A fisherman catches a great white shark on Nantucket

A Massachusetts fisherman recently had an unexpected catch: an eight-foot-long great white shark. But the fisherman did not leave the shark stranded on the beach. Instead, he pulled it into shallow water, pulled the hook out of its mouth, and sent it back into deeper water.

In a very 2026 twist, that moment was Captured on video and uploaded to InstagramWhere it quickly went viral.

Boat captain and shark fisherman Elliot Suddall, 37, was wading off a beach on the south coast of Nantucket, an island 30 miles south of Cape Cod, on June 7 when he hooked the great white. A friend, Nathan Skerritt, was also present, and helped Sudal bring the shark to shore.

“I’m one of the boys who was there and got a chance to see the beauty again,” Skerritt said. Outside.

a frantic moment on the beach

The waters off Cape Cod have, in recent years, become a popular destination for great white sharks. A 2023 study shows that Cape Cod is now the largest seasonal mating ground for sharks on the planet.

The shark that Sudall hooked was probably a juvenile due to its size. Mature great white sharks can grow from 11 to 20 feet long.

The video shows Skerritt wrestling the great white in shallow water by the tail fin, before he disarms it and uses a pair of pliers to remove the hook from its mouth. He then pushed the shark back into the ocean, where it swam away.

“Hooked out, and back on your way in 15 seconds,” Sudal captioned the post. “Not sure how to do it better.”

The great white shark is a protected species, and Rachel Hager, public affairs officer for the Fisheries Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told Outside One email said it is illegal to intentionally catch a great white.

“But they are sometimes caught accidentally in fisheries of other species,” he explained.

Hager said the rules currently apply reduce incidental catchesBut NOAA also issues permits for fishermen to catch sharks.

“In the Atlantic, recreational fishermen holding the proper permits are allowed to intentionally fish for white sharks with rod and reel gear, as long as they immediately release the shark without removing it from the water and causing further harm to the shark,” Hager said.

Sudal told a local news outlet Nantucket Stream That he has been shark fishing off the coast of Nantucket since 2013 He wrestled a big shark to the shoreAnd the video of that encounter also gained a lot of attention (he also let go of that shark). Sudal told Nantucket Stream That the June 7 encounter was the first time he had caught a great white shark, and it was unintentional.

“Caught over 1,000 sandbar and hundreds of (dusky sharks) off the coast, tagging most of them along the way,” he said. “No way was I targeting that whitetail, you can’t control who takes your bait.”

Sudal said that when he saw its spotted pectoral fin he realized the shark was a great white, and moved forward only to have it released.

“The gravity of the situation was understood and he had to be released safely and quickly,” he said. current. “Amazing creature, grateful to have had the opportunity to interact with one. Had a great crew helping with everything, she swam strong, something we will never forget.”

releasing the shark was the right decision

Tanner Mansell is an expert shark diver and guide who takes tourists to see sharks off the coast of Florida. In 2020, he and a fellow guide were convicted of a felony for releasing an endangered shark from a fishing line – and were later pardoned by President Trump.

he told Outside The shark in Sudal’s video appeared to be an eight-foot-long juvenile. Although Mansell does not agree with fishing for sharks away from shore, as baiting brings sharks closer to beaches where people are swimming, he believes Sudall made the right decision to release the shark.

Mansell explained that it was important to release the animal so quickly, because sharks die very quickly if left out of water.

“Its speed is the most important aspect of it,” Mansell said. “He didn’t wait for the photo to be taken or anything, he got into it. This guy knew what he was doing.”

Mansell explained that some shark species can die simply by becoming entangled in a reel, even if they are not pulled out of the water, because of the stress their fight response places on their bodies. A 2023 study Found that, for example, about 50 percent of blacktip sharks will die during catch and release. another study Suggest that great hammerheads die more than 90 percent of the time.

“The muscles of hammerheads demand enormous amounts of oxygen,” Mansell said. “When they don’t get enough oxygen to meet that demand, they’re able to get trapped in it. So to fight, they’ll switch to anaerobic metabolism, which puts large amounts of lactic acid and carbon dioxide into their bodies. So sharks can be alive and mobile, but when you release them, the accumulation of lactic acid in their bloodstream becomes acidic, muscle function deteriorates, organ systems begin to fail. Even “That if they swim away, there is a very high chance that they will die.”

Mansell said it is incredibly rare to ‘accidentally’ catch a shark, and even rarer to catch a great white. But if you accidentally pull one in, your best option is to cut your fishing line and let the shark swim away.

“It’s a very common way for people to remove the hook,” Mansell said. “So if you don’t have pliers and experience removing hooks, the best plan of action would be to cut the line near the hook and put the shark back in its mouth with the hook attached. There will be a ring on its lips for a while, but eventually that hook will be pushed out.”

Outside Also spoke to a ranger from the nearby Cape Cod National Seashore. There was a fatal shark attack in 2018 off Cape Cod, and the shark population around the peninsula appears to be increasing. Rangers directed readers to the park’s “Shark Safety” page, which offers the following tips for avoiding an attack:

• Be careful sharks hunt seals in shallow water.
• Stay close to shore where rescuers can reach you.
• Don’t isolate yourself. Groups swim, paddle, kayak and surf.
• Avoid areas where seals are present.
• Avoid areas where schools of fish are visible.
• Avoid dirty or poor visibility water.
• Limit spraying.
• Follow all signage and flag warnings and lifeguard instructions on beaches.