There were a couple of “believe it or not” occurrences happening in the marine waterways, including one that came from clear across the globe in Europe and the other just along the surf line off Ocean Shores on the south-central Washington coast.
The Associated Press reported Italian angler Dino Ferrari caught what could be a potential world record wels catfish in Italy’s Po Delta on Feb. 19.
The enourmous fish was 8.7 feet long and weighed 280 pounds. The current weight record for a wels catfish is more than 300 pounds, but the fish Ferrari caught could be the largest ever caught on a sport fishing rod and reel.
Something huge in the form of a man-eating shark is lurking off the Washington coast, but this shouldn’t come as any surprise.
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Reports out of state Fish and Wildlife is that a great white shark that measures about 18-feet long could be swimming in plain sight of surfers, fishermen and coastal razor clam diggers, but no need to get your “Jaws” movie mentality in order as your chances of being killed by lightning are 30 times greater than being eaten by a shark.
The confirmation that a big shark is swimming off the coast came from a dead seal that was found last week at Ocean Shores, which was literally bitten in half.
“Our folks have confirmed that it was likely preyed on by a great white shark, and this isn’t terribly unusual off our coast,” said Dan Ayres, a state Fish and Wildlife coastal shellfish manager. “A (necropsy) confirmed it was taken right off the surf line by a great white shark, and that the seal had been feeding on smelt.”
The 200-pound female seal had its entire hindquarters missing, and are part of a shark’s food chain.
According to state Fish and Wildlife only two shark attacks on humans have been confirmed in Washington during the 1830s and another in 1989 which weren’t fatal.
In fact statistics show a shark attack on a person is 1-in-11.5 million, and the chance of being killed by a bite is less than 1-in-264.1 million. So with that in mind don’t be afraid to step into the coastal waterways and keep on digging for razor clams or casting a line for surf perch.