A diver saved a baby shark from a fishing line that became stuck in its mouth and wound around coral.

Dave Prutow was on a dive off Big Island, Hawaii, US, when he spotted a juvenile White Tip below him. The shark was in obvious distress. Dave was swimming with friends Kate Butler, Jacee Butler, and Rachel Gillis and said he "just got lucky" when he found it.

The footage shows the 67-year-old diver approaching the shark that had a long, discarded fishing trailing behind it.

"It was very young. White Tips are born at about 52-60cm in length and this shark wasn’t much bigger than that. There was a lot of fishing line, so the line was probably from a trolling reel off a boat", Prutow said.

Having failed to remove the hook from the mouth first, the man quickly cut the wire and allowed the newborn shark to swim off in peace.

Prutow said: “I thought I might be able to get the hook out because it was a juvenile and it was obviously in distress and motionless but it quickly became agitated and even small sharks have very sharp teeth. I then concentrated on cutting the line as close to its mouth as possible so it wouldn’t get ensnared again".

The diver added: "We see lots of fishing line on the reef that is enamored and left after it has broken from the fisherman's rod. This line often ensnares turtles and other marine life. We clean up the line whenever we see it. It would be great if fishermen stopped using stainless steel hooks when fishing large game because if a shark is caught accidentally at least a non-stainless hook will eventually dissolve. Divers should always dive with a line cutter and be cognisant to pick up any line or trash seen on a dive".

A baby shark was saved from fishing line ‘abandoned from a boat’ that became stuck in its mouth and wound round coral.

Dave Prutow was on a dive off Big Island, Hawaii, USA, on May 15 when he spotted a juvenile White Tip in obvious distress below him.

Distressing footage shows the 67-year-old diver approach the shark which had a long, discarded fishing trailing behind it.

Having failed to remove the hook from the mouth first, Dave quickly cut the wire and allowed the ‘newborn’ shark to swim off in peace.

Dave said: “I thought I might be able to get the hook out because it was a juvenile and it was obviously in distress and motionless but it quickly became agitated and even small sharks have very sharp teeth.

“I then concentrated in cutting the line as close to its mouth as possible so it wouldn’t get ensnared again.

“It was very young. White Tips are born at about 52-60cm in length and this shark wasn’t much bigger than that.

“There was a lot of fishing line, so the line was probably from a trolling reel off a boat.

“We see lots of fishing line on the reef that is enamoured and left after it has broken from the fisherman's rod.

“This line often ensnares turtles and other marine life. We clean up line whenever we see it.”

Dave was swimming with friends Kate Butler, Jacee Butler and Rachel Gillis and said he ‘just got lucky’ when he found the shark.

Dave said: “It would be great if fisherman stopped using stainless steel hooks when fishing large game because if a shark is caught accidentally at least a non-stainless hook will eventually dissolve.

“Divers should always dive with a line cutter and be cognisant to pick up any line or trash seen on a dive.

“As one of the top ocean predators, sharks play an important role in the food web and help ensure balance in the ocean’s ecosystem.

“With increased demand and exploitation rates for some shark species and products, concern has steadily grown regarding the status of many shark stocks and their exploitation in global fisheries.”