by Kevin Cody
Over 20 juvenile sharks, six- to nine-feet in length, were caught by a small group of fishermen on the Hermosa Beach Pier on Saturday, April 11.
La Playita restaurant owner Harold Cohen said he saw the fishermen catch and release five sharks in the span of an hour during a break he took on the pier about noon, Saturday.
The five fishermen said they had hooked over 20 sharks, after arriving at the pier at 6 a.m. They said they used whole mackerel as bait on one ought (1/0) hooks (with a 7/16 inch gap), commonly used to catch small sharks.
If the sharks did not break free of the hooks, the fishermen said, they cut the lines after reeling the sharks to the surface. Reeling in the sharks commonly took 10 to 15 minutes of pacing the length of the pier. The fishermen stayed outside of the surfline to keep away from bathers.
Sharks under nine feet feed on small fish and are generally not a threat to swimmers.
The fishermen said they believed the sharks they hooked were Makos, which are legal to catch.
But Keith Poe, a nationally recognized expert on sharks, said the shark in the photos taken by Easy Reader is a Great White. Poe and his boat “Shark Tagger,” are featured each year on Discovery’s “Shark Week.”
Fishing for Great Whites from piers is illegal.
Poe said Great Whites and Makos can be distinguished by their fins. The trailing edge of a Great White’s dorsal (top) fin is serrated. A Mako’s dorsal is smooth. The Great White’s pectoral fins (side fins) are black. A Mako’s pectoral fins are white, Poe said.
Poe added that it is unusual for Makos, who chase fast swimming fish, to be close to shore. Great White juveniles are common near the shoreline, he said, because they eat halibut, stingrays and skates, which frequent shallow waters.
Poe also said it was unlikely the fishermen were hooking the same sharks multiple times because sharks who escape danger generally flee the area.
Poe said the coastal waters from Point Conception to San Diego are known to be a Great White Shark nursery.
The Hermosa Beach pier gained national attention a week ago, on April Fools Day, when a Hermosa Pier fisherman, Kevin Phan, and a friend hooked a six-foot Great White, and reeled it in to the beach on the north side of the pier. Phan raced from the pier to the beach, where he cut the fishing line, and pushed the beached shark back out to sea. A video of Phan’s bare-handed rescue went viral on social media and was reported in the national press. ER
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