WATCH: Scuba Divers Rescue Shark Tied to Ocean Floor by Fishing Line
Incredible footage of scuba divers saving a limp baby shark stuck to the seabed by a hook in its mouth highlights the dangers of fishing gear lost in the ocean.
Dive buddies Jules Casey and PT Hirschfield were exploring near Flinders Pier off the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, when they came across a juvenile Port Jackson shark.
At first, they thought the shark was dead, but then Casey noticed its gills were still moving. When Casey picked up the shark, it began flailing around, and the divers realized she was tethered to the seabed via a small length of fishing line.
In an Instagram post, Casey says the shark “was pinned to the seabed with the fishing line for what appears to be quite some time, the hook had left rust marks on her skin.”
Hirschfield, was able to cut the fishing line to free the shark, but the hook was still in its mouth. With no way to get it out, the divers decided to swim the shark to the pier and ask for a fisherman’s help.
Eventually, the hook was removed, and the shark was able to swim free.
“'This little girl went through an extremely stressful time but she was strong and hopefully will fully recover from her near-death experience,” Casey says in the post. “She swam around near us for several minutes before leaving.”
If the divers had not rescued the shark, it likely would have slowly died of starvation. Such ghost gear kills scores of marine animals every year. The World Wildlife Fund estimating that nearly 30 percent of all fishing lines used around the globe are lost annually—part of the approximately 640,000 tonnes of fishing equipment to be lost in the ocean annually.
“While the consequences of plastic waste are finally starting to receive the attention they deserve, there’s still too little awareness about the catastrophic harm caused by ghost gear," Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International, said when the organization released a report on ghost gear in 2020. "This needs to change urgently given that it’s the most deadly form of marine plastic debris and that it can linger in our oceans for centuries, wreaking havoc like some kind of immortal menace...."
Casey says she hopes this serves as an educational moment for fishermen: “The reason behind this video is to show that when a shark, ray or fish breaks your fishing line with the line, hook and bait, often it ends in disaster for the animal.”
Digital editor Alexandra Gillespie contributed to reporting for this story.
