While on a routine dive in Algoa Bay last week this happened. The injured shark appears at about 1:50, but the intro is worth the wait, it’s very pretty.
By Guy Rogers
UNUSUAL footage of an underwater shark rescue in Algoa Bay has been posted on-line.
The hero of the piece, dive-master Jacques Pitout of Pro Dive, was at the weekend out at Bellbuoy Reef, a nautical mile off Hobie Beach, with his boss Louis van Aardt, and a group of tourists.
There was a juvenile ragged tooth shark, about a metre and a half long swimming around them, Van Aardt told The Herald yesterday.
“Raggies are curious so they always come right up to you. But then they normally swim away, fast. This one kept on turning and coming back, as if to say, ‘help me’.”
The visibility was only about 4m but the divers realised that there was a hook stuck in the shark’s mouth and the trace had embedded itself in its jaw and across the top of its head.
Van Aardt said he had moved away and then surfaced and only at that moment did Pitout pop up next to him – with the shark in his arms!
“It was not a huge shark and it had possibly been struggling to hunt because of the hook, so it was a bit weaker than normal.
“But sharks are still pure muscle, and it would absolutely have been able to take off Gawie’s wrist if he had given it the chance. I didn’t know if he was being brave or stupid.”
Pitout got close to the boat and skipper Gawie Henning got the pliers out from the tool kit. With Van Aardt filming it all, Henning leaned down and managed to pull out the hook and the trace.
“As it came out it ripped out a fair bit of flesh, but we are hoping it will be okay. It will have a very recognisable scar, so we will be looking out for it each time we dive at Bellbuoy, Van Aardt said.
Boadicea's Chariot 
I do like happy endings 🙂
I hope the poor things survived, Soutie; it certainly wouldn’t have done if it had been left in that state.
Line and hook out… is that enough? Will it heal? I guess we can never know, but it is fantastic that they had a go.