Authorities launched a third attempt Wednesday to guide Buchang-i, a shark that has spent more than a month in an artificial waterway at Busan's North Port waterfront park, back out to sea.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Busan city and other relevant agencies began the operation in the park's waterway Wednesday — the third such attempt after two failures on Sept. 29 and Oct. 2.
The operation involves dragging a net from the inner end of the waterway toward the exit to herd the shark toward the open sea.
Unlike the second attempt on Oct. 2, crews are using a net fixed to a pontoon — a flat, barge-like floating platform — to keep the net stable and prevent Buchang-i from swimming back over it into the inner waterway.
Personnel stationed on top of the pontoon will block the shark from approaching the barrier.
Professional divers have also been deployed and will enter the water to handle any unexpected situations, such as the net snagging on an obstacle.
The second operation on Oct. 2 was halted after the net became caught on obstacles on the waterway floor. Ahead of Wednesday's attempt, authorities used sonar and an underwater drone to survey the bottom of the waterway and map any obstructions.
Crews began installing the net and pontoon near the fifth and sixth pedestrian bridges in the waterway Wednesday morning, with the guidance operation itself set to begin around 2 to 3 p.m. after a rehearsal.
Buchang-i, a roughly 3-meter blacktip shark, was first spotted in the waterway on Sept. 18. The sighting drew large crowds of curious visitors, pushing the park's cumulative attendance past 1.6 million.
Authorities had waited for the shark to find its own way back to sea, but with Buchang-i showing no sign of leaving and water temperatures dropping — raising the risk of death — they decided to intervene for a third time.
betterj@heraldcorp.com
