Catching Sharks

I never knew it was this easy!

Great white jumps on to research boat – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Great white jumps on to research boat


The 1,100-pound great white shark sits in the stern of a South African research boat.


July 20th, 2011


Shark researchers in South Africa didn't have to go far Tuesday to find a specimen - a 10-foot great white shark leaped into the back of their boat. And rather than a story of the big one that got away, this is a story of a big one they couldn't get rid of.
The boat, from Ocean's Research in Mossel Bay on South Africa's southern coast between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, was chumming in the waters around Seal Island and monitoring the activity of four sharks as part of an ongoing study, researchers reported on their blog.
“Next thing I know I hear a splash, and see a white shark breach out of the water from the side of the boat hovering, literally, over the crewmember who was chumming on the boat's port side,” field specialist Dorien Schroder wrote on the blog. He pulled the crewmember to safety while others jumped out of the way of the 1,100-pound shark.
Schroder said the shark landed with only half of its body on the boat, and the crew hoped it would slide off. This shark, however, wanted to hang around.
The shark thrashed about and became stuck in a 5-by-6.5-foot area on the stern of the boat, cutting the vessel's fuel lines in the process.
Schroder's crew on the Cheetah radioed for help from other researchers aboard the boat Laminade. Schroder poured water on the shark's gills to keep it alive as they waited 15 minutes for help to arrive. Researchers then tied a rope around the shark's tail and tried to use the Laminade to pull it off the Cheetah to no avail.
After the Laminade towed the Cheetah back to port, a water hose was inserted into the shark's mouth to keep it alive as a fishing boat used its crane to lift the animal by its tail and drop it in the harbor.
Shark tale over, right? Not quite.
About a half hour later, the researchers found the shark beached on a small area in the harbor.
Two researchers, Enrico Gennari and Ryan Johnson, tried to walk the animal into deeper water. The shark was having none of it, but the researchers weren't about to give up.
The attached ropes from their boat to the shark's tail and pectoral fins, tilted its head up so its gills could work properly, and towed it about a half-mile outside the harbor, where the shark regained strength and swam away.
Researchers were satisfied.
"It is impossible to predict everything that can happen," they said on the blog. "What is important is how you respond to such situation. No one was injured and the shark survived, this is a credit to our team, the port authorities and members of the community who assisted."
And they do have a whale of a shark story to tell their kids.

Post by: CNN's Brad Lendon

that's just WILD!!!!!!! wonder why he was so set on getting outta the water? so glad he was saved though!
thanks for sharing this glen!

LOL wow that's pretty crazy, what are the odds it jumps on a research vessel?

There was a guy in the back chumming and the shark jumped in about that spot. Craziness.

Originally Posted by rgrking

There was a guy in the back chumming and the shark jumped in about that spot. Craziness.

Brothers gotta eat man.


OR


Them sharks are almost as bad as wrasses about trying to go carpet surfing.

"Well you can take off the seal suit Lewis. No need to go water skiing today, we caught one already"

Ill bet the guy who was chumming, had to wear a survival suit back to the dock, due to browning his fishermans outfit.

They would have just followed the brown in the ocean to find me if I was in his shoes.

Yea, I bet first he said it, then he did it.

Originally Posted by Variko

"Well you can take off the seal suit Lewis. No need to go water skiing today, we caught one already"

..........I think I'd find a new job after that!