A father and son got up close and personal with a great white shark about a half mile off the coast of Oceanside last week, when they realized the endangered creature was tangled up in fishing lines.
Don and Sean Bailey were enjoying a fishing trip and hoping to catch halibut, when they came across the approximately 10-foot shark.
The pair told KTLA the creature was wrapped in metal leaders and was dragging fishing lines, and so it could not dive down into the water. The fisherman decided they had to help.
“I had my dad kind of pull me up as close as I could get to the shark,” Sean said. “I was leaning over the front, and I was able to hook most of the line that it was dragging, and I was able to get that up and cut it.”
They said the shark was then able to move well in the water again.
“Then my dad got a piece of wire out from under the fin, and as soon as that happened, it’s like he was released or something,” Sean said. “That’s what he did a big splash of water everywhere.”
The father and son said they never felt threatened by the shark, and they see the incident as a good reminder to keep the ocean as clean as possible to prevent putting fish and other ocean animals in distress.