “other sharks” followed by salmon shark.

Shark Bycatch and Dumping in Japan

Many sharks are snagged accidentally by fishermen seeking other fish such as tuna and swordfish. Every year 50,000 blue sharks are caught accidentally off Hawaii alone and striped of the fins and thrown back. During a six month period in 1989, Japanese squid boats snagged 58,100 blue sharks in their drift nets.

The figures for the average annual catch over the years 1992 ~2000, by type of fishery, reveal that 87.4 percent (14,800 tons) of sharks are taken by the longline tuna fishing industry, as bycatch. Until 1967 official statistics divided shark catches into 4 kinds; blue shark, salmon shark, dogfish and “other sharks”, but since then they have all been lumped together as “sharks”, with the result that there is no data available on separate species. The kind of gear used for fishing greatly affects the kind of sharks caught as bycatch.

From the data available for the two years from 1997, it is estimated that at least 300,000 tons of sharks were caught each year. Combined with the figures for the same period of around 20,000 tons landed in Japan each year, this indicates that over 90 percent of the catch was dumped at sea.

China, by far the world’s largest consumer of the cartilaginous fish, for sharkfin soup,

Shark Conservation in Japan

A lot the shark byctach by Japan is by their tuns fishing operations. Oceana and several conservation groups, backed by some governments, have called upon ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) to set catch quotas and other protective measures for vulnerable sharks. The United States has proposed requiring that all sharks be brought back to shore whole, which would boost enforcement of the finning ban and help scientists measure population levels. Japan and China have led the drive to quash these and other measures designed to protect threatened shark species. In March 2010, delegates to a United Nations conference on endangered species voted down three of four proposals to protect sharks on handing another victory to Japan, China and countries opposed to the involvement of the international authorities in regulation of ocean fish. [Source: David Jolly, New York Times, March 23, 2010]

According to the New York Times: Amid international concern over the depletion of shark populations, the FAO Committee on Fisheries adopted a voluntary International Plan of Action (IPOA-SHARKS) in 1999. In response, Japan produced its own NPOA for the conservation and management of sharks. The main objectives included the collection of data, gains in scientific knowledge and ensuring sustainable use. In accordance with this plan, the Japanese government has prohibited “finning” and promoted efficient use. One means of preventing finning is to require the longline tuna fishery, which produces the most sharks, to land whole carcases.

At the CITES COP15 conference of 2009, it was proposed that three species of hammerhead sharks ( Sphyrna lewini, S. mokarran & S. zygaena (smooth hammerhead), as well as the oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus), porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus), and the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias), should be added to Appendix II. Japan opposed all these proposals. The porbeagle proposal received more than the necessary two thirds of the votes and was accepted in committee, but was rejected by the main conference.

The Convention on Migratory Species (or Bonn Convention) aims to protect migratory land, sea and bird species in all their habitats. By December 2005, 95 countries in Africa, Central America, South America, Asia, Europe and Oceania had joined the convention. Japan, however, has neither ratified nor even signed the convention, and takes no part in meetings.

It has been pointed out that the current official statistics system prevents the collection of data for separate species of shark, while there is also a conspicuous absence of international monitoring for the purpose of conservation of sharks in regional fishery management agencies. It may be that, considering the large number of species native to Japan, the authorities would rather not incur the risk of misidentification. There is great and pressing need for Japan to gather species-specific statistics on shark catches. In addition, the installation of a domestic agency to strictly monitor its NPOA-Sharks, and the strengthening of international co-operation measures to conserve highly mobile species, are urgently required.

Image Sources: 1) Ray Kinnane , Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, Daily Yomiuri, Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2025