Guys pull struggling shark out of ocean to pose for photographs

Ashitha Nagesh

If you admire an animal, you don’t need to torture it for a photograph.
But this group of guys seem to have missed the memo.

The guy captured a shark on Palm Beach, Florida (Picture: Ashleigh Walters/Facebook)

Footage has emerged of fishermen in Palm Beach, Florida, dragging a shark out of the ocean and pinning him down to take photos.
After snapping some shots – all while the shark visibly struggles – they released him into the shallow end of the water. The shark appears confused and disorientated.

The shark struggled while this guy posed (Picture: Ashleigh Walters/Facebook)

It appears as though the men caught the shark while fishing – and instead of releasing him straight back into the ocean, they posed for pictures with their ‘catch’.
Since then commenters on Facebook, where the video was uploaded by local journalist Ashleigh Walters, have been split on whether it’s cruel or not.

Some say it’s the equivalent of submerging a person underwater while taking photos of them – but others say it’s no worse than standard fishing practice, where people pose with their catches.
Of course, many people find fishing itself cruel.

Is shark fishing illegal?

Shark fishing is banned in many countries in the world – including Egypt and Israel – and shark ‘finning’, where the fin is sliced off a shark, has been banned in the EU since 2003.
Fishing for sharks is however legal in the US, but the country’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recommends removing fishing tackle while they’re still in the water to increase their chances of survival.