After great white attack, PETA calls for fishing ban at pier

After a swimmer was bitten by a juvenile great white shark, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling for a permanent fishing ban on the Manhattan Beach Pier.

Police temporarily banned pier fishing through Tuesday after 50-year-old Steven Robles was bitten Saturday by a 7-foot great white, which had been caught on a fishing line at the pier.

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FOR THE RECORD

A previous version of this post incorrectly identified Manhattan Beach Mayor Amy Thomas Howorth as Thomas Howorth.

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But PETA said the temporary fishing ban is not enough.

In a letter to Manhattan Beach Mayor Amy Thomas Howorth, PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said the attack shows how “fishing in a populated area increases the risk that sharks will bite humans, whom they are otherwise uninterested in as prey.”

Angling, she said, posed dangers to both public safety and wildlife.

“It seems clear that the best way to protect public safety and reduce the risk that another swimmer will be injured or killed by a panicked or confused shark is to ban fishing at the pier permanently,” Reiman wrote.

Authorities said the juvenile shark was caught by someone fishing from the pier and had been struggling to free itself from the fishing line for about 45 minutes before it bit Robles as he swam past it.

Robles was treated at Harbor UCLA Medical Center.

Capt. Tracy Lizotte, a Los Angeles County lifeguard, told The Times that the predator appeared to be trying get off the fishing line and was probably agitated, so it bit “everything in his way.”

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