3 Men Fight Killer Shark For 2 Hours
Three men spear fishing for tuna at the mouth of the Mississippi last June got much more than they bargained for -- a two-hour, life-and-death struggle with a giant, menacing shark.
The fight for survival was caught on video.
It ended with their having to kill the 12-foot tiger shark -- something they expressed deep regret over in an interview Friday on The Early Show, stressing that they fish for food and sport, and respect the water and the creatures living in it.
They've engaged in spear fishing for years, often together, and frequently encountering sharks. But this time was different.
Ryan McInnis, a filmmaker, was on hand to record fellow spear fisherman Craig Clasen as Clasen sought the tuna. Photographer D.J. Struntz was taking stills.
They told co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez their terrifying ordeal began when McInnis -- with only his camera in-hand -- started screaming for help:
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. The fight for survival was caught on video.
It ended with their having to kill the 12-foot tiger shark -- something they expressed deep regret over in an interview Friday on The Early Show, stressing that they fish for food and sport, and respect the water and the creatures living in it.
They've engaged in spear fishing for years, often together, and frequently encountering sharks. But this time was different.
Ryan McInnis, a filmmaker, was on hand to record fellow spear fisherman Craig Clasen as Clasen sought the tuna. Photographer D.J. Struntz was taking stills.
They told co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez their terrifying ordeal began when McInnis -- with only his camera in-hand -- started screaming for help:
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I'm a spearfisherman, and we deal with big Tigers almost daily in South Africa, hell, I film them too. This is just showboating at the expense of the shark, and these three guys know it.
Barbaric. Had justice been served, these three would have been eaten.
- This event happened 9 months ago, on a successful expedition for tuna. I did put the original footage of the shark in an episode of my podcast. I didn't bring light to the fact that it was killed because it's something we aren't proud of and the animal is very beautiful alive and swimming as seen. That's the type of content I try to capture on camera.
- The event played like this: I was at least 150 feet away from Craig/DJ who were handing guns up to Cam on the boat. I was filming squid at the surface, turned around, saw the shark broadside 15' away, pressed record, it charged and then turned away less than 1' from camera (elapsed time 7 seconds). No gun, no fish, no chum involved. I yelled for support, Craig/DJ sprinted over to me as the shark came back in. Floatlines were fouling the props so Cam couldn't operate the boat over to us. The shark began a tight circle to our right, fins down. Craig was in the middle, I was behind and to his left, DJ behind and to his right with an unloaded gun. It turned in towards DJ aggressively and Craig fired into it's gills(elapsed time 35 seconds). The first shark any of us have seen killed in over 60 years of combined open water experience. It took 3 more shafts, 'wrestling' it to the surface, tailrope and dragged backwards behind boat, then severing the spine with a knife to complete the kill as effectively as possible (elapsed time almost 2 hours). Leaving it wounded wasn't an option. DJ and I document life for a living, we continued taking photos and video during this because it's what we do.
- We ate a bite to try and show some respect to the animal, contemplated what to do. We took the jaws and tail to use for educational purposes. The photo of Craig displaying them was for scale of the size of the shark, he is smiling however it is from disbelief/shock not pride. DJ regrets that photo escaping his grasp because it is very misconstrued.
- The OUTSIDE article originated from DJ submitting other pics from that trip and was intended to bring light to spearfishing being an ethical practice and clean fishery. Once the shark incident was mentioned in conversation they insisted on running that in the story but promised to portray it accurately and I feel they did.
- An online article in the UK stemming from the OUTSIDE one ran last week and got 10 million hits the first day. We didn't know this was happening, and the article was grossly exaggerated and inaccurate.
- Thursday morning at 6am our phones were exploding from the networks calling to book us to get the story. We really had no choice because the facts had been lost and our primary concern was the fallout within the spearfishing community, let alone the rest of the world. If you're reading this then it was for respect for you that we went to New York.
- They asked for footage of the event and I gave DJ's agent only what I felt was appropriate for television. The impact shots and most graphic/bloody parts were not included because I already knew they would use anything I gave to spin it on us. The agent charged minimal licensing fees from the networks for handling the distribution. If I see a dime from it it will go to a good cause, rest assured.
- Several shows neglected to play the original charge from the event and said this shark wasn't being aggressive. Some wanted sensation and machismo, but others actually gave us a chance to shed light on what took place and also to defend spearfishing, CBS and NBC specifically. I'm sure we disappointed many of them with our humility and remorse for the situation.
It's over now and I'm looking forward to getting back to a peaceful life on the coast. It's so unfortunate that all this craziness came from the worst day of diving in my life, talk about irony. I have no doubts that what we did was justified, from beginning to end, and I have even more respect for the ocean now than before any of this (which I didn't think was possible).
Thanks for the input, support and objections, it's all part of being accountable for our actions and passionate about the sea.
Ryan McInnis
and not retreat if not in danger! They weren't human in killing this shark over two hours!
They were filming this for some great air time! Shame on them for killing a curious wonder
of the seas! They are all getting their 15 minutes of fame!Wow! It must make for good late
night home family video time!! Two hours being human to put this shark down and their buddy
who was able to film and communicate for help underwater, now that's a news worthy story!
The other two bozos were able to freely swim from their boat to kill this curious shark - they were in no danger if they calmly left the water.
Just ask any surfer - they have almost all seen them cruise by and leave...
These guys just killed a beautiful shark for a thrill... and now they are trying to make a fast buck from it...