(BETHANY BEACH, Del.) - A YouTube video of a man illegally sharking in Bethany Beach sparked an investigation by Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
Taylor Thorton is shown in the video reeling in, what appears to be a sandbar shark out of the ocean.
After Thorton gets the shark on the beach and he then proceeds to sit on the shark.
Sharking isn't illegal from the beach, but because he brought the shark onto the sand and proceeded to drag it back by its tail, what Thorton did was illegal.
"It is not illegal to fish for sharks. You can catch sharks off of the beach. What is illegal is bringing them up on the beach,"explained Bill Baker Jr. from Bill's Sports Shop.
In order for sharking to be legal, a person cannot let the shark get out of the water.
They must go into the ocean, unhook the shark, and let it go into the water.
In the video, Thorton describes himself as a "shark-hugger" and he claims to have must respect for the fish.
"I don't think it seems like he respects sharks at all. He seems pretty brave but a little bit crazy himself. Maybe he just respects the thrill of that, but I don't think he respects the animal. He's taking it out of its habitat, he's sitting on it, he's clearly hurting it. It's not meant to come to shore. I don't think its respectful,"said Alissa Densky, a vacationer in Bethany Beach.
Natural Resource Police's Captain Douglas Messeck said this case is now in the hands of one of his investigators and it would be taken care of.
WRDE tried reaching out to Thorton via Facebook and have yet to hear back from him.