The Dorsal Fin

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to dive with some sand tiger sharks off the North Carolina coast. Unfortunately, the juvenile sand tiger in the video above had apparently been hooked on what appears to be a fisherman’s bottom rig. The young shark was swimming around inside the hull of the USS Indra. The shark appeared to have a treble hook in its lower jaw with a lead sinker dangling from it.

The sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) is a protected species in U.S. waters. However, due to the unpredictable nature of fishing, sand tigers can be accidentally hooked by fisherman. It is unclear whether this particular shark was hooked accidentally and broke the line, or the line was simply cut.

A diver had told us he attempted to remove the hook from the shark on a previous dive. He said he had “wrestled” with the shark for quite some time during the attempt, but his efforts proved unsuccessful.

A relatively small white shark was killed on Friday during the Star Island Yacht Club Shark Tournament.

In a follow-up to today’s earlier post regarding internet rumors of a white shark being illegally caught and killed at the Star Island Yacht Club Shark Tournament, The East Hampton Press is reporting that a great white shark weighing between 300 and 400 lbs. (which would make it a relatively young white shark) was confiscated by the National Marine Fisheries Service after a participant in the Star Island Yacht Shark Tournament brought the shark in. (The great white shark has been a protected species in U.S. waters since 1997.) The article reports that the fisherman who caught the shark was neither fined nor arrested on the scene, according to Lesli Bales-Sherrod of the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement. However, he could face a civil charge at the conclusion of NOAA’s ongoing investigation of the event.

The East Hampton Press quoted Rich Janis, a manager of the shark tournament, as saying that the fisherman mistook the shark for another species. Janis went on to say that it was “an honest mistake” and noted that there was “no benefit” to the fisherman for bringing in the shark.

The information in the The East Hampton Press article is in stark contrast to the rumors that appeared on a few online angling forums, in which claims of an arrest, fines, boat seizure, and even a child endangerment charge were mentioned.

A great white shark was shot with a spear gun by a diver in False Bay on Tuesday.
(photo taken at Isla de Guadalupe)

A great white shark was shot with a speargun yesterday in False Bay (South Africa), according to the Independent Online. A spokesman for the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said that the white shark had not been acting aggressively and had turned to swim away after getting close to a group of divers. One of the divers “shot at the shark” to scare it away and “accidentally” shot the shark in the gill area. The diver estimated the shark to be between 3-4m in length. Researchers and scientists are concerned for the well-being of the shark due to the potentially life-threatening injuries that could be sustained in the gill area. The spokesman for the NSRI encourages any sightings of the injured shark to be reported.

Great white sharks are a protected species in South Africa. The story somewhat reminds me of stories that I’ve heard about hunters firing “warning shots” at deer when they are out of season only to “accidentally” hit the deer. The difference here is that it seems as though the diver reported the incident to the NSRI, which makes it seem as though the diver simply panicked and shot the shark out of fear, despite the fact that the shark had turned to swim away.