Two-meter shark netted near kids’ camp

21 Sep, 2011 10:16 / Updated 13 years ago

A two-meter long mackerel shark has been caught by fishermen not far from a children’s holiday camp in Russia’s Far East. The catch follows a number of shark attacks in the region earlier that resulted in serious injuries.

The shark became entangled in the floating net the fishermen fixed late at night to get some flatfish in the morning. However, when they returned early the next day, they saw a large shark in the net.“We found it just near the pier, a few hundred meters away from a kids’ camp. It was huge, still alive and twitching frantically. It was 264 centimeters long, and one of the fins at least half a meter!” said one of the fishermen. “When we were checking the nets and saw the beast I was so scared I thought I would die,” fisherman Sergey Galaido is quoted saying by Komsomolskaya Pravda. It is not the first time this year that sharks have been spotted in the region.They attacked people on three occasions in mid-August.Two young men and one teenager suffered serious injuries as a result of these attacks.A special headquarters was created in Primorsky Krai, with its aim is to catch the predators. A fleet for a marine hunt was formed as well. Currently, at least nine fishing boats and ten other boats are patrolling the waters. Local fishermen had earlier caught several sharks in the region, but according to scientists they are typical of those found in Primorye and posed no threat to humans.September 15 was declared the end of swimming season in the region because sea temperatures had reached a low level. Scientists, however, believe large sharks can be seen in the region’s waters until the middle of October, as the water temperature suits them perfectly.