Angler under investigation after illegal catch of great white shark on Huntington Beach Pier (video)

 

Huntington Beach Pier has been crowded recently with shark fishermen and on Tuesday a YouTube user by the name of Ograza 13 uploaded a video showing the illegal capture of a juvenile great white shark that was stuck with a rope gaff, hauled onto the Orange County, Calif., pier and dragged around as it bled and gasped for breath.

Thanks to a tip from a witness and the incriminating footage, the angler who reeled in the five-foot shark has been identified and is under investigation for the take and possession of a protected species.

"We have the shark and we've identified who caught the shark," said Capt. Dan Sforza of the state Department of Fish and Game. "We are investigating and nobody is going to get away with anything."

Sforza declined to identify the angler. White sharks have been protected in California waters since 1994. Unlawful take and possession is a misdemeanor and those in violation face possible jail time and large fines.

Southern California waters are utilized by juvenile white sharks as a feeding ground. They prey mostly on small fishes, rays and other small sharks until they get large enough to migrate offshore and to the north to prey on seals and sea lions.

In the video, one person on the pier repeatedly calls out the word "mako," perhaps believing the quarry was a mako shark. Makos are not protected, but it's an angler's responsibility to understand the law and what he has on the line.

Comments

[justin]

Too many great whites close to human populations..its a clear statistic that attacks on swimmers/surfer have hit an all time high since the global ban of hunting this species. Its also well documented that they migrate over vast distances and have a near world-wide distribution - albeit with high population densities in certain areas. I think (As Australia has considered) we will see a temporary lifting of the ban to deal with this.

[drudown]

It is just one shark's life pulled from the sea- out of the foam.

"Thy love afar is spite at home." - Emerson

[SHREADS]

To Kris, our Huntington Beach White Supremacist. This is what you wrote - "Since these guys (i believe all involed should suffer) are a waist of our tax money, lets throw all these SOB off the side of a boat and let them swim to the point of exhaustion. Then hook them and drag them around till the bleed to death. I would love to see that on youtube!"

You are ignorant, stupid and a stereotype republican hateful person. Whats worse? spreading hatred due to color and immigration problems or a single shark. Its so funny to see that racism still exists today from all sides of the battle field. Im half white and half mexican and I can tell you I've seen it all. So does that make me illegal? I think it would be funny to see Native Americans grab your racist a** and throw you off into the Atlantic ocean with a note that says "Go Home Illegal"

Sincerely

-Shreads

[BOB]

So many racists in Huntington Beach. I walked into a bathroom that had Swastikas and Hooded figures on the pier. Oh, its ok to kill cows and drag them around with forklifts right? I swear, if these fisherman were white it would of been an "outrage" that they are facing criminal charges.

[BOB]

Had this been a catch from a "White" male there would be no charges, just a warning. Did you forget that white sharks eat our surfers? haha

[Owen]

On top of everything else, he did not clean it properly (immediately). If he did eat it, the meat would have been urine-soaked and full of ammonia. Just an awfully disgraceful waste all around.

[keith brooks]

It is obviously a Juvy Great White. I called Calif. Fish & Game too and reported this youtube video. Very sickening. GW's are endangered and they balance out our oceans. I think that more enforcement should be around. How can a person drag an endangered species around a pier and let it gasp for breath. I would have kicked these dudes' ass all over that pier if I had seen it live!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jim]

Just ban fishing from the pier, problem solved. Morons who fish like this don't put the effort or the bucks into going on the water to fish legally. And for all those so called innocent bystander, your as bad as the person who did the deed.

[Kev M]

I've only skimmed some of these comments, but I wanted to make a few of my own.

Sharks, as an apex predator, help keep the populations of "feeder" fish down, which is more beneficial than the average person can completely comprehend. Let me explain: phytoplankton, which is responsible for roughly 50% of the Earth's oxygen production, is eaten by small fish, which are in turn eaten by larger fish (sharks). Without the apex predator to keep the feeder fish in check, that phytoplankton is devoured at an alarming rate as feeder fish populations rise.

Humans kill more sharks per DAY than sharks kill in a year or more. Humans occupy land, but we don't call it "human-infested land" (though we should, at the rate this species is carelessly breeding). Sharks live in the water and feed in the water. They have nowhere else to go. We invade their world and cry foul when we are mistaken for food. We capitalize on the fear and hate that images of these big predators evoke and say that their world, the only place they can live, would be better off without them. We assume that this living planet needs only us to provide a safe and bountiful home indefinitely to our species. I often wonder if this planet doesn't consider us a plague.

