A GIANT basking shark has died after becoming tangled in fishing creel lines.

The 30ft shark, estimated to weigh 10 tonnes, was netted by fishermen in Loch Broom in the north west Highlands.

Stornoway Coastguard asked for the carcase to be towed towards Ullapool because it may still pose a danger to fishing boats, given its size. But it was too big for the small fishing boat to tow and was released off Annat Bay.

Now coastguards are trying to track down the dead shark amid concerns it could pose “significant risk” to small vessels.

A coastguard spokesman said: “Like any animal that dies in the sea, it will sink initially but will fill with gases which will cause it to rise to the surface. This can take anything up to two weeks to happen, but it will have to be dealt with.

“A shark that size could cause a lot of damage to a boat if it crashes into it.”

Fisherman Jerry Burne described the moment he netted the big fish. He said: “I felt a bit of weight on the line and when we pulled it in, there it was. It was a big shark so I reckon it could have weighed 10 tonnes but I couldn’t tell you exactly what weight it was.

“We are creel fishermen, we don’t use trawler nets, so it was quite unlucky to get caught up in the way it did.

“We see these things from time to time and we try to avoid them, because they’re basically just big harmless animals that don’t bother anyone.

“It was a sad day.”