Great White accidently caught off Fish Hoek Beach

Local whelk fishermen from Kalk Bay caught a 4.3 metre female great white shark this morning in their nets, 400 metres behind the breakers of Fish Hoek beach. Whelks are a type of Alikreukel snail, and are lured into nets using chummed up sardines, pilchards, snoek heads etc; much like crayfish.

Fishermen from the “Boy Johan” vessel have one of the few permits to catch whelk in the area, and  had set their nets late last night roughly 400 metres off Fish Hoek beach. The fishermen were unaware that the shark had become entangled in the net until they tried to haul it up early this morning. The net was extremely heavy and, after a long struggle to pull it up, they discovered the great white wrapped up in the net and reportedly dead already.

The fishermen were going to tow it back to Kalk Bay harbour when a shark operator from the area got wind of the catch and went out to get the shark and tow it back to Simons Town, where Marine and Coastal Management will do further dissections.

Shark specialists and authorities claim they have seen an increase in shark activity since these new whelk permits were issued by Marine and Coastal Management.

Update (March 13th) : Video

Source: zigzag.co.za
Photo Credit: Brandon Kilbride