WAIPOULI — United States Air Force Major Angela Honora, of the Tropic Care Kaua‘i group, said on Friday that they were discouraged from swimming because sharks were sighted in the water close to the beach fronting the Sheraton Kaua‘i Coconut Beach Resort.
WAIPOULI — United States Air Force Major Angela Honora, of the Tropic Care Kaua‘i group, said on Friday that they were discouraged from swimming because sharks were sighted in the water close to the beach fronting the Sheraton Kaua‘i Coconut Beach Resort.
The sharks were attracted to the area by a portion of a whale carcass that came ashore on the reef close to the Sheraton Kaua‘i Coconut Beach Resort on Thursday evening.
“This explains it all,” said visitors Hunter Greer and McKenna Korzeniewski, of Florida, who walked the beach in search of answers to the “Sharks Sighted” advisory signs posted on the beach.
Representatives from the Department of Land and Natural Resources established a safety perimeter on Friday with the help of the Division of Aquatic Resources, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, as well as cultural practitioner Billy Kinney of the Kaia‘i Kanaloa organization.
Witnesses believe, due to the degradation of the carcass, it is the head of a sperm whale.
Jean Souza, of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Marine Sanctuary, said the responsibility for disposing of the beached carcass falls with NOAA Fisheries, the landowner and cultural practitioner.
She said this is not the first sperm whale to come ashore in the area. A 56-foot male sperm whale beached itself at nearby Lydgate Park south end in 2023. The whale later expired, and based on a necropsy, the whale’s death was caused by an obstruction in its intestines by marine debris.
In the meantime, officials are asking people to stay out of the water in the immediate vicinity of the carcass due to sharks roaming the area.
