Fisherman reeling in redfish bitten by shark near Naples

Associated Press
Posted May 14, 2002, 4:02 PM EDT

NAPLES --A LaBelle fisherman suffered a deep cut to his arm when a shark bit him as he tried to pull in his catch.

Fermin Gallegos, 31, suffered a six-inch wide gash on his left forearm Monday from a shark he said was about 7-8 feet long. Gallegos suffered no bone or nerve damage.
Gallegos was fishing in the Ten Thousand Islands, about 150 miles southeast of St. Petersburg in the Gulf of Mexico, with a friend and nephew when he tried to pull a redfish into the boat.

"I reached over the boat to grab the fish and the shark grabbed me. I guess he was after the fish and my arm just got in the way,'' Gallegos told the Naples Daily News.

The shark let go before it could sever the arm, but the bite left an "extraordinarily deep'' gash, Collier County EMS spokesman Jorge Aguilera said.

Gallegos was flown to Naples Community Hospital where he was treated.
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