Tiger shark shown moments before being set free; supplied photo
In a rare angling feat, a fisherman in Western Australia has landed a 12-foot tiger shark from the beach using a hand line.
However, Brendon Hilder later found himself in hot water, briefly, because tiger sharks are protected and cannot be targeted by anglers.
Hilder was fishing for salmon earlier this month off Albany. But after spotting the shark he used salmon parts for bait, tossed the bait toward the shark. The hookup was almost instantaneous.
“An hour and 40 minutes into the fight, I was ready to give up and I had actually called another person out from the beach just to wind the line for me,” Hilder told ABC News Australia. “I couldn’t wind; my right arm had given up on me.”
The shark was landed after a two-hour struggle.
Although Hilder managed to release the predator, saying, “It’ll survive; it’s a big, tough girl,” the capture and the attention it received caused Fisheries Western Australia to become involved.
Hilder faced a potential $5,000 fine for targeting a protected species, but was not fined because he claimed that he did not know what type of shark it was when he made his cast.
Fisheries WA said late last week in a statement: “The decision was made on the ground that during an interview and upon review of the video it has been found that the fisher was not apparently aware that he had caught a tiger shark.
“It was only when he pulled it in to shallow waters he became aware, and which point he called for a knife and cut it free.”
The angler told ABC News that despite having only a hand line, leaving him unlikely to land something so large and powerful, he did not hesitate when he saw the shark.
“I’m a sports fisherman and that’s sport–and a fish of five kilos as opposed to something that’s three quarters of a ton, I’ll take on the big one every time,” he said.
Video footage circulating on the Internet is brief and of poor quality, and reveals only a quick glimpse of the shark.
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