Upon being cut open, the stomach was observed to contain “the skull and bones of both arms, one hand and one leg besides a quantity of black hair about three inches in length…together with a pair of bathing trunks. The shark had been hooked by its tail to a long line set for ulua the night before, and was so exhausted that it was easily landed. – Kahuku, Oʻahu – “A white shark was caught just offshore of Kahuku. The first was a 3.5 m male caught 7 December 1959 on a line set at depth 44-47 m off Kahuku to Waiale. Two white sharks were caught off Windward O‘ahu during the program. – Kahuku-Waialee, Oʻahu – “In response to a Decemfatal attack on Billy Weaver off Lanikai, O‘ahu the State of Hawai‘i conducted the Billy Weaver Shark Research and Control Program, which operated from 1959-1960. It was caught on a line set at a depth of 23-30 feet off Mokoli‘i (Chinaman’s Hat) to Pyramid Rock.” – Windward Oʻahu – “The second white shark caught during the Billy Weaver program was a 10 ft 10 in female. – One mile outside Honolulu Harbor – “A 13-foot white shark was captured by a commercial fisherman off Honolulu and brought back to the Honolulu Marineland at Kewalo basin, where it lived for two days.” The program reported the capture of three white sharks, but did not record size, sex or other details.” – Kawaihae Bay, Hawaiʻi – “In the late 1960s the Oceanic Institute (Waimanalo, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i) operated a shark culling program at Kawaihai Bay on the Big Island. In a letter accompanying the report, Albert Tester, then Senior Professor of Zoology at the University of Hawaiʻi, concurred with Wass’ identification, but did not comment on the length estimate.”

Based on a bite width of 24 cm, Wass estimated the length of the shark at 9 ft. The impressions were described as symmetrically triangular in shape, about 2 cm deep, with both jaws similar to each other. In a report to the International Shark Attack File (George Burgess, personal communication), then housed at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, FL, University of Hawaiʻi graduate student Richard Wass identified the species as a great white, based on the victim’s description of a uniform black dorsal coloration and tooth impressions left in the surfboard. A dead whale had recently been removed from the beach. The incident occurred about 100 yards from shore. – Makaha, Oʻahu – “A shark damaged a surfboard and inflicted a 5-inch laceration to the right leg of a 16-yr-old male surfer at Makaha, O‘ahu. They observed a shark with a conical snout, a dark grey upper surface with a sharp, blotchy line demarcating the transition to a white ventral surface and identified the individual as a white shark.”

– Penguin Bank, Molokaʻi – “Researchers in the Hawaiʻi Undersea Research Lab submersible Pisces IV, observed a shark at Penguin Bank, Molokaʻi, at a depth of about 1,100 feet. – Makapuʻu, Oʻahu – A female white shark was observed at a depth of 1,400-feet, the shark was estimated to be about 13 feet total length. “It had a distinctly lamnid body shape and was identified as a white shark from the photographs, based on the short conical snout and broad dorsal fin.” – Molokini, Maui – Divers at Molokini photographed a large shark at a depth of about 40 feet. – Near Haleʻiwa, Oʻahu – Jimmy Hall of Hawaiʻi Shark Encounters captured video footage of his swim with an 18- to 20-foot female white shark, the first time a great white appeared since his involvement in the shark diving business. A large shark approached the boat and underwater photographs where taken that identified it as a female white shark of approximately 14-feet total length.” – Mahukona, Hawaiʻi – “A whale monitoring boat was operating west of Mahukona. The system recorded a white shark, which was estimated to be about 11-feet long by Virginia Moriwake using stereo video calculations.”

– between Molokaʻi and Maui – “As part of a project monitoring bottom fish populations, a remotely operated stereo video camera system was deployed on the bottom of the Pailolo Channel between Molokaʻi and Maui at a depth of 764 feet. The 13 great whites observed in the study include:

Modern records of great white sharks “date back to May 1926, when the remains of a man who apparently drowned in waters of Haleʻiwa, Oʻahu, were recovered 16 days later in the stomach of a large shark landed” nearby, the authors wrote. NOAA shark expert, Melanie Hutchinson told KITV news earlier today that it was indeed a great white shark in his video.īased on Hawaiian knowledge and artifacts predating European contact, the study adds that white sharks have been known to be in Hawaiʻi since the time of ancient Hawaiians. Pagaduan’s sighting and video makes his encounter an extremely rare moment in Hawaiʻi shark history.

Deep blue shark off of maui