I regularly dive with sharks off the east coast and other locations around the world, and while I haven't had the opportunity to dive with Great Whites, I wouldn't shy away from the chance in the right
circumstances (i.e. not looking/smelling like food; not chumming the water to attract and confuse them; not infringing upon their personal space as odd as that sounds regarding sharks). If you do a few searches online, you'll find plenty of videos of people diving and free-diving with Great White sharks, tiger sharks, bull sharks and other species. Do people still get bit? Yes. Do sharks as an entire family deserve to die because of it? No. No more than big jungle and savannah predators deserve to be wiped out when we invade their homes.

Think about it this way, are sharks kicking in your front door or smashing windows to steal your television or jewelry? Are they visiting your school to abduct and/or rape your children? Are they plotting to invade your country and commit genocide on your people? Do they have any ulterior motives for living where the evolutionary process has deposited them? No x4. Yet we see THEM as the problem when we can simply remove ourselves from the equation. We choose to enter their world for entertainment, not as a necessity. Remember that.

I highly recommend people watch "Sharkwater" and other pro-marine-ecosystem films to better understand the roles of all life, not just the Wal-mart bound kind.

[Todd J Holmes]

This clearly looks like a juvenile Great White. I guess these kids did not have anything better to do with their day, except ruin a sharks chances at life. People do not realize that once they are gone, they are gone. Someone mentioned something about the surfers that surf around that area, well when you get in the water consider yourself part of the food chain. I dive four to five times a week and every time i get into the water, i know the risk. If you don't want to get attacked stay the hell out of the water, the shark is just doing what nature intended it to do. Just because they attack and kill a select few people from around the world every year does not give us the permission to wipe them into extinction. Remember, every action has a consequence. Think about it!!!!!

[sports good]

. I can't understand the ignorance and lack of trainning in the DFG officer who could not ID the shark on the spot. I swear everyone here is using a fish to make racist comments. I bet they did not even plan on eating their catch. I hope they are punished to the fullest extent if the law.

[M Murrayhill]

Dustin, do you have ANY idea what removing an apex predator would do to the ocean? Scallops population ballooning is the least of your worries.

[Norman]

I don’t know what’s worse these idiots not knowing the difference between a Great White and a Mako or the Idiots posting statements on this video.
1st - They got caught and in the great republic of California, they will get slapped on the hand with a small fine and be on their way. California does not throw people in jail over a 1st offense. These guys didn't plan got out to the pier and poach a G.W. shark, it was caught as by catch and as such the line should have been cut. But the fact that the line wasn't cut and the fish killed, these guys were unaware of the species they had on the hook and will pay the fine for it. I think you will be amazed that it will be less than a speeding ticket. I have seen a black sea bass taken the same way on another pier in So Cal and the fisherman was caught. After all was said and done, the court fined him for $218.00 and on he went. Difference between the 2 - you bet. The guy who got the Black Bass knew what he caught and tried to smuggle it off the pier and got caught (he poached) and these guys didn't. Both fish have a no catch law and both endangered.
2nd - What’s with the Mexican racists. Ship them back to Mexico?? To assume they are illegal because they are Mexican makes you as ignorant as they are.
3rd - The people crying about the suffering of the fish, and the "how could they"'s, you all must be vegetarians. If you eat meat than your are a hypocrite. You just never see how your T-bone or Salmon fillet gets into that little package at the store.
These guys will pay for what they did, but they will not be jailed, deported or beheaded for their crimes. They will have to cut back on the bud light for a couple of weeks to save for the ticket.

[ARCADIAN]

All the pertaining people involved should goto jail. just because you have a fishing pole doesnt mean you should not know the law. I hope they all goto jail.

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!

You should have asked someone before gaffing the shark.

[Dustin]

Well, thanks for labeling me ignorant on the subject without addressing any of the points of my argument.

First, it is all of matter of why you think the current status quo of the eco system of the ocean is the most favorable one. If there are less scallops due to less deadly sharks, to me, it seems like a small price to pay. The world as we know it would not cease to exist by eliminating deadly sharks.

