Fisherman catches one that bites back

A fisherman had to be airlifted to hospital from his trawler after being bitten by a porbeagle shark. Max Berryman, 21, from Penzance, suffered a gashed leg after the shark was hauled on to deck in the trawler’s nets. A coastguard said he had “never come across anything like it”.

A FISHERMAN has been left with “significant” injuries after he was bitten by a shark off the Cornish coast.

Max Berryman was bitten by a porbeagle shark brought on deck in the trawler’s nets on Sunday morning.

Mr Berryman, 21, who has been part of the crew on Govenek of Ladram for around two years, was airlifted to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro by the coastguard helicopter.

Mr Berryman, from Penzance, last night told the Sun the bite left him in “absolute agony”.

He said: “It landed on the floor of the boat right next to me and was thrashing around wildly. I guess I just wasn’t quick enough to leap out of the way.

“The next thing I knew, I looked down to see that the oilskins I was wearing were ripped to shreds. There was blood everywhere. It had bitten through my oils, straight through my jeans and into my right leg.”

Phil Mitchell, the boat’s skipper, told the BBC: “I just had to do the best job I could dressing it.”

He said it was fortunate the shark had caught Mr Berryman with its top jaw but did not clamp its bottom jaw closed.

Alex Grieg, of the Falmouth coastguard, said the fisherman had received significant injuries.

“I’ve never come across anything like this before,” he said. “The casualty had four or five significant cuts below his knee. One was 10in (25cm) in length. The cuts were down to the muscle.”

The porbeagle is a cousin of the great white and can grow to 9ft (2.75m) long and weigh more than 36st (229kg). It is one of the types of shark most commonly spotted by British fishermen.

A spokesman at the Marine Conservation Society said: “Porbeagles are found in the area of deeper waters off the west coast of the UK. They do occasionally get caught in trawl gears.”

Very few shark attacks of uncertain provenance have been attributed to porbeagles. The International Shark Attack File attributes just three bites to this species.

Mr Berryman is understood to have undergone surgery and will remain in hospital for a few days.

A year ago, the fisherman was pictured with a porbeagle that had also got caught in the nets. Tony Fitzsimmons, the photographer, spent a week with the crew. He said: “In all the four months I have been at sea on various vessels I have only come across this porbeagle shark and a blue shark.

“Max is in hospital and I only spoke to him briefly. All he said was ‘make sure you use a good picture of me’.”

There were also claims yesterday that a great white may be prowling the British coastline after two dead dolphins were found on a Norfolk beach.