Live Tiger Shark Pups Rescued in Taitung: Valuable for Research

Fishermen operating out of Chenggong fishing port in Taitung County, Taiwan, brought in two dead pregnant female tiger sharks in two consecutive days, from which 75 live baby sharks were rescued.

The tiger shark pups were taken to be tagged and released by the Council of Agriculture’s Fisheries Research Institute.

The first shark was brought in on Monday, June 13, and another Tuesday, June 14.

Video broadcast by news networks shows a fish trader at the port cutting open the belly of a shark and putting the live shark pups into tubs of water. The water was then kept agitated and the sharks moved around to keep water moving through their gills to keep them oxygenated until they could be moved to a larger pool at the fisheries research station.

Researchers then measured and weighed the sharks before attaching transmitters that will allow them to track the sharks. Marine biologists hope to learn more about the tiger shark’s migration routes of which presently little is known.

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