removes a – Elliot Sudal reeled in a nearly nine-foot white shark off Nantucket on June 7, then removed a hook from its mouth on camera—moving fast because white sharks can have about 300 teeth—before the shark was released immediately into the surf.
On June 7 off Nantucket, Elliot Sudal didn’t just catch a great white—he had to get a hook out of a shark’s mouth before the moment passed.
Sudal, a veteran angler and boat captain who said he has caught and tagged hundreds of sharks over the years, reeled in a white shark that was nearly nine feet long. White sharks are protected in the U.S., and when they are accidentally caught, they must be released immediately.
That requirement turns an already tense situation into a race. Sudal was fishing from shore, and he decided to demonstrate how to respond by recording his effort. In the video he posted to social media. Sudal climbs onto the back of the shark. secures the fish in the surf. and then removes the hook from its mouth. By the end of the short video, the shark is back in the water.
Speed mattered. White sharks typically have about 300 teeth arranged into five rows. and Sudal moved quickly to avoid any struggle from the animal he described as a formidable apex predator. In an Instagram post that included the release video. Sudal wrote: “Hooks out and back on her way in 15 seconds. not sure how to do it better.”.
Sudal said this month’s encounter was the first time he has caught a white shark in more than a decade of the work.
He has long been involved with sharks and his methods have at times drawn attention. In 2017, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration investigated Sudal’s handling of a smalltooth sawfish, an endangered species, in Florida. The agency said in 2018 that it sent Sudal a letter “informing him of the Endangered Species Act issues and the safe handling protocol for sawfish.”.
White sharks are not listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, but they receive special federal protections. The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers them vulnerable globally.
Sightings of white sharks off New England have ticked up in recent years. and some scientists have pinned that to the greater availability of the seals that they prey on. Dangerous encounters between white sharks and humans are extremely rare. Only a few dozen fatal white shark bites on people have ever been recorded.
For Sudal, the encounter came down to one clear instruction: get the hook out, keep the shark alive, and return it to the ocean fast.
Elliot Sudal white shark great white Nantucket hook removal NOAA protected species Instagram video June 7 Massachusetts
That’s wild he did it in 15 seconds?? I don’t even know I’d get close.
So like… white sharks have 300 teeth but he just climbs on it like it’s nothing?? Also why is he recording instead of just, idk, calling someone? People are gonna try to copy this.
I saw this and thought the shark was dead for a sec, like dude released it right into the surf and that’s it. But also if they’re protected, should he even be fishing for that near Nantucket? Feels sketchy.
Not gonna lie the 300 teeth thing makes me nauseous. Why do fishermen always act like apex predators are pets though. And the NOAA stuff from sawfish… so he’s been investigated before, right? Kinda makes me doubt the whole “15 seconds” brag.