A gigantic six-metre tiger shark’s corpse has had its jaw stripped out to be kept as a trophy after it was hauled onto a fishing boat off the Australian coast over the weekend.
Geoff Brooks posted two images of the six metre apex predator to Facebook on Tuesday, claiming that the tiger shark was ‘caught off 7 Mile Beach’ near Lennox Head, on the northern New South Wales coast, at some stage last week.
‘As far as I’m aware; It was a kill order on a shark here on the far north coast that was identified as being responsible for a local attack.’
‘And yes – it’s real,’ he added.
Mr Brooks said he could not confirm if the shark was killed intentionally after hearing reports that the marine predator may have been caught in nets surrounding the Lennox Head area.
While the Northern Star have reported that a fisherman named Matthew came forward to confirm that it was him that pulled the massive shark out of the water off Tweed Heads ‘a while ago’, even taking the jaws as a souvenir.
I was the one that took that photo and I was the one that caught that fish,’ he said.
Matthew, who has not been formally identified, said he caught the shark 14 miles off Tweed Heads about three weeks ago. He told the newspaper that he had set his eyes on a smaller shark, a six-foot long hammerhead, when the huge tiger shark appeared – and ate it.
‘I was fighting the hammerhead shark and he[the tiger shark] came up and swallowed it,’ Matthew told the Northern Star.
He said that the pictures that have appeared on social media were used to identify the monster shark as he had no idea of its exact species when it was caught.
The fisherman claims to have spotted sharks well over 7 metres off the Tweed coast, commenting that this specific monster was ‘only a little one’.
The Northern Star have reported that the giant tiger shark was sent to the fish markets when it was caught and that the only proof of its existence are a set of jaws taken by the fisherman as a souvenir.
Other reports claim that the body was handed over to authorities with the CSIRO, however a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that the shark has not been accounted for by CSIRO staff.
‘We’ve seen the photos but we haven’t got any information that it has been handed in or where it was caught,’ he said.
‘There has been no indication from staff that it has been handed in to a CSIRO site, all we can say is that it is a tiger shark and not a white.’
This comes amid reports that a vigilante group of surfers are planning a covert culling of sharks in the area following a string of sightings and attacks along the popular coastline.
The revelation came during a community meeting earlier this week where residents were informed that businesses in the area were facing foreclosure after tourists started avoiding the area, fearful that they will fall victim to a shark attack, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Ballina shire mayor David Wright said he feared some locals may ‘take the matter into their own hands’.
He said a helicopter team, that patrols beaches in the area at a cost of $16,000, are closely monitoring seven great white sharks in the area, which are believed to be up to five metres long.
According to the Department of Environment, several species of shark are known to be dangerous to humans, including the tiger shark.
However, it states that no shark are thought to target humans as prey, rather the ‘majority of shark attacks can be attributed to the shark confusing us with its normal prey’.
Surfer and conservationist with Positive Change for Marine Life warns that culling will have absolutely no impact on the number of sharks interacting with humans each year.
‘Eliminating individual species that are slow to reach sexual maturation and whose numbers are already under extreme pressure from human activities is not only influencing the balance of our oceans, but it is proven to not make any difference on shark/human interactions in all areas where culls have been carried out.’
He said removing them, with little understanding of their behaviour or migration patterns, is simply a ‘band-aid solution’ that will not solve the issue surrounding attacks in the area.
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