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Check out a wild moment when a fishing crew wrestled with an 8-foot-long shark over a swordfish: 'Get off my fish!'

Jul 20, 2023, 10:59 IST
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A shortfin mako shark.Richard Robinson via Getty Images
  • A fisherman and his crew wrestled with an eight-foot-long mako shark over a swordfish they caught.
  • "Get off my fish! Give me my fish! Give it to me!" a crew member said in an Instagram video.
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It's not just beachgoers who should be afraid of sharks — fishermen also have a hard time trying to fend them off and secure their prized catches.

New Zealand fisherman Tony Walker uploaded an Instagram video on July 5 that appeared to show his crew wrestling with a shark over a swordfish.

Walker and his crew encountered the eight-foot-long mako shark while they were fishing for swordfish in Australia's Coral Sea, per Newsweek.

"Angry Mako!" a crew member yelled when they spotted the shark gnawing on the swordfish while they were trying to haul it up.

"Get off my fish! Give me my fish! Give it to me!" another crew member said as they tried to pull the swordfish away from the shark's jaws.

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The mako shark then swam away briefly before circling back to the boat.

"Coming back! Coming back!" a crew member could be heard yelling as the mako shark turned around for a second bite.

The crew managed to reel in the swordfish, but a massive chunk of its tail had already been chewed off, per the video.

Walker's Instagram clip has gone viral and, at press time, had been viewed more than 21 million times. He told Newsweek that this wasn't the first time he and his crew had encountered mako sharks while fishing.

"Mako sharks are very common in the area, and it is their standard tactic to bite the tails of the swordfish first so they can eat at their leisure," Walker said. "This is almost a daily occurrence for us, and quite often, we will have sharks camped under the boat."

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And Walker isn't the only fisherman who's had to compete against sharks hoping to make a quick meal out of their catches. In June, a father and daughter duo were trying to reel in a sea bass when a great white shark attempted to snatch the bass right off their fishing hook, per USA Today.

Representatives for Walker did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.

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