THE REEL DEAL
Giant 28-stone porbeagle shark reeled in off Devon coast… just days after Brit fisherman was savaged by same species nearby
It was caught off Hartland Point in Devon on a fishing boat skippered by Dan Hawkins
A GIANT 28-stone porbeagle shark has been caught off the Devon coast - just days after a British fisherman was savaged by the same species.
The enormous catch was nearly nine-feet in length and took an hour for hardy fishermen to reel in.
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It was caught off Hartland Point in Devon on a fishing boat skippered by Dan Hawkins.
He said the huge fish was carefully released back into the wild after being pulled in by a 67-year-old man.
It is the second monster shark caught in a few weeks aboard charters run by Mr Hawkins - a 300Ilb specimen was caught in late April.
Max Berryman suffered ten inch wounds after being bitten on Sunday by a porbeagle shark he was helping heave back into the ocean.
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The quick-thinking actions of his crew saw the bloody wound inflicted by the furious shark attacking "anything that was nearby" patched up as a helicopter was scrambled to the bobbing boat miles from shore.
The 21-year-old was hauled up to safety and rushed to hospital in Truro by helicopter from trawler Govenek of Ladram.
He told the Sun: “It had me in its jaws and could’ve had my privates off.”
“It landed on the floor of the boat right next to me and was thrashing around wildly.
"There was blood everywhere. The shark had bitten straight through my oils, straight through my jeans and into my right leg. Its teeth had cut through everything.
Fisherman Max Berryman rescued from fishing boat by coastguard helicopter after being mauled by shark off coast of cornwall
“Blood was pouring down my leg and the pain was so intense. I was in absolute agony.”
Porbeagles can grow up to 12ft long and weigh up to 600lbs.
Some experts believe porbeagles and blue sharks are migrating to UK waters because there is not enough food for them in the over-fished Atlantic.
The porbeagle shark - Lamna nasus in Latin - is classed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered in the north east Atlantic.
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In 2012 Graeme Pullen and Wayne Comben, from Hampshire, caught what is thought to be the biggest shark caught off Britain - a porbeagle - off the coast of Boscastle, Cornwall.
They estimated the female shark to be 10ft long and weighing 550lbs.
For any fish to be officially recognised as the biggest, rules stipulate it must be killed and weighed on shore.
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