Font Size

Pets & Animals

Videos of the weirdest and wildest pets

Web Extra: Meet The Two Nosed Calf

E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Giant-Sized Mako Caught Off Fort Lauderdale

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Recipient E-mail:*
- Your Name:*
- Your E-mail:*
Add a Message:
Send me a copy of this e-mail.

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

Print Share + Comments

Oct 6, 2009 11:36 am US/Eastern

Giant-Sized Mako Caught Off Fort Lauderdale

Reporting
Lisa Cilli
E-mail

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: A close up of a shortfin mako shark head. (file image)
CBS

Close

numSlides of totalImages

A group of South Florida fishing buddies is talking about the one that didn't get away, a giant-sized shark caught off the coast while they were looking for a lesser catch. It's a fish story they say they'll be telling their kids about.

During a fishing trip Saturday, the anglers were hoping to reel in some swordfish about 18-miles off Fort Lauderdale when they came across a 10-foot long, 750-pound Mako shark which was feeding on a dead swordfish.

Video camera rolling, one of the fishermen captured the battle to land the giant shark, which while short of the record for a Mako was still an impressive adversary. It took hours to wrestle the shark into their control, but they eventually captured the shark and brought it back to shore.

The mako is fished commercially and for recreation, and that has led to a decrease in population numbers. It is still legal to catch the Mako in Florida waters, and the fishermen had plans for this denizen of the deep.
After showing off their giant catch, the men shared the shark meat with their friends. According to the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, shortfin mako shark is the most popular species of shark for human consumption.

Worldwide, the shortfin mako is overharvested by direct hunting. They also become by-catch victims of the tuna and swordfish fishing industries. As a result, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has included the shortfin mako on their list of "managed" pelagic sharks.

The NMFS has reduced the number of commercial and recreational shortfin mako catches allowed per year by 50-percent in an attempt to counter act its declining numbers.

The shortfin mako is listed as Lower Risk/near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List of Threatened Species.