Whangarei group may have caught Vanuatu killer shark

A Whangarei group has caught a giant shark at the precise spot where seven-year-old New Zealander Alysha Webster was killed in June.

Vanuatuans are convinced the shark, hooked on Saturday, was the one that killed Alysha as she swam off the family yacht at Atchin Island, off Vanuatu's main island, Malekula.

Tutukaka coast residents Ian and Diana Moratti, Harvie Ferguson, Gaylene Corkin and Bob Bruce set out to get the shark and hooked it on the second evening after a dramatic battle by torchlight.

Mr Ferguson, president of the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club, and Ms Corkin had sailed their launch Saga from Tutukaka, while the Morattis kept their boat Espiritu in Vanuatu.

Mrs Moratti said when the shark was lashed to the side of the boat they had suddenly realised they had a large, unseen audience.

"We heard shouts of joy and clapping," she said from Vanuatu. "When we shone our torch on the shore we could see 40 to 50 happy faces and several guys paddled out in canoes to get a closer look."

The narrow stretch of water between Atchin and Malekula was a busy waterway, and many canoeists had reported seeing a large shark after Alysha was killed. One had seen a dog snapped up as it tried to swim between the islands.

Mrs Moratti said a shark had killed three other people before Alysha's death.

"The locals told us they had set a line the previous night with a dog as bait, and the dog and the buoys it was attached to had disappeared," she said. The Kiwis had had a similar experience -- on their first night "something big" took about 300m of Mr Ferguson's line as well as two buoy floats. When the big shark appeared on the second night, it was to snatch another line only a metre out from the launch.

"Next thing it was all action stations," said Mrs Moratti.

"Harvie took the rod out of the holder and held on tight. At one stage he thought he was going to be pulled overboard. Gaylene and Ian went over to our boat to try to pull the shark away and stop it going under the boats, which would have been disastrous.

"Ian had left some bait hanging from the side of our boat and we realised that was what the shark was after, even with a huge hook in his mouth. It was sort of organised chaos, with a lot of yelling and screaming especially when the stand-up rod holder broke, leaving Harvie with the full weight of the fish on the line," she said.

It took three shots from a high-powered rifle before the group felt satisfied the shark was dead.

The shark measured 2.8m and its weight was estimated about 140kg.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)