Santa Rosalia, Mexico:
Huge Great White Shark Caught Just North Of Santa Rosalia

Oct. 9, 2004, Mike Kanzler, Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur, Mexico Great White Shark Catch:

An enormous great white shark measuring about 17 feet 10 inches long, and yielding 616 pounds of salt dried meat has been confirmed caught just north of Santa Rosalia, B.C.S., on Sept. 26, 2004, by two commercial shark fishermen.

This story started out as a rumor told to me by Alan Lewis of San Lucas Cove from our friend Brenda Goodson of Las Casitas Hotel at Santa Rosalia about a great white shark being caught at Caleta de Santa Maria, just north of town. Both Alan and I sort of disregarded it as folklore, because no one else was talking about it and a shark of this nature would surely be good gossip around the local fish camps.

On Sunday night, I was working on my computer, and there was a knock on my door. It was my mother-in-law asking if I could enlarge a photo for someone, which I do all the time, mostly for poor, faded old family photos.

Well, I was given the photo and stared at a really big shark with three guys behind it, a great white shark! I got up off my butt and went outside to see who brought this photo. It was Juan, one of the panga taxi operators here on Isla San Marcos. He said the photo was taken about Sept. 26, 2004.

I tried to hunt down this unusual shark capture with little luck.

Brenda Goodson and the engineer of public works of API, Justino Moreno Flores, did all the leg work.

Brenda Goodson went to the site in Santa Maria with Justino Moreno, and they found that names of the fishermen who caught the shark are Jesus Erasmo Cosio and Eduardo Cosio Lucero, both in their 30s. The name of the boat was Andariaego III, which in English is the Globe Trotter. The family lives in a makeshift shack and all are fishermen by profession, ages are about mid-30s to 40s They are actually from El Sargento which is a fish camp south of La Paz, and they fish these water between May and November. When the winds arrive, they return to their home waters of La Paz.

The great white shark was caught in a net and drowned in it. This was not a target species! The family takes mostly thresher, mako, and hammerhead.

When the shark was gutted, the stomach was empty! The two fishermen reported that they've seen at least five great white shark this year alone!

The shark was caught north of Caleta Santa Maria on Sept. 26, 2004, and it measured 5.5 meters, or almost 18 feet, long. The fishermen have received an offer of about $500 for its jaws. The meat was cut into fillets and salt dried, yielding 280 kilos, or about 616 pounds of usable meat.

Great white shark jaws at Santa Rosalia, Mexico

WHAT A SNAPPER!--Justino Moreno Flores of Santa Rosalia with the shark's jaws. Photo courtesy Mike Kanzler, Brenda Goodson, and Justino Moreno Flores.

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