A 2.5 metre shark was caught in Sydney Harbour waterways
EARLIER THIS MONTH, fisherman Patrick Melograna, caught a 2.5 metre, 150 kilogram mako shark in Sydney Harbour waterways.
Fishing off the Gladesville Bridge, across Parramatta River, Patrick hauled the marine predator into his vessel over a two hour period.
“It was a team effort to bring this beast on board battling with it for 1.45 hours,just past Gladesville Bridge,” Patrick told the Weekly Times.
“We’ve since identified it as a Mako shark although we originally thought it might have been a bull shark,” he added.
Colin Simpfendorfer, the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture at James Cook University told Australian Geographic that the event is highly unusual, further explaining that makos are normally found well offshore, in deep waters.
“This can occur when animals are in poor health, and this one looks to be quite thin for its size.”
As for whether or not we should expect more visits in the future, Colin was resolute.
“People should not expect to regularly see mako sharks in Sydney Harbour.”
While the mako shark is considered vulnerable according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Colin explained that this is a global assessment, rather than specific to Australian waters.
“In New South Wales anglers are allowed one mako shark so this was a legal capture.”
Colin added that he was certain the angler didn’t intend to catch the mako shark.
READ MORE:
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