Fishermen criticised for catching giant 650kg fish
A group of fishermen have been criticised online after a gargantuan black marlin died when they reeled in the 650kg beast.
Beaming from ear to ear, the fishermen posed for several photos with the marlin dangling from the scales after it was caught off Queensland’s Fraser Island last week.
Yet not everyone was as impressed with the catch, with thousands taking to Facebook to slam the catch as a “disgrace”.
“This is so wrong … so many people trying to justify that it’s okay because it died in the fight to get it in … why cant you see how horrible that is?” one comment read.
“Good work heroes! Another animal killed for a photo op, well done,” another user wrote.
While hundreds of animal rights activists swamped the post, several users pointed out the catch was perfectly legal and its death wasn’t intentional and claimed the marlin had died from fatigue as it was reeled in.
The page which shared the images, Fishing with Scotto, defended angler Rob Crane’s catch, saying the work gamefishing crews do on a daily basis was vital for the research and conservation of marine life.
“Big game anglers tag and release more than 95 per cent of their catch and in doing so contribute more to the conservation of gamefish than any other group,” the page responded.
Earlier this year, a 16-year-old rewrote the record books when he pulled in another giant marlin weighing in at 150kg.
