SHARK!!

by Jeanette Gann

8/8/2013  

Scientists quickly measure a salmon shark before releasing it back into the water.

More sharks!! This morning started out with part sun and calm seas. Our first surface trawl of the day caught a salmon shark, an unusual sight in our nets, but exciting! According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game, these sharks can live to be 25 years old, with a range across the North Pacific from the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk to the Sea of Japan in the western Pacific, and from the Gulf of Alaska to southern Baja California, Mexico, in the eastern Pacific. Sharks can have a maximum weight of over 660 pounds, and a maximum length of over 10 ft (average length is about 6-7 ft). They eat sea otters, birds, salmon, squid, sablefish, herring, walleye Pollock, and a variety of other fish.  Salmon sharks are widely distributed in the subarctic and temperate North Pacific Ocean.They range across the North Pacific from the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk to the Sea of Japan in the western Pacific, and from the Gulf of Alaska to southern Baja California, Mexico, in the eastern Pacific