Authorities in the central province of Ninh Thuan have handed over a seal caught by a local fisherman last week to Nha Trang Oceanography Institute in neighboring Khanh Hoa Province.

Le Cu, the fisherman, was fishing off the waters of Ninh Phuoc District when he found the seal stuck in his net last Sunday evening.

Cu was later persuaded by officers of the local aquatic resources department to hand over the seal to the Nha Trang Oceanography Institute.

An officer of the institute said they were still trying to explain why the aquatic mammal showed up off the central coast, where the species is considered rare.

It is not the first time a sea has been caught in Vietnam. Last September, a fisherman in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue city netted a 25-kilogram seal which was searching for cooking in the salty waters of Tam Giang Lagoon.

The seal was later brought to the Nha Trang Oceanography Institute by local authorities after successful negotiations with the fisherman who previously planned to sell the animal to the highest bidder.

In 2008, a fisherman in the central province of Quang Ngai also netted a 30-kilogram seal off the waters of Binh Son District.