Second, it seems like your (brief, uninformative) counter-argument seems to suggest that people killing sharks is bad because they kill other stuff to maintain a food chain. That sounds like a hypocritical, rob from Peter to give to Paul argument. So, my wonder is whether your sympathy for the shark is based on breed, or if you think all sharks are created equal.

Third, Great White sharks rank number 1 in a list of number of recorded attacks on humans.

Maybe if you could enlighten us all on the benefits of shark attacks, then I would understand where you are coming from, but
"Sharks aren't bad, ignorance is," is by far the most ironically ignorant statement I have heard in a long while.

[BigTime]

Dustin, you are the breed of person who needs to go extinct.

The attitude that these guys display while killing this tiny shark is disgusting. I hope they see some hefty fines.

[KALAMA]

White sharks are protected. Baby white sharks don't attack people like jaws and kill them. That was a baby/jouvi white shark. If you want to see an adult one, get on a long range boat and fish Guad Island. You would NOT want to try to gaff one of those.. I found the video disturbing but can understand the heat of the moment of a catch on a pier. LINE SHOULD HAVE BEEN CUT. I'm not a racist, the only thing "illeagal" was the SHARK they pulled in and left to suffer on a pier while they all pointed and giggled about how BIG this 5' baby was." If they were fisherman they would have cut line. If they were going to eat it they would have bleed it out immediatly. I can't understand the ignorance and lack of trainning in the DFG officer who could not ID the shark on the spot. How did he get a job doing this. If that is who is protecting our wildlife and ecosystems well.... Good luck. 2012 is just around the corner. We are doomed.

[seema]

nice.....!

[DeeDeee]

@ dustin really? you really need to educate yourself! If there were no sharks then the entire eco-system would become unbalanced and everything would be unproportioned. Sharks are not bad however, ignorance is!

[Dustin]

These guys are getting in trouble for catching a deadly shark? I don't care how endangered they are, that thing is huge and people get attacked by sharks all the time. I wouldn't mind if sharks went extinct; I'd definitely feel a lot safer in the water. Hopefully if terrorists, black widows, or rattle snakes ever become endangered, we won't arrest people for ridding the world of their presence.

[Lilian]

Regardless of what the animal is mako shark, wahtever, you do not take him out of his water, inflict pain on him, just so people can get fun out of it. We are suppose to be the great fathers and defenders of the animal before the whole world. We critize Japan for killing whales, we critize China for killing dogs and cats, And we have animal cruelty in our back yard! some one should just hand this people with a hook so they can find out how it hurts!! If I ever met them I would do it! LM

[drudown]

ps Look at the black coloration at the tip of the underside of the shark's pectoral fins. That is the easiest way to differentiate between a White shark and a Mako.

[DeeDeee]

You want to be "safe" in the water then check out the shark sighting website Pacific Coast Shark News http://sharkresearchcommittee.com/pacific_coast_shark_news.htm
If your not feeling sure then stay out of the DAMN water!!!!

[Angler9]

1. Fishing from a Pier in California does not require a fishing license.
2. Julie Wright, where do you get 219 Great Whites? That is not even close to correct.
3. They thought the shark was a mako (clearly a white) Teeth are triangular, mako's are long and narrow, whites are triangular.
4. Flying gaff's are legal (just not for prohibited species)
5. Shark fishing is legal (just not for whites)

[Illegal (not!)]

WOW!! The degree of racism in this forum is staggering!! I am Hispanic. I fished piers when I was younger (and I still do once in a blue moon, whenever I don't feel like messing with the boat). In fact, many years ago I used to fish that same pier for batrays and on ocassion, thresher (never caught a thresher there, though). I also tend to speak Spanish when in the prescence of other hispanics. Yet I am a US citizen.

All of you assuming the fisherman is illegal should be ashamed of yourselves!! Using this issue to showcase your hate and anger only showcases how small-minded and ugly you really are. Yeah, he could be illegal, but you don't know that. How full of yourselves can you be by assuming so?

Yeah, the people involved were clearly ignorant and inconsiderate of our natural resources, but it appears that their ignorance has only served to expose the ignorance of so many more here. It's sad to see how ignorant and intolerant some of us are becoming. Pathetic!!

(And for the record, the methods these "fishermen" used are not illegal, including, generally, landing fish with pier gaffs. The only illegal portion of this whole mess is landing and keeping such a beautiful animal. They should've just cut the line if they weren't sure of what they had).