Usually when surfers see a great white shark they run the other way. But a handful of guys south of Venice Pier ran toward an ailing baby great white like first responders over the weekend, and it appears they might have saved its live.

Video (after the jump) depicts at least a couple of surfers working to get a fishing hook out of the shark's mouth before sending it back to the surf line.

Pete Thomas' Outdoors, action and adventure blog has the deets (via LAObserved):

The juvenile white shark apparently was hooked on the city pier and became stranded on the shore with the fishing gear still in its mouth. It appeared listless and in bad shape, but at least its rescuers got the hook out and gave it a chance to survive.

(Great beach sounds accompanying the video, too).

Fishing at Venice Pier is done way too close to humans (yours truly has been hooked), let alone the more-endangered kind of sea life, and it goes on pretty much unregulated, unlike at other SoCal piers, where authorities will intervene if anglers cast too far from a fishing zone.

Maybe this will serve as a reminder to the city and county that people with hooks can be dangerous to man and sea creature alike.

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]

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