Scuba Diving club,
Southern California
Sea Sabres
Great White Shark Gatecrashes Tuna Dinner Party
SYDNEY - A Great White Shark
has gatecrashed a tuna research project in Australia, mysteriously appearing
inside a fishing pen containing around 100 tuna.
Inside the cage
were 300 tuna with a research value of $1 million, although it was unclear
today whether the shark actually ate any of the fish trapped with it.
The 13-foot shark,
weighing about 1,500 pounds, is thought to have either bitten its way into the
tuna pond or leapt a 7.5 foot electrified fence while chasing a seal last
Thursday.
Scientists at the
pen off the coast of the South Australian tuna fishing town of Port Lincoln
said Tuesday the shark had swum contently around the pen, but they were not
sure how the tuna felt about their uninvited guest.
A head count of the
tuna showed two had disappeared.
"When the
shark swims to the surface the tuna swim to the bottom of the net and vice
versa," said a spokesman for the South Australian Research Development
Institute.
Early attempts to
lure the 4.5 metre female shark out of the pen with bait merely attracted a
larger white pointer to the area.
Rescuers then
feared they would have to lasso the shark and hoist it over the edge of the 30
metre wide cage.
"With other
sharks that has been done but ... this shark was twice the size of any of those
sharks so it couldn't really be done," Anthony Cheshire, chief aquatic
scientist for the South Australian Research Development Institute, said.
In the end the
solution was simple.
"Basically we
opened an underwater gate in the side of the cage ... and flung a net along the
cage to create a tunnel and the shark just swam out."
Professor Cheshire
said the trapped shark swam away today "none the worse for wear".
The gate was first
opened on Friday and bait placed outside but the trapped shark ignored it and
the bait was instead eaten by a 5.5m white pointer.
A seal that
followed the shark into the pen was not quite so lucky and has not been sighted
since Friday.
It may have been
the shark's only meal, although two of the tuna are missing.
Prof Cheshire said
while the tuna inside the cage had attracted the shark, it would have lost its
appetite after finding itself trapped.
Despite the
potential tourism bonanza of having a shark in an offshore enclosure, locals
were relieved to see it freed amid town whispers its health was deteriorating.
"I'm not sort
of stating facts because I don't really know (about sharks), but it's not a
well shark," said Di Dennis, from the Port Lincoln Tourism and Visitor
Information Centre.
"The shark is
quite sick, quite ill, you know, because they don't like to be trapped - it's
not natural for them to be closed in like that."
Fined for making Great White Jump
Posted June 28, 2003