PULA, April 21 (Hina) - A big, but harmless whale shark was caught in a net of two Istrian fishermen Friday morning. After divers marked it, the shark was dragged by ship to the open sea and released.
PULA, April 21 (Hina) - A big, but harmless whale shark was caught in
a net of two Istrian fishermen Friday morning. After divers marked
it, the shark was dragged by ship to the open sea and released. #L#
The 7.65 metre-long whale shark got caught in the fishing net off
the Budava harbour (near Pula on the Istria peninsula).
The fishing boat owners Berto and Andjelo Perusko, helped by other
fishermen, tied the animal by its rear fin to the "Maestral" fishing
ship and dragged it to the Budava harbour.
At the call of the harbour master's office, experts of the Rudjer
Boskovic institute from Rovinj arrived at the scene. Divers
measured, photographed and marked the whale shark and established
it was a rare breed whose diet consists of plankton and is harmless
to people. They dragged the whale shark by ship onto the open sea and
released it.
According to the head of the Rudjer Boskovic institute bureau for
maritime research, Nenad Smodlaka, the animal was most probably a
female.
The whale shark swam into the Adriatic and into the fish-breeding
tank in search for food.
(hina) lml jn