A GIANT shark weighing 800 kilos and measuring nearly four metres in length has been caught by three fishermen around one mile offshore from Orka Village near Kyrenia.
Munur Hasimoglu, Turker Bittaci and Salih Bittaci cast their net on Wednesday night, in what they say was 35 metres of water. But when they attempted to haul it in during the early hours, they realised that the shark had become entangled, apparently while trying to eat the fish in the net.
The fishermen explained that, due to its size and weight, they found it very difficult to transfer the shark back to the coast, with their boat nearly capsizing on four occasions. The net also sustained serious damage.
Working with a team from the ‘Agriculture Ministry’, a bulldozer was needed to lift the fish out of the boat.
On hearing of the catch, locals are reported to have rushed to catch a glimpse of the giant, with many snapping away with their cameras.
Unverified claims are suggesting that it is the largest shark ever caught in the waters off Cyprus, with the fishermen saying it is their intention to sell it.
Andreas Demetropoulos was Director of the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research for 34 years and he yesterday told the Mail that the exact species of the shark “cannot be determined by simply looking at the photograph that we have.”
He added that sharks “exceeding four metres in length have previously been discovered in the island’s waters.”
Myroula Hadjichristophorou, Senior Fisheries and Marine Research Officer at the Department, said that in Cyprus, “28 species of shark and dogfish and 17 species of skates and rays have been recorded. The annual catch of sharks in surface long line fishing varies with a fluctuating fishing effort. At its peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s, catches peaked at 34 tons in 1990 and dropped to about 10 tons per annum since 1995. On average, sharks form about 10 per cent of the total catch of swordfish fishery.”
She added that figures for 2003 and 2004 show a practically zero catch and this is related to the drastic drop of fishing for swordfish, as stocks of the fish are very low and little fishing takes place. Annual catches may in fact have been higher, as many sharks, of some species at least, are discarded at sea, as they fetch very low prices or are not marketable at all.
“Fishery statistics show a drop in catches of most Chondrichthyes in Cyprus waters over the last 25 years. The drop may be partly attributed to statistical inaccuracies, but most likely they reflect also a real drop in stocks. The state of individual species is even more difficult to assess. Nonetheless there are indications that the stocks of some non-commercial species, such as that of the bluntnose six-gill shark, are little impacted.
“On the other hand, shark species that form a regular by-catch of surface long lining are more at risk from intensive fishing and may well follow the fate of the swordfish stocks that are now in a near collapsed state. The recent drastic reduction of surface long lining for swordfish is likely to benefit the stocks of the sharks caught by this method.”
Since the police started keeping records, there have not been any reports of sharks attacking humans in the waters off the island.
