A dead basking shark has been found washed ashore in south Devon after becoming trapped in fishing netting.

Cocooned in over 30 meters of fine mesh fishing net, the 4m (12.5ft) long basking shark was found dead on a sandbank at the mouth of the River Avon estuary, near Bigbury Bay, on Monday morning.

The juvenile male basking shark, a protected species, was discovered by local oyster farmer Richard Marsh.

"I came down to the oysters in the morning and found it on the sandbank opposite, Mr Marsh said.

Richard Marsh: "He was totally wrapped up in the drift netting, which must have stopped its ability to swim and suffocated it."

"At first I thought it was a whale or a dolphin because it was so large. It wasn't until we cut the netting off that I could see it was a basking shark.

"He was totally wrapped up in the drift netting, which must have stopped its ability to swim and suffocated it.

"It is a beautiful creature and such a shame that it died this way."

The condition of the shark indicated it had only recently died, experts at the Shark Trust concluded.

"We are gravely concerned about this incident, more so as there have been reports of a number of illegally set nets in the local area," the Shark Trust said in a statement.

"Basking sharks are vulnerable to the increasing intensity of activity in our inshore waters."

The wildlife group encourages fishermen and water users to report any incidents of entanglement or boat collision so that the full extent of this problem can be assessed and mitigation measures sought.