Going out by boat just to take a look…‘Bukang-i’ and other look-alike marine creatures that even ended up with names

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On the 27th, citizens watch the shark ‘Bukang-i’ swimming through the canal at the North Port Waterside Park in Dong-gu, Busan. Yonhap News Agency

The news that “a shark has appeared” has kept Busan North Port Waterside Park abuzz for more than ten days. To see Bukang-i, which entered the canal at the North Port Waterside Park in Dong-gu, Busan on the 18th, about 405,800 visitors came here over the week from the 19th to the 26th. On the 25th, during the Chuseok holiday, 136,000 people came in a single day. Bukang-i has become a North Port attraction, but as more time passes without it leaving the canal, the city of Busan decided to hold a rescue strategy meeting on the 28th to discuss how to return it to the open sea.

This is not unique to Busan. Overseas, there have been cases in which sharks and whales that should live in the sea entered narrow lagoons or canals and then struggled to get back out. In the United States, a great white shark entered a lagoon and remained there for about two weeks, and in the United Arab Emirates, a 6ｍ-long whale shark became trapped in an artificial lagoon and ultimately had to be moved to the sea by people. In Canada, a young orca stayed in a tidal lagoon for more than a month and then made its own way back to the sea.

Why, then, do marine animals that roam freely in the ocean enter such confined spaces? And once inside, why can they not readily make their way back to the open sea?

A shark swimming beside a surfer. Wikipedia

A great white trapped in a U.S. lagoon, even given the name ‘Gretel’

In 2004, something out of a movie happened in Massachusetts in the United States. A female great white shark about 4.3ｍ long and weighing around 770㎏ entered a shallow lagoon on Naushon Island near Cape Cod. Local researchers gave the shark the name ‘Gretel(Gretel)’.

Inside the lagoon, Gretel kept swimming in small circles in the same direction. According to the Los Angeles Times, after Gretel entered the lagoon, where the depth was about 6ｍ, on September 28, 2004, she repeatedly moved in circles.

Researchers at the time believed the great white had ventured too close to shore, lost its bearings in the shallow, complex tidal lagoon, and became trapped. Greg Skomal, a marine biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries who observed Gretel and took part in the rescue, described the site as an estuary influenced by tides and a ‘maze-like place’.

Public reaction was striking. Once word spread that a shark was in a narrow lagoon, onlookers flocked to the scene. Local reports said people came by boat and lined up to see the shark, and some tourists even approached quite close. The sight of a massive great white trapped in a small lagoon turned into a tourist attraction.

Although there were plenty of potential prey species nearby, such as flounder and herring, researchers concluded Gretel was remaining in the lagoon and unable to return to the open sea, so they decided to send her back offshore. They tried multiple methods to guide Gretel out of the lagoon, using bait, noise, and water movement, but these attempts did not go well.

After roughly two weeks, local fishers worked with the team to use nets to guide the shark toward the mouth of the inlet. In the shallow bay, two boats sprayed strong jets of water to steer Gretel, and she finally exited to the open sea. Skomal attached a satellite tag to track Gretel’s movements. However, the tag stopped working about 45 minutes after release. Where Gretel went afterward could not be confirmed.

In 2020, a whale shark that could not make it back to the sea was found in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. On October 30, in the artificial harbor at Al Bahia, a young male whale shark about 6ｍ long was found. The site connected to the Arabian Gulf, but the entrance was narrow and currents were strong. Researchers observed the whale shark repeatedly circling while staying inside the harbor.

There were also attempts by people to lead the whale shark out. Divers succeeded once in guiding it toward the open sea, but two days later the whale shark returned to the harbor. The researchers concluded that simply steering it toward the exit would be difficult.

On November 12, 2020, about two weeks after it was first discovered, the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi and the National Aquarium carried out a direct rescue. Divers placed the whale shark in a specially made soft transport bag and, using jet skis, moved it about 20㎞ to the Arabian Gulf. Before release, a satellite tag from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia was attached.

Its movements changed markedly after returning to the sea. During the first five days after release, it traveled about 232㎞. Having circled the same area inside the narrow harbor, the whale shark began long-distance movement again once in the open sea.

Researchers emphasized that even when a site is physically connected to the sea, marine animals do not necessarily find their way out easily. The Al Bahia whale shark was guided out once but returned, and ultimately needed direct human rescue. Bukang-i likewise has remained in the North Port Waterside Park canal for ten days, and authorities are discussing how to return it offshore.

A whale trapped in a lagoon in 2024. Ehattesaht First Nation

Whales experience similar situations, not just sharks. In March 2024, in Little Espinosa Inlet near Zeballos on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, a young orca became trapped in a narrow tidal lagoon. A two-year-old female orca and her mother had entered the lagoon through a narrow, fast-flowing channel, but the mother became stranded on the rocky shore at low tide on March 23 and died. The calf remained in the lagoon.

The local Indigenous community, the Ehattesaht First Nation, gave the orca the name ‘Kwiisahis’. It means ‘brave little hunter’. A rescue team then tried to capture the orca using boats, divers, and nets, but failed. There was even an imaginative attempt in which a woman played the violin to lure the orca out.

Jared Towers, a marine scientist and head of the whale research group Bay Cetology who observed the scene, said at the time that “the young orca has been trapped in the lagoon for a long time but is still vocalizing and signaling its presence to those nearby, and if it returns to the sea there is a chance of reunion with its pod.”

The rescue team, however, could not rescue the whale. After 34 days, when the tide rose and the water deepened, the orca moved to the end of the lagoon. Passing the place where its mother had died, it navigated through a narrow bottleneck and under a bridge to exit the channel of Little Espinosa Inlet. It then began moving toward the sea along Espinosa Inlet.

As the orca made its own way out, the rescue team did not bring boats close or try to change its course, instead watching to ensure it could follow the channel to the sea without human help. After more than a month in a narrow lagoon, the orca ultimately used the power of high tide to find its own path back to the ocean.

Cases like thisin which marine animals that move freely in the ocean enter narrow channels or lagoons and then fail to get outhave been repeated around the world. In 2012, marine biologist Cara Miller, who joined the rescue of the humpback whale ‘Prince of the Bay’ in Fiji’s Totoya Lagoon, told the Whale and Dolphin Conservation that whales are not accustomed to being trapped in lagoons, adding that “if people enter the water or chase whales with boats, it can confuse them and increase stress,” and recommending that “human approach should be minimized so that whales can find the lagoon’s exit on their own.”