Thanks for the feedback!
Yea, initially the plan was have endless waves of cat spawns as well as escalating difficulty via new creatures appearing. I also thought that having too many cats get shark-attacked would cause a fail state, similar to boat health, and the timer was to track how long you survived.
Scope changed to meet the deadline and the timer is a hold over from that.
Will see what I can get added in the weeks post-jam :)