Busan shark ‘Bucangi’ remains as holiday visitors near one million

The shark nicknamed ‘Bucangi’ was still in the artificial waterway at Busan North Port Waterside Park on Oct 5, the last day of the holiday period and more than two weeks after it was first seen there, Maeil Business and Newsis reported. Maeil Business said visitors began gathering at the park from 7 am, standing two or three deep along the walkways and footbridges near the spots where the shark usually appears. Newsis reported that the route from Busan Station toward the park was busy at about 1:20 pm with families, couples and out-of-town visitors carrying suitcases, mats and coffee, and that staff and cones directed pedestrians to keep right. [ 8 , 9 ]

Two attempts to guide the shark back to sea have failed, according to Seoul Economic Daily, Kyunghyang Shinmun and Maeil Business. Maeil Business reported that the first, on Sept 29, used coast guard boats that pushed streams of water with pumps from the inner waterway toward the exit in morning and afternoon operations, but the shark reappeared behind the boats. In the second attempt, on Oct 2, authorities spread a net 50 m long and 6.8 m high and pushed it toward the sixth footbridge nearer the sea; the net caught on the bottom of the channel and the shark stopped moving, so the operation was halted and the net was fixed about 100 m from the waterway exit (Seoul Economic Daily, Maeil Business). Around noon on Oct 3, as the tide rose, the shark crossed the net and returned inside, the outlets reported. Maeil Business said the net was removed at about 4:20 pm that day. [ 2 , 4 , 8 ]

Busan city and the National Institute of Fisheries Science said they would monitor the shark rather than mount another immediate operation, with the institute checking its movements and health, according to Seoul Economic Daily, Kyunghyang Shinmun and Newsis. Kim Hyun-woo, a researcher at the institute, told Newsis that the shark has shown no abnormal behaviour and is swimming normally, adding that a large individual can go about a month without feeding but that its intake before entering the waterway is unknown. Maeil Business also reported that no feeding has been observed. [ 2 , 4 , 8 , 9 ]

Researchers cited by Kyunghyang Shinmun and Maeil Business said they could not establish why the shark stays. Choi Yun, an emeritus professor at Kunsan National University, said the possibility of a magnetic field in the channel should be checked, noting that sharks tend to avoid electric currents but approach magnetic fields. Jeong Seok-geun of Jeju National University wrote on social media that the channel works as a feeding ground for the shark, and Kim Hyun-woo of the fisheries institute said vibration and light pollution from cruise ships and facilities near the entrance may be blocking its exit. Yeon Seong-chan, director of Seoul National University’s animal hospital, warned that forcing a wild animal can cause capture myopathy and death, and proposed a baited trap at the entrance so the shark can leave on its own. [ 4 , 7 , 8 ]

Visitor numbers have risen sharply. Seoul Economic Daily and Maeil Business reported that the park previously averaged about 2,000 visitors a day; Maeil Business said 72,000 people came on Oct 3 and 69,000 on Oct 4, and put the cumulative total from Sept 19 to Oct 4 at 891,800, with a peak of 140,000 on Sept 26. Newsis reported 837,800 cumulative visits since Sept 19 as of Oct 3 and said on Oct 5 that the count was approaching one million, while Kyunghyang Shinmun put the figure at 802,800 through 6 pm on Oct 3. CBS NoCut News described a queue of spectators 800 m long along the railing, full car parks and police directing traffic. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 , 9 ]

Kukmin Ilbo’s headline said the shark’s return and the resulting crowds had also given momentum to a dome stadium project, but the document carries only the headline and gives no details. [ 1 ]