Catching Two-Ton Great White Shark Produces Net Loss

Joe Caruso’s jaw dropped when he saw the size of the fish sticking out of his net last Saturday night.

Entangled in the San Pedro fisherman’s monofilament net was a great white shark measuring nearly 16 feet and weighing more than 4,000 pounds.

“It had a huge liver,” said Jeff Seigel, collection manager of the fishes section for the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. “The part we could get out of him weighed 1,089 pounds and I would estimate its total weight at about 1,200 pounds.”

Seigel studied the shark this week and said it had eaten at least one 165-pound sea lion--the remains of another were also found--and a six-foot six-gill shark when it found its way into Caruso’s gill-net, apparently going after Seigel’s swordfish catch. The $16,000 net was destroyed.

The shark was caught about 15 miles off the coast of Santa Monica late Saturday night and was towed into Los Angeles Harbor early Sunday morning. Experts say it was not unusual for the shark to be where it was and that there could be others of similar size in the same area, but they stressed that the sharks pose little or no threat to swimmers.

“You’d have to be swimming out there in the channel to be in any danger,” Seigel said. “And you’d be pretty stupid to do that.”

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Seigel said it was a shame that such a magnificent creature had to die, but not everyone was sad to see the shark go.

Caruso was reportedly out fishing on Tuesday and couldn’t be reached for comment.

Great whites are almost exclusively pinniped eaters and sea lions are their chief source of food.

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Although the presence of a great white off the Southern California coast is not considered unusual, that of tiger sharks is.

But one of the tiger sharks--a tropical and sub-tropical species that grows to about 25 feet--was caught Sunday afternoon at the end of the Manhattan Beach Pier.

Rudy Rosolino of Sunland reeled in a three-foot baby that inhaled a chunk of bonito--and a museum biologist who happened to be taking a walk on the pier identified it as a tiger. Although a three-footer, despite Rosolino’s claim that “you can definitely see all its teeth,” is no man-eater, there might be some reason for concern.

The shark could be as young as two weeks old and there is a chance that its mother is still swimming local waters. Unlike great whites, tiger sharks sometimes feed in shallow water and have been known to attack swimmers and surfers.

Briefly

BAJA FISHING--Among the top catches out of the Cabo San Lucas region was a 228-pound yellowfin tuna landed by an angler aboard a panga . David Pinto, 46, of Ventura said the only reason he was able to land the fish was because it was choking on the huge lure he was trolling and unable to put up much of a fight. “It had the lure lodged in its throat,” Pinto said. Still, the fight, on 80-pound test line, lasted 1 hour 15 minutes and it took Pinto, his partner and the captain to haul the fish aboard the boat. Rick Ruddock of La Habra was able to land a 350-pound blue marlin aboard a panga and Dave McCoe of Long Beach boated a 456-pound black aboard the cruiser Karina.

HUNTING--The best way to avoid becoming a shooting victim this season? Wear blaze orange. “That color is especially important in upland bird hunting, when in the excitement of a covey flush your partner gets disoriented and swings his shotgun your way,” DFG Director Boyd Gibbons said. “Blaze orange reminds everyone where you are.” Blaze orange was not worn in 86% of 13 reported two-party accidents in 1993. . . . The Newport Beach chapter of Ducks Unlimited, which has generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for conservation projects, will hold its 25th annual fund-raising dinner Sept. 29 at the Balboa Bay Club. Donation is $75. Details: (714) 833-8084. . . . The 1994 California Regulations for Hunting and Other Public Uses on State and Federal Areas, a booklet designed to provide hunters with detailed information on the state’s various wildlife areas, is now available at DFG offices and sporting goods stores.

POACHING--Two Huntington Beach men have been charged with illegally taking abalone and lobster aboard the private yacht Shamrock V. Department of Fish and Game wardens earlier this month confiscated 90 spiny lobster tails--from animals taken illegally and out of season--and 26 abalone, 14 of which were taken illegally after the divers had reportedly filled their limits. There were spear holes in several of the lobsters, which are catchable only by hand during the sport season, which opens Oct. 1. The arrest was made as the boat entered L.A. Harbor after a trip to San Clemente Island. Thomas E. Ferguson, 47, and Jeffrey Croswell, 32, face multiple counts for violating California’s Fish and Game Code. All are misdemeanors punishable by a maximum $1,000 fine and six months in jail. . . . A Garden Grove man was ordered to pay $5,400 for poaching lobsters from commercial traps off Dana Point. Thanh Van Le, 22, was also banned from catching lobsters in California and put on three years’ probation.