A shark was reportedly stabbed by a fisherman and left on a Massachusetts seashore: ‘Be aware these protected sharks are out here’

A shark was reportedly stabbed by a fisherman and left for lifeless on an area seashore over the weekend, as a number one shark researcher urged fishers to “be aware these protected sharks are out here.”

The juvenile sand tiger shark was discovered by a girl strolling alongside a Marshfield seashore on Saturday — who reported the injured shark to scientist John Chisholm.

The protected shark had reportedly been caught by a striped bass fisherman and stabbed a number of instances earlier than being left for lifeless on the South Shore seashore.

“The fisherman had caught it and apparently thought it was a dogfish, which is thought of as a nuisance fish that overwhelm a fishing spot, so they kill them,” Chisholm advised the Herald on Monday.

“Some fishermen don’t realize these are baby sand tiger sharks, and that’s exactly what happened in this case,” he added in regards to the protected species, which has skilled a current resurgence within the area.

The Good Samaritan who discovered the stabbed sand tiger put the shark again into the water to attempt to revive it. She thought the shark was nonetheless alive as a result of its mouth was shifting.

“She pushed it offshore and it washed away, but it most likely didn’t survive,” stated Chisholm, a scientist with the New England Aquarium, who additionally verifies shark sighting reviews by way of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app.

“They are tough, and many survive after being caught and tagged, but this was probably not a good outcome for the shark,” he added.

The sand tiger shark is a prohibited species in Massachusetts. In consequence, it’s illegal to own or harvest this species, and if caught by the way, they have to be launched to assist them survive.

An individual who kills a sand tiger shark might be topic to a minimal high quality of $100 for a non-criminal violation, or a felony violation of $400 to $10,000, per state legislation.

Sand tiger sharks — which have two massive dorsal fins with no spines — are most frequently confused with clean dogfish, however sand tigers have very noticeable lengthy skinny tooth whereas clean dogfish don’t. The spiny dogfish is one other small coastal shark, however can simply be distinguished from a sand tiger by its two dorsal fin spines and the shortage of anal fin.