French Fisherman Nets Catch of his Life

A French fisherman discovered the biggest catch of his career when he found a dead humpback whale caught in his net in the English Channel.

His find has excited conservationists as sightings of humpback whales are extremely rare off the coast of France. Gerard Muger, spokesman for a whale research group based in Normandy, said: "You could count the number of humpback sightings off France over the past two centuries on your fingers." The fisherman in question managed the superhuman feat of dragging the corpse ashore behind his small boat and the French marine mammal centre are now trying to establish the creature's cause of death. Humpback whales are normally found in African seas at this time of year and the species has been rarely seen in the English Channel since the discovery of a beached corpse in Brittany in 1996, Yahoo reports. Humpbacks are 14 meters long on average and, although they're found in oceans the world over, their size usually means they don't risk entering the narrow Channel waters. However, this latest specimen has been described as an 'emaciated adolescent' weighing in at only eight tonnes compared to the usual weight of 40 tonnes for an adult. The species was once hunted to the brink of extinction before the enforcement of a worldwide ban on whaling. Since then, it is estimated that there are approximately 20,000 humpbacks in the North Pacific, much healthier than the all-time recorded low of just 1,500.