A fisherman caught a white shark weighing over one ton while he was fishing in inshore waters off the coast of Phu Yen Province in the central region on Thursday.

He and his two sons then tried to catch it with all the netting they had, but as the fish was too strong, they called others for help.

The shark, whose jaw was estimated to be some 0.65 meters wide, was finally electrocuted, Trong said.

Experts said it was very rare that a shark was caught inshore in Xuan Hai Commune.

Vo Si Tuan, deputy head of the Nha Trang-based Institute of Oceanography, said the fish was identified as a Carcharodon carcharias, commonly known as great white shark, which had been involved in a significant number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans.

The shark, listed as an endangered species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, must have been very weak when it was trapped, as it was caught inshore by fishermen inexperienced in coping with sharks without specific devices, Tuan said.

“Not to mention that it would be impossible for the fishermen and their boat to survive (a tussle with) the shark of such a large size, if it remained strong,” he noted.

Tuan said he had suggested that the fisherman donates the shark for research purposes, but Trong wanted VND50 million (US$2,707).

In the evening the same day, Trong moved the fish to the Ham Tu Fish Port in adjacent Binh Dinh Province’s Quy Nhon Town, where it would be frozen before it was cut for sale.

Yet, local newspaper Tuoi Tre on Sunday quoted Trong’s wife, Nguyen Thi Nu, as saying that they buried the shark at Friday night, because after cutting it they couldn’t make a deal with anyone to sell it due to rumors that it was a whale.

Vietnamese fishermen, especially those from the central coast, often worship whales as God of the sea.

Experts and officials in neighboring Binh Dinh province, meanwhile, denied suspicions that the shark was the one which had attacked ten people since last July off the coast of Quy Nhon, some ten kilometers from Xuan Hai.

The shark’s jaw was much larger than the unidentified fish in Quy Nhon whose bite was 20 centimeters-plus in diameter at the largest, they said, adding that fish was reported to weigh between 20 and 30 kilograms by the victims.

The Binh Dinh Seacooking Resources Exploitation and Protection Agency is still cooperating with Quy Nhon fishermen in hunting for the fish, they said.

Reported by Dinh Phu