A dive centre manager has shared astonishing footage of blacktip reef sharks hunting right on the shoreline in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.
In the video, tiny fish leap out of the ankle-deep water while several sharks zoom onto shore, even beaching themselves for a second in the attempt to catch a bite.
“This moment was wild,” says Kris Holst Galarza, who shot the video. “I could feel the baitfish bouncing off my legs as these blacktips stranded themselves and swam at the speed of light, to hunt them.”
To make the moment even more remarkable, this beach used to be a shark finning camp, says Misool Resort on Instagram. Fishers in this area used to catch sharks and sell their valuable fins. This practice often involves slicing the fin off a living shark before throwing the rest of the body back into the water.
At this time, it was incredibly rare to see sharks in the area.
The camp was abandoned and, later, Misool Resort was built on the same site. The owners committed to protecting the reefs and its inhabitants and, today, the 300,000-acre Misool Marine Reserve has a team of local rangers patrolling to prevent fishing.
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The impact has been massive, according to Wildlife Conservation Network. “Since 2012, shark numbers inside the Misool Marine Reserve have increased by an incredible 190 percent,” they write on their website. “Blacktip reef sharks now glide through the North Lagoon, which has become a bustling nursery, and adult sharks are seen on nearly every dive.”
“Being able to witness this rare behaviour is a profound testament to what happens when we actively choose to respect our oceans,” says Holst Galarza, who worked as Misool Resort’s dive centre manager. “I feel so honoured to have been a part of this, if only for a brief moment in time.”
Image and video credit: Credit: Kris Holst Galarza (@inti.mar) at Misool Marine Reserve, Raja Ampat
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