Jaws
It has been long said that the shallow waters near the little island called Filfla was an ideal breeding spot for these sharks yet to date, this has become a legend than reality.
Today I want to share with you a story about a Maltese fisherman who had the surprise of a lifetime. Back in April 1987, the world's largest great white shark was caught in the calm waters of the island of Malta.
The great white shark was about 23 feet in length. MASSIVE compared to the 15 feet of the fisherman's boat! It has to be said that since then, these sharks have become protected on the island and that this great white shark was found dead tangled in some netting and lines by the fisherman.
When the fisherman went to collect his nets, he noticed that the rather big buoy's where all submerged. He knew there was something big hanging but he couldn't imagine to find such a beast. It took him about 4 hours to drag it to the nearest port. There the locals tried to pull the shark up using the winch that is used to pull boats out of the water. Yet the shark was too heavy for the winch and thus the shark was taken to a nearby port where the shark was hoisted up using a crane!
When the shark was gutted, they found a whole 6 foot blue shark, an 8 foot dolphin(split into 3 parts) and a 2 foot turtle inside its belly
Protection
At the moment basking and great white sharks along with the manta ray are protected in Malta and have been since 1999. They are all considered endangered species. There are currently programmes and research centers dedicated to the conservation of sharks in Malta which aim to manage, research and educate so that sharks can be protected in Maltese waters. Unfortunately there has been a decrease in sharks in the Mediterranean in recent years. This is due in part to the capture of sharks for the Chinese delicacy – shark fin soup. It is crucial that the efforts of these programmes are supported, because marine life at large is being affected with the decrease of this interesting and important creature.
[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 35.787254 lat 14.409556 long Biggest Great White Shark ever cought d3scr)