Tiger shark weighing 395kg caught off Botany Bay during game fishing comp
A picture of a massive tiger shark caught off the coast of Sydney during the weekend has to be seen to be believed.
A photo has captured the moment a group of Sydney game fishermen reeled in a shark so big it dwarfed their boat.
Port Hacking Game Fishing Club member Paul Barning and his crew caught a 395kg tiger shark during a competition off the coast of Sydney.
The massive shark was brought in with a 15kg break line and it was caught between Botany Bay and Port Hacking during the NSW Game Fishing Interclub State championship during the weekend.
An incredible photo of the scene shows the crew’s boat, ‘Dark Horse’, almost overwhelmed by the size of the shark.
The tiger shark barely fits onto the vessel and its head is almost the same size as the boat’s Honda engine.
Six crew members on board can be seen working hard to get in on the boat.
Once ashore, the tiger shark was weighed and given to scientists for marine research.
According NSW Game Fishing Association records, the biggest tiger shark ever caught weighed 694.kg and was a male captured at Swansea near Newcastle in 2008
Mr Barning commented on a post about the shark that it “took 45 minutes” to reel in.
Tiger sharks can grow up to 6m in length and weigh up to a tonne. They are born measuring between 50cm-75cm in length while the average tiger shark grows to 287cm-330cm.
Most of the comment reactions to the Port Hacking Game Fishing’s post about the shark were positive, with one use responding “what a cracker of a shark!”
However, some comments were negative with one user asking, “What’s the thrill of killing something for the sake of it?”
Tiger sharks are not a protected species in Australia but many groups, such as the Australian Marine Conservation Society, believe they should be due to a study showing a 71 per cent decline in their population during the past 30 years.
On Sunday the same fishing club posted a picture of another big catch – a 340kg shark caught by the crew of a boat appropriately named The Undertaker.
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