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<\/p>\nThe crowd atop the Hermosa Beach Pier watched with bated breath as a local fisherman, stripped down to his underwear and armed with only a pair of scissors, waded into the water in an attempt to free a juvenile great white shark.<\/p>\n
Local resident Alexandra Garry, who recorded the rescue mission on her phone, said she was walking her dog around 9:20 a.m. Wednesday when she saw two fishermen struggling to reel in a very heavy catch.<\/p>\n
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A fisherman used scissors and his bare hands to free a juvenile great white shark caught on a fishing line by the Hermosa Beach Pier around 9:20 a.m. on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Video courtesy of Alexandra Garry).<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s so weird, they must have gotten something really big,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI thought perhaps it was a big tuna, really anything except a shark.\u201d <\/p>\n
But as the catch got closer to shore, it became evident that the men had accidentally hooked a juvenile great white shark, the most common shark in Southern California, known for its distinctive white belly. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe next thing I knew, one of the fishermen was half naked, stripped down to his underwear, and was in the water trying to get the hook out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That brave fisherman wasted no time in getting up close and personal with the struggling young shark, she said. Wielding a pair of scissors, he cut off the fishing line and then used his bare hands to try to drag his sharp-toothed friend back into the sea.<\/p>\n
At first, things did not look good, and the dozen or so people watching from the pier began to despair. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really sad, because the shark didn\u2019t look like it was moving a bunch,\u201d said Garry. <\/p>\n
But shortly after the line was removed, the shark regained movement and started thrashing about in an attempt to get into deeper water. The fisherman did not appear flustered by the creature\u2019s erratic movements.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just jumped on in there with the shark, and it was rolling around in the waves,\u201d said Garry. \u201cI\u2019m not an expert, but I\u2019ve seen \u2018Shark Week<\/a>.\u2019 I feel like his ankles were in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n Expert shark drone photographer Carlos Gauna<\/a> said that juvenile great white sharks present little danger to humans<\/a> as they don\u2019t view us as a food source. The rare exception, he noted, is when fishing is involved as sharks may bite as a defensive measure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only time I ever get a little bit worried about a juvenile white shark possibly hurting somebody inadvertently is when there\u2019s fishing activity going on next to swimmers,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a precedence for that; we\u2019ve had a shark bite occur because of a direct connection to fishing right nearby.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2014, a 7-foot-long great white shark bit a man<\/a> swimming near the Manhattan Beach Pier. That attack began when a person fishing hooked the shark and spent more than 30 minutes trying to reel it in, making the shark grow agitated.<\/p>\n Fortunately, on Wednesday morning both human and shark survived the encounter. <\/p>\n A juvenile great white shark swims away after being freed from a fishing line on Hermosa Beach.<\/p>\n (Alexandra Garry)<\/p>\n After a few minutes of struggling to unbeach the shark, the Hermosa fisherman hoisted the creature up by the tail and successfully pushed it into a crashing wave. <\/p>\n He raised his fists above his head in a sign of victory as onlookers cheered.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it swam out, everyone on the pier clapped,\u201d said Garry. \u201cIt was a very much needed moment of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris Lowe, director of the Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab, explained to The Times<\/a> last week that he is expecting a surge in shark sightings this summer due to unseasonably warm waters in Southern California. That warming trend kicked off amid March\u2019s record-breaking heatwave<\/a> and is expected to intensify during this year\u2019s strong El Ni\u00f1o cycle.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last time we had a strong El Ni\u00f1o was in 2015 and 2016, and we had a lot of juvenile white sharks hanging around early,\u201d said Lowe. \u201cSo I\u2019m expecting this year to be a sharky summer.\u201d<\/p>\n Last Thursday, lifeguards in Orange County temporarily shut down a stretch of Newport Beach where an 8-foot-long great white shark was spotted circling a surfer.<\/a> <\/p>\n L.A. County Lifeguards spokesperson Kealiinohopono \u201cPono\u201d Barnes said Wednesday that there had been a recent uptick in great white shark sightings reported near the Manhattan Beach Pier. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775096229_778_.jpeg\")
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