Bukangi the shark appears near the surface of a waterway as visitors watch from the railing at North Port Waterfront Park in Busan on Oct. 5.NEWS1
Busan will keep watch over a shark that has lingered in a waterway at North Port Waterfront Park for weeks after concluding that further attempts to guide it back to the open sea are unlikely to work.
“We believe the water will remain warm enough for Bukangi through the end of October,” Kim Chang-deok, director-general of Busan’s Green City Bureau, said in an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on Monday. “For now, we plan to keep watch until the water temperature drops significantly or Bukangi shows any unusual behavior.”
Bukangiis the shark’s name, combining a phonetic rendering of bukhang, the Korean word for North Port, with the suffix “-i,” commonly added to names as a sign of affection. The shark, presumed to be a bronze whaler measuring 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) long, was first spotted in the waterway on Sept. 18.
Busan has made several attempts to guide the shark back to the open sea. Officials first sprayed high-pressure water to try to steer the shark back to the open sea last Tuesday, but the attempt failed.
The next attempt came on Friday,using a net. The operation was halted just 80 meters from the open sea after the net snagged on a structure on the waterway floor. Officials secured the net there and hoped the shark would swim out to sea on its own.
But around noon on Saturday, the water rose above the net at high tide, and the shark swam over it and back into the inner waterway. Rescue officials removed the net later that afternoon.
A child leans against a railing as they wait for Bukangi the shark to appear in a waterway at North Port Waterfront Park in Busan, on Oct. 5.NEWS1
“Given that the shark turned back even after getting so close to the sea, we believe another rescue attempt using a net would probably end the same way,” Kim said. “We will not make another attempt with a net.”
Busan officials also believe that sedating or capturing the shark and transporting it to the open sea would be difficult and potentially dangerous. Sharks that need to keep swimming to pass water over their gills and breathe can be put at greater risk if they are taken out of the water or their movement is restricted.
A shark named Bukangi appears near the surface of a waterway as visitors watch from the railing at North Port Waterfront Park in Busan on Oct. 5.NEWS1
“It is difficult to carry out a rescue operation using methods other than a net,” Kim said. “We are consulting experts and considering a range of options.”
Officials are also continuing to monitor whether the shark is feeding. The National Institute of Fisheries Science said it has yet to observe clear signs that the shark has been hunting.
“Bukangi is a bronze whaler that preys on larger fish such as mackerel and yellowtail,” said Kim Hyun-woo, a researcher at the National Institute of Fisheries Science. “The waterway has plenty of smaller fish, such as mullet, horse mackerel and surfperch, which may be why we have not observed any predatory activity.”
For now, officials have decided to continue monitoring Bukangi because it is still swimming normally and shows no outward signs of health problems.
Visitors from Busan and across the country have flocked to North Port, where they pack the railings along the waterway and wait with cameras and phones for the shark to surface. Cumulative attendance since the shark first appeared in mid-September surpassed 900,000 as of Sunday.
Bukangi’s presence has also led to calls to turn the surge in visitors into a broader opportunity to revitalize North Port.
The Busan Port Future Policy Institute on Monday called for “a comprehensive strategy that links policies across marine culture, tourism, commerce, public transportation and water safety.”
“We need to establish a cooperative framework among the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the Busan city government and the Busan Port Authority to develop North Port into a global marine tourism hub,” the institute said.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
