HENDERSON - Whether it’s a result of the oil spill or just a freak coincidence two sharks, both over five-feet long, have been caught by the same person in the Atchafalaya Basin. While sharks have been caught more regularly than one might think in the Basin, they have always been small in size, maybe one or two feet in length.

“It’s not that odd,” said Jody David with the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. “It is well known that sharks do swim in the river system in summer months.”

However, Wiven Hayes, who has been fishing in the Basin since he was six-years-old, and caught both of the sharks this week isn’t buying it.

“I’m not an expert,” said Hayes. “I am far from being a marine biologist but this just isn’t natural. I believe that this has to do with the oil situation in the Gulf.”

After all, during Hayes years of experience as a fisherman in the Basin, he has never caught a shark. Much less two five-footers in less than one week. One of the sharks he caught was a bull shark. Bull sharks are responsible for more attacks on humans in the United States than any other type of shark. It is unknown what type of shark the other one is.

While David says it’s normal for sharks to seek their food supply upstream and that these two catches in a week are most probably a coincidence, Hayes says the timing of this coincidence is just too strange.

“This is something that never happens,” he said. “It’s a disaster causing this.”

Daniel “Buddy” Guidry, 47, who works at Whiskey River Landing on the Henderson levee, is inclined to believe Hayes.

“Them scientists say that this is possible but I’ve lived and fished here my entire life,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything this strange.”