Pier reopens after shark files complaint

Pier 4 reopened to the public on Tuesday morning, eleven days after it was closed following a formal complaint to the harbor board that was filed, through an attorney, on behalf of a nurse shark.

The complaint, which the board's clerk accepted "in the spirit of recent events," alleged that anglers on the pier had engaged in "excessive bait, insufficient respect, and persistent pointing." It asked for the pier to be closed "until the humans calm down."

The complaint

The shark's attorney, a marine-law specialist who says she took the case "because someone had to," told the board that her client had lived under the pier for four years and had "never once bitten anyone, which is more than the anglers can say about their sandwiches."

The board voted 5-0 to close the pier "pending review," with one abstention from the pelican, who the clerk's minutes record as "present, on the railing, looking at the water."

"We closed the pier because the complaint was well drafted. If more residents filed like the shark, this city would be in better shape."

— Harbor board chair

The review

The review found that bait on Pier 4 had "increased significantly" since the pelican's election, as anglers "wanted to be seen feeding the member." It also found that "pointing at the shark" had become "a thing people do on weekends."

New rules take effect immediately: no bait on the north rail, no pointing below the waterline, and "a general tone of respect for everything in the water, including the yacht if it comes back."

Reopening

The attorney has since received four further enquiries from residents of the harbor, including a heron, a family of manatees and "a man who thinks he's a dolphin, which we are looking into." She says she will take the manatees. The pelican, she notes, "has representation already, and a seat."

Around 200 residents attended the reopening. The shark did not, its attorney said, "on principle, and because it's a shark." The pelican did, and was fed, which the clerk's office says was "within the rules, barely."

The bait shop reported its best Tuesday in a decade. A sign on its door now reads "Respectful bait only."