Dead Sharks Washing Ashore at Coyote Point

Hundreds of dead leopard sharks have been washing ashore at Coyote Point, Foster City, Redwood Shores and other parts of the Bay, and state Department of Fish and Game pathologists now believe that infection is what’s killing them.

According to Sean Van Sommeran, executive director of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation, who has been working closely with Fish and Game on the investigation, three tested specimens were found to be infected from a carnobacterium or a protozoan, with two showing very clear examples of a damaged nervous system and GI tract.

“This is really serious,” Van Sommeran said. “Leopard sharks are usually very resistant to infections.”

The first sharks were initially found in the Redwood Shores lagoon by resident Cathy Greer. Since then, Greer said, many neighbors have been approaching her saying they’ve seen numerous other dead sharks.

Van Sommeran estimates that the count is now up to hundreds of sharks that have washed up from Redwood Shores to Foster City to Coyote Point.

He said they could have become infected in the Redwood Shores area, swam to other areas in the Bay and eventually died in those places.

Van Sommeran said he was hesitant to specify a cause for infection because Fish and Game had not released an official statement. He said many more specimens needed to be examined.

But if the cause is poor water quality, he said, Redwood City could provide a simple solution by installing aerators and other water-cleaning devices. He doubted that a chemical spill or any other unnatural isolated incident caused this epidemic of shark deaths.

Van Sommeran said he was also concerned because this is the shark species residing closest to the shore. He said biologists couldn’t detect what was happening to other species farther out in the Bay, such as seven-gill sharks.

“But we’re continually working on this and the Department of Fish and Game is determined to find the cause of these sharks dying,” he said.