A kind fisherman saved a shark that was tangled in a cable from his boat.

The group of trawlers were sailing when they heard the blacktip reef shark thrashing around after getting caught on their rope in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, Thailand on June 19.

The blacktip shark is listed as ‘near threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) due to its declining population but it was not yet listed under protected species in the country so the fishermen could have taken it legally and sold it for food.

However, one of the kind crew members suggested that they release the creature instead as it was pregnant so it could give birth to more sharks.

The kind fisherman Manat Kongnoon said: ‘Fishing is how we make a living but we also need to be kind to the animals. Although we want to catch larger fish, this shark is too big for our needs.

‘Most importantly, the shark was pregnant and could give birth to more sharks in the future. We also need to give back and not just take.’

Manat loosened the rope around the 60kg shark’s body until the creature was able to wriggle out of it and swim back to the deeper part of the water.

Just last week, another blacktip shark was shot by fishermen in neighbouring Krabi province which prompted authorities to investigate.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment officer Varawut Silpa-archa said they will hasten the consideration of having the sharks in the protected status after the incident.

He said: ‘I was very saddened with what they did. We will hasten our consideration of having blacktip reef sharks in the protected status as soon as possible to prevent similar incidents in the future.’