Florida’s beaches have made headlines in the past thanks to the huge volume of cocaine that frequently washes up.
These instances are the result of drug traffickers from Central and South America who attempt to smuggle cocaine and other narcotics into the United States.
Many of these traffickers will travel via boat or aircraft, dropping bales of cocaine into the water to evade detection by law enforcement or pass the drugs along to fellow traffickers.
These drop-offs often happen in the Atlantic Ocean or in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida, so strong storms and currents push these packages ashore, where they are then discovered by passersby or law enforcement.
But while many of these packages may be stopped before they do any damage, there are still risks of environmental concerns — namely, “cocaine sharks.”
During Discovery’s Shark Week last year, researchers took to the coastline of Florida to determine whether these bales of cocaine could be having an adverse effect on sharks in the area.
One of the researchers behind that project was Dr. Tracy Fanara, an environmental scientist in Florida.
As part of the project, Fanara and other researchers dropped packages that looked similar to cocaine bales into the water next to dummy swans to find out whether sharks were willing to take a nibble.
And nibble they did.
“But that could have been anything,” Fanara told News 6. “It’s all very possible that sharks and cocaine would interact. Whether sharks are actually biting into the bales and have some kind of a reaction — that’s what we don’t know because that’s what we didn’t catch on camera.”
That doesn’t mean that “cocaine sharks” aren’t a thing, though.
According to experts, South America is a primary hub for cocaine production, which is then trafficked to other countries.
Brazilian scientists recently tested 13 sharks when their corpses washed ashore and, when examined, each shark tested positive for cocaine.
“Because the cocaine is in the water as well, it’s safe to assume this species of shark — that really stays close to the coast and spends their life cycle near the coast — may be exposed to cocaine continuously,” Fanara explained. “But in the (Florida) Keys, where we were for our investigation, I don’t think that’s going to be the case.”
Fanara doesn’t think that Brazil is the only location where this phenomenon is taking place, as sea animals like crabs and shrimp have also tested positive for cocaine near the United Kingdom.
Of course, sharks don’t necessarily have to take a bite out of these cocaine bales to be impacted. If these bales tear open in the water, then the cocaine within can dissolve and feed into waterways.
This would be more of an issue for tighter areas along Florida’s coast than in the open ocean, though.
“If the bales wash up into the mangroves, and there’s constant waves coming in and releasing cocaine a little bit at a time, it’s possible that juvenile sharks or sharks that live in mangrove areas might be impacted,” Fanara told News 6. “Out in the open ocean? I mean, there’s so much water that dilution would happen pretty quickly because cocaine is so soluble.”
If sharks are exposed to these cocaine-laden waterways, would could be the impact?
Previous studies involving the effects of cocaine on sea life didn’t exactly target sharks, so to get a better idea of what might happen, Fanara and the team dropped concentrated fish powder into the water. This exposed sharks to a stimulant similar to cocaine (read: not actual cocaine) to examine the sharks’ behaviors.
But while the researchers noticed erratic behavior from the sharks, that doesn’t necessarily translate one-to-one with a reaction to cocaine.
“We know that the fish food is their food; they go nuts for it. So if sharks were to have the same reaction that humans do to cocaine, that might be the case,” Fanara said. “But to assume that is a long shot.”
So what’s the takeaway from Fanara’s experiment?
Well, the evidence is inconclusive. Without further research, experts can’t say for sure whether these adrift cocaine bales are causing major problems for Florida’s sharks, nor can they determine the exact impacts of cocaine on these sharks’ behaviors.
But there’s another issue that may be presenting challenges for Florida’s shark population — namely, wastewater.
“Anytime we take a shower, flush our toilets, that water goes to a wastewater treatment plant...” Fanara said. “This water goes to a wastewater treatment plant, it’s only treated to remove certain pollutants, and then it’s returned to the environment.”
Runoff containing herbicides, fertilizers, insecticides and other dangerous chemicals can also lead into coastal waterways. This can all spark algae blooms along Florida’s lakes and coasts, which can have a negative impact on sharks.
In addition, these substances may contain antibiotics, which can create antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Florida’s coastal waters, Fanara stated.
“Overall, do I think that sharks are high on cocaine in the Florida Keys? No, probably not,” Fanara told News 6. “But this really catchy title does shed light on a really important and compounding issue, which is all these chemicals in our waterways. And the fact of the matter is, cocaine is a problem (for sharks) in some locations throughout the world.”
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