Porbeagle shark accidentally caught in net

A fisherman had put out his net to catch red mullet around the Vazon area.

This type of net is put out over roughly a 24-hour period – this one had been put out at around 4pm on Tuesday and was checked at noon on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, within this time a porbeagle shark swam in and become trapped and was already dead by the time it was found.

‘If it had been alive I would have just cut it free,’ said the fisherman.

The shark was too big to fit onto his 12ft fishing boat and so it was towed to shore.

A spokesperson from Sea Fisheries said that porbeagle sharks are a prohibited species and may not be fished for or landed.

However, the fisherman acted responsibly in the circumstances by retrieving the shark and reporting the accidental catch.

The specimen was taken immediately to be incinerated at the States’ carcass incinerator at Longue Hougue.

‘Sea Fisheries can confirm that a porbeagle shark was brought ashore on the west coast of Guernsey having been accidentally caught in a set net intended for other species of fish.

‘These are rare events locally.

‘Once caught in the net, and thus unable to swim and pass water over its gills, the unfortunate consequence on this occasion was that the shark drowned before it was found,’ a Sea Fisheries spokesperson said.

The shark was around 2.5 metres long and weighed an estimated 120kg.

The porbeagle is part of the mackerel sharks and is a wide-ranging coastal and oceanic species.

It is listed as Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation and Nature, IUCN’s Red List, which is one status worse than Near Threatened and one above Endangered.

The IUCN species report says this is mainly due to unsustainable fishing either as a target species or as bycatch for its high-value meat.