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About two months ago I observed a seven foot lemon shark with a rope tied around its neck that was cutting deep into its skin. The rope was buried roughly an inch under the lemon’s skin, which had obviously continued to grow over it. It must have been there for years. Located in front of the pectoral fins I could see that it was cutting into the gills as well. As it swam by I quickly buried my finger into the wound to lift the rope and cut it with my knife, but my effort were without success. The lemon shark took off with my razor knife still under the rope and never came back. I prayed that I would find this poor animal again. The thought of this beautiful creature dieing a slow painful death because of trash that my species had discarded in the ocean was too much for me. Many people would think that it is just a shark and not to bother, but I love these creatures and will do anything within my power to save them.

This week my prayers were answered. I had a full charter of photographers and videographers on a shark expedition who were all working hard to increase their portfolios of stock shark images. When I saw the lemon shark with the deadly rope, I asked them if we could take time out of their charter to try to save it. The decision was unanimous! All the guests really wanted to make this happen. Although they were all photographers and some of them were making their living from this field, the opportunity to try to help just one shark was much more important. My crew and I came up with a plan to tail rope it from the surface and off we went to gather the equipment.

We quickly made a line lasso and after three attempts we finally tail roped the seven foot lemon shark and pulled her aboard. Crew members Ed Arnold and Mike Black held onto her tail while I jumped on the business end of the shark and did my best to restrain her. As I held her still, crew member Sean Payne cut the line with a knife. I immediately pushed her back in the water and watched her swim off knowing she now had many years ahead of her. The total time out of the water was one minute and three seconds. Everyone felt so happy that we could save this one shark. For me it was more rewarding than I have words to explain.

The following day the lemon shark returned and we fed her lots of fish to help her recover from this terrible accident. We nicknamed her “The Lucky One!” For me, my crew and all of our guests on board the Shear Water this experience served as a powerful reminder that each and every one of us can make a difference in safeguarding the future of sharks and our oceans.

Jim Abernethy