A woman poses next to the dead shark to give it scale. Photo: Giancarlo Thomae Photography
In a bizarre case out of Central California, a “frustrated” San Jose fisherman was convicted this month of killing a great white shark that washed ashore near Aptos with a .22 caliber rifle.
The case puzzled wildlife officers when the juvenile shark washed ashore in June (and a separate controversy erupted after a woman posed next to the animal to give it scale for a photographer who is a marine biologist). Reports said the shark had the usual scarring that was attributed to hunting seals and the struggles that come with capturing food in the wild, but nothing that looked like it would kill the animal and apparently, the bullet wounds weren’t visible.
The x-ray that confirmed the animal died from a bullet. Photo: California Department of Fish and Wildlife
But the officers received a tip that “a member of a commercial fishing boat crew may have been responsible for the shark’s death.” They spotted the boat that day and boarded the craft, finding a number of violations including “undersized halibut, lacking and failing to turn in landing receipts and failing to weigh commercial catch.” They also found a loaded rifle in the truck of fisherman Vinh Pham, who was on the boat.
X-rays of the great white’s brain pinpointed the bullets (above). And Pham eventually confessed to the crime, “claiming he shot the shark after seeing it swimming near the wings of his deployed fishing net,” wildlife officials told Bay Area media.
“He felt it was disturbing his fishing activity,” said Capt. Todd Tognazzini with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in a release Wednesday. “He was upset with the shark and decided to shoot it.”
Pham pleaded no contest (essentially a guilty plea) in Santa Cruz County Court on January 14 to wanton waste of a white shark, possessing a loaded rifle in his vehicle and other charges. He faces two years probation and a $5,000 fine. His rifle will also be destroyed, as ordered by the courts.
“Hopefully people get the message that we’re prosecuting criminals who violate laws that are meant to protect the state’s wildlife resources,” Tognazzini said.
