1,300 Pound Shark Caught Off California Coast

Some are calling a possible new world record an unnecessary killing

A 1,300-pound shark caught Tuesday morning off the coast in Los Angeles may end up becoming a world record.

The shark was caught by a sport fisherman as part of the Outdoor Channel's Reality TV show "Jim Shockey's The Professionals".

The man who caught it said it was a two-and-a -half hour battle.

"It made the scariest sound I've ever heard-that things a beast!" says Jason Johnson of Mesquite, Texas.

Not a beast, says David McGuire the director of Shark Stewards, based in Sausalito.

"The females come to Los Angeles to give birth, it takes 15 to 18 years to get big enough to do that and it's three years in between pregnancies."

Maguire says that sharks are at the top of the food chain in the ocean and when their populations decrease, it impacts all the creatures below them.

It may be a sport to some, but to McGuire and Shark Stewards, pictures of the Mako hanging dead on a hook made for an outrageous sight.

"I think it's juvenile - I mean get over it," he said. "Are you going to kill the last lion so you can hang the head on your wall? You think this is an example of manhood? I don't think so. Why don't you go swimming with sharks and see what it's like."

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