A BRIGHSTONE man has found the missing Porbeagle shark tag researchers were desperate to rescue.

As previously reported by the County Press, an important satellite tag had detached from a shark and was thought to have washed up on Compton beach on the Island.

Steve Tearle, with wife Teresa, found the tag this morning (Friday).

He said: "The tracking tag was found on Compton beach surprisingly close to the published coordinates.

"We had searched for several hours on Thursday along with numerous other people.

"Frustratingly, while we could clearly hear its radio ping on an old radio scanner, it proved just impossible to find.

"Having an interest in electronics and a passion about the worrying decline in our natural world, finding this tag was just too much of a challenge to resist.

"In my sleep I had the brainwave to remove the antenna on my scanner to make it less sensitive.

"I then found the tag within five minutes this morning. I now know the visible section looked like every other pebble on the beach.

"The work research organisations like Associations Apecs do is fundamental understanding, raising awareness and ultimately protecting critically endangered species like the Porbeagle shark, so we really wanted to help and find this tracker.

"Porbeagle Sharks are just incredible creatures. Sharks like them have swam in our seas for hundreds of millions of years so it’s quite depressing to see how the impacts from too many humans has pushed their population into a massive decline in the blink of an eye.

"We are already in contact with Apecs to re-unite them with their tracking tag. Let’s hope it contains some useful data."