White shark hooked and released from South Bay pier

If you don't get it by now that our notch of the Pacific Ocean is popular with the sharks, here comes another piece of evidence. A fisherman on the Manhattan Beach Pier on Tuesday afternoon caught a great white shark estimated by witnesses to measure eight or nine feet long. Pete Thomas, the outdoors blogger, tells what happened next.

Eric Martin, director of the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab and Aquarium at the end of the pier, said the angler willingly cut the line to set the shark free.

In early July, a smaller white shark was reeled up from the same South Bay pier and Martin was able to persuade the angler to cut the line only after a heated argument and a call to local police.

Of Tuesday's incident Martin said, via email: "He actually kept it on the line long enough that I was able to click off a few photos. Then I told him I am cutting the line [and] he said go ahead!

"I also told him I will give him some photos. He was really happy then. So I guess the main thing was everybody came out ahead. The guy got to fight a great white shark. I got my photos, and the shark was free."

Amusing moment a few seconds later when the shark swam under a swimmer who had no clue. Great white sharks are protected under California law, Thomas notes.

Coincidentally, Veronique de Turenne posted earlier today at Here in (the) Malibu that the Monterey Bay Aquarium has shut down its great white hunt in the waters off Malibu for the the year.

You may remember the video last summer from Venice Beach when the Angelenos on the beach knew what to do when a shark got tangled in the surf. You lend a hand.

Photo of Manhattan Beach Pier shark courtesy of Eric Martin