In a conversation with Fox 35 News, Peter Deeks estimated that the fish was 12-feet long.
“[I]ts saw, itself, was about five feet long,” Deeks said. “That was the first sawfish that I’ve ever seen so it was really cool.”
Sawfish are a family of rays characterized by their long, saw-like noses. All five sawfish species are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List — three are listed as critically endangered — and are thereby protected under the Endangered Species Act.
National Geographic reported in 2018 that sawfish had gone locally extinct in at least 20 countries, while another 43 countries had lost at least one species of sawfish. Florida and Australia are the last two “sawfish strongholds” in the world.
Sadly, sawfish have become challenging to conserve because they are difficult to find, which is why Deeks’s discovery was so exciting.
Deeks posted a video of the endangered sawfish on his Instagram. The post has already received more than 10,000 views.
“Wow man, that thing is amazing,” said one commenter.
“Fish of a lifetime brother congratulations,” commented another.
He explained to Fox 35 that it took two hours to reel in the endangered species. But as it neared the surface, he and his friend noticed that its mouth had been tied shut with a rope.
“It wasn’t on there very tight but it was still tight enough where we tried to get it off a few times and then it just wasn’t safe for the fish, wasn’t safe for us, so we went ahead and let it go,” Deeks told the station.
They believe it had previously found itself entangled in a crab trap.
“The more we looked at it, it was the same type of palmer rope that’s used on crab traps, so what I think happened was — you know because it swims around on the bottom — that it got tangled up in a crab trap rope and then kinda set itself free,” he said.
Though they couldn’t remove the rope from the creature’s nose and mouth, he explained in his Instagram post that it “looked like it was coming off with time.”
“The sawfish was quickly released strong and healthy,” he concluded.
Accidental ensnarement, poaching and habitat loss remain threats to the fish’s population.
“They get caught by way more fishing gear than almost any other species, so they’re very susceptible, combined with the fact that their fins can be worth quite a lot of money,” Colin Simpfendorfer, a marine biologist in Australia told National Geographic.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has a sawfish research program devoted to learning more about the endangered species. Should an individual in the state catch or spot a sawfish, release the creature, and file an official report with FWC.
