Two great white sharks battled from Manhattan Beach Pier
A fisherman on Manhattan Beach Pier hooked two great white sharks Tuesday, one estimated to measure 5-6 feet and the other 7-8 feet.

Both sharks were cut loose after being reeled to the surface and both catches were witnessed by Eric Martin, director of the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab and Aquarium at the end of the pier.

White sharks are protected off California and landing them is illegal.

While the unnamed angler released both specimens, and may not have broken any laws, he appears to have been walking a fine line.

"He has steel leaders, and I looked in his bucket and saw that he's using large dead mackerel for bait, so he seems to be fishing for this stuff," Martin said.

These were the fifth and six white shark battles Martin has witnessed from the pier since mid-July. The first incident became tense because the angler was insistent on gaffing and hauling his catch onto the pier. He consented to let Martin cut the line only after a heated argument and a threat to call the police.

There has been a large abundance of market-sized squid in South Bay waters in recent weeks. This could be attracting rays, small sharks and and other prey items preferred by juvenile white sharks.

"It's so weird because I've also seen two swim-bys recently, including one that involved about a 7-footer that ended up about 20 feet from a surfer," Martin said. "The surfer had no idea."

--Image showing second of two white sharks hooked Tuesday on Manhattan Beach Pier is courtesy of Eric Martin

A Great White Shark was spotted in Monterey Bay off of a Moss Landing harbor mouth. It was seen by a Blue Ocean Whale Watch Tour and confirmed by Cummings, a naturalist who estimated that the shark was at least 20 feet.Sean Van Sommeran of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation toured the coast both Friday and Saturday with Specialized Helicopters, spotting and photographing great whites on both days.

Confirmed shark sighting. Species likely a great White Shark from the description

From the Shark Research Committee:

On July 20, 2011, Myung Kil was surfing at Ocean Beach, San Francisco, almost opposite Beach Chalet. It was about 8:30 AM and he had been on the water 45 minutes. The sky was clear with air and water temperatures estimated in the low 60s and 50s Fahrenheit, respectively. The ocean was calm with decent swells for good small to midsized surf. No marine mammals were observed in the area. Kil reported: “I was waiting on my board for a set, looking outbound when slightly to my left, perhaps 10 o’clock and about 25 yards away, I saw a fairly large triangle fin a good foot to foot and a half and part of the sharks brownish back exposed from the trough of an incoming swell. It was moving perpendicular to me, cruised under the incoming swell and disappeared. I don’t recall much water thrashing when the shark broke the surface. I’d seen birds dive into the ocean for baitfish previously. I waited for seconds, registering that I had seen a shark, looked at the other surfers around me then saw a decent wave to catch back to shore perhaps minutes later. The shark had a very large dorsal fin, light and water shimmered on the back end of the shark, which was visible slightly out of the swell for a moment. In the light, and water, the shark looked brownish and I would guess 8 feet in length from my perspective.”