Giant Squid Netted of Australia

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2008/05/27/14395_news.html

IF fishing trawler skipper Rangi Pene knew his huge catch would create so much fuss, he wouldn't have netted it.

The Portland fisherman's phone hasn't stopped ringing since he winched a six-metre long, 230kg squid from the ocean floor.

The squid is now in a freezer, waiting to be collected by Museum Victoria.

Bert Tober's trawler, Zeehan, was about 40km off the coast of Portland when it netted the squid on Sunday night in waters more than 500 metres deep.

Mr Pene said he hadn't seen anything like it in his 15-year fishing career.

"As soon as we seen it, we (thought) we'll have to save this," the 55-year-old said.

"When we winched it up about 6pm, we seen a big ball in the net, halfway down. We were wondering, what's this?

"We got it closer to the boat and it was that squid.

"You couldn't put it anywhere down in the ice room with the rest of the fish because it was just too big.

"We left it on the deck and we put bags of ice on it and covered it with sacks to keep it in good condition."

It took 10 men to put the squid in the freezer.

Mr Pene said his phone had kept ringing with journalists since the discovery, and admitted he was growing tired of the commotion.

"If I'd known it was going to be like this I'd have thrown it back over," he said.