Across Hawaiʻi, boat captains and small-scale bottomfishers say sharks are taking a bigger cut of the profits than ever before, often snatching fish right off the line before they can be hauled over the rail. Phil Fernandez, president of the Hawaiʻi Fishermen’s Alliance for Conservation and Tradition, says the bite on their income is getting hard to ignore. Crews are shifting where and when they work, and some are quietly wondering if it is still worth staying in the business. "They're basically losing money because they can't bring in the fish," he said.
Depredation by the numbers
Council analysis and fisheries data show at least one in four licensed fishing trips in Hawaiʻi waters now report shark depredation, a rate fisheries managers say is the highest in roughly two decades. That kind of loss is already reshaping how small-boat bottomfishers operate, from moving to new grounds to hauling gear earlier than planned, and it has raised alarms among industry advisers. As outlined by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, shark depredation is now a recurring research and management priority.
What researchers and gear makers are testing
Scientists and gear makers are testing a whole menu of deterrents: chemical repellents, magnetic-field devices and electric emitters. Different shark species respond to different sensory cues, so no single gadget is expected to solve the problem. Developers say chemical products can be deployed near bait or hooks, while magnetic bands and electronic pulses are being trialed to keep sharks from homing in on fishing lines in the first place. Those approaches and their rough costs have been described by SharkDefense.
Training fishers to collect evidence
To figure out which sharks are doing the most damage, researchers at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology have started training local fishers to take simple DNA swabs from bitten fish and damaged gear. The samples go back to HIMB labs, where they are analyzed to identify the depredator species. Getting down to the species level helps scientists know whether magnets, chemicals or other deterrents are likely to work, since sensory biology can vary a lot from one shark family to another. HIMB researchers are also pairing swab results with tagging and acoustic tracking to map how often sharks visit key fishing grounds.
Fishers say markets won't buy bitten fish
The financial hit shows up as soon as boats unload. Fish with visible bite marks are often rejected at market, turning what should have been a payday into a loss for the crew. "The fish markets won't buy a fish that has a bite on it," Fernandez told Honolulu Civil Beat, underscoring how year-round and seasonal fishers are feeling the squeeze. For some operations, repeated depredation means lost days at sea, spoiled product and steadily shrinking margins.
Legal constraints and options
State law also limits how far managers can go in responding. Hawaiʻi law makes it unlawful to knowingly capture, take, possess or kill sharks in state waters and bans feeding sharks, while guidance discourages cleaning catch where swimmers and other ocean users could be put at risk. Those protections complicate calls for shark removal or other aggressive interventions and push policymakers toward nonlethal deterrents along with market or gear-based solutions. The statutes and administrative rules are summarized in Hawaiʻi fishing regulations and Division of Aquatic Resources guidance.
Council meetings will set the next steps
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and its science panels are set to take another hard look at depredation later this month. The SSC meets on March 17, 2026, and the council meets March 24–26 at the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu, giving fishers, scientists and managers a chance to line up what they are seeing on the water with what is being tested in the lab. The federal notice with meeting dates and logistics lists shark depredation on advisory agendas and gives the public an opportunity to weigh in. Stakeholders say those sessions will shape whether agencies push for more field trials, gear subsidies or market measures to blunt the economic hit from sharks that have learned to treat fishing boats like dinner bells.
