This Shark-Fishing Business

A Line-up on a Strange Pastime

By G. F. Russell, Suva, Fiji

rOM time to time, in this journal, you have carried articles touching on various aspects of commercial shark-fishing; and, as I recently spent some 18 months trying vainly to estab lish myself as the “shark king” of Fiji, some of your readers may be interested in my reactions to this odorous but exhilarating activity.

Perhaps a glance at early efforts to establish this industry is not out of place, as a commencement.

To the best of my knowledge, shark fishing, as a separate industry, was first organised on a commercial basis some 25 years ago, early public companies operat ing on the coasts of Australia, Africa, the West Indies, and the United States.

The method of fishing was either with nets or set lines —mostly the former—and in nearly every case shore stations were set up and equipped with expensive plant designed to utilise the whole carcase — liver, hide, flesh, bones, fins, teeth, and whatnot.

However, although some remarkable catches were made, and dividends paid here and there for a season or two, none of these efforts was truly successful. But a good deal was learned.

Most important, perhaps, were the findings (a) that in cold climates the relatively short seasonal movements of sharks did not justify expensive and per manent shore stations, and (b) that in the tropics expensive shore stations were equally uneconomic because, operating in a big way with nets, the immediate vicinity would be “fished out” in a mat ter of months and the shore factory left idle in the middle of a comparatively sharkless area. This last was the rather embarrassing fate of at least one of the early Australian companies.

An interesting attempt to offset this lack of mobility was then made by con verting a large steam yacht into a shark factory ship. The whole thing was clev erly planned to deal with every by-pro duct in quick time, and exploit almost everything but the smell. But the ves sel struck a reef on her maiden voyage, foundered—and that was that.

For many years little more was heard of costly shore-stations and factory ships, and the catching of sharks was largely left to professional fishermen and to some of the established fishery organisa tions that had equipped a part or the whole of their fishing fleets to cope with sharks in quantity when and where they were caught. Here and there, too, pri vate individuals carried on in a small way with a trawler or lugger, some operating with a Government subsidy of so much per shark. The liver oil was then worth about 3/- to 5/- per gallon.

WITH the advent of World War 11, shark liver oil showed a healthy tendency to rise, and my partner and I became interested. At that time the then Governor of Fiji, Sir Harry Luke, had appointed Professor Hornell, of Madras, to investigate and report upon the commercial prospects of organ ised fishing in Fiji, with the laudable object of both exploiting and conserving the edible wealth in these waters.

Following some correspondence with the Fiji Government, it was arranged that I should make an initial survey of these waters in a vessel placed at our disposal and report upon the prospects

of commercial shark-fishing. This I did, in June, 1940, receiving every assist ance from the local authorities.

However, owing to the inevitable lia bilities and commitments of war, the Government was not able to grant the financial assistance we required to tackle this venture with adequate equipment and I had to box-on as well as I could with the very slender resources at our disposal. As a result, progress was neces sarily slow and many months were spent awaiting analyses of oil samples and seeking buyers on a fish-oil market that was, at the time, chaotic, owing to gen eral commercial ignorance (a) of the supply of fish oils available for both war and commerce; and (b) of the medicinal and industrial properties of shark oil.

Best-known of all the fish oils is cod liver oil, and it is the particular balance of vitamins A and D, peculiar to this oil, that has maintained it as fish oil No. 1 to within recent years. But shark liver oil is much richer in vitamin A than cod, and to-day there is a world shortage of, and growing demand for, vitamin A, which cannot, like vitamin D, be manufactured artificially. When, therefore, Hitler invaded Norway and the world’s chief source of cod-liver oil was cut off, it was only natural that shark-liver oil should jump, as it did, from 5/- a gallon to 10/-, 12/-, 15/-, and more.

NOW, the shark most common to Fiji waters is the Tiger, and the liver of the average 10 to 12 ft. Tiger shark yields about six gallons of oil, ranging from some four gallons in the qase of a lean and hungry male, to some nine gallons in the case of a fat and ferocious female. With the oil fetching from 15/- up per gallon, it is plain that, if you can maintain a good turnover in such sharks, you’ve got something.

But that’s the problem—turnover. In Fiji waters, and most likely in all Paci fic groups, the best catches are made in reef passages, and my experience sug gests that the more exposed the reefs, the better the chances. As a result, the weather plays a decisive part and one needs a stout, seaworthy, and reliable craft, well-equipped and well-handled, to work such passages with any frequency.

Let me say at this stage that the set line is the only feasible catching method for those operating in a small way in coral seas, as the cost and maintenance of nets is quite prohibitive. In any case, the use of nets is really out of the ques tion in coral-infested waters.

My own shark-fishing was done either with a single line or a set-line, the lat ter comprising some 100 fathoms of 3 in. manilla, anchored at both ends and buoyed to the surface with ten-gallon drums, a drop-line with strong steel trace, swivel and hook being attached to each buoy.

Set-line procedure is somewhat as fol lows: First find a nice, exposed reef passage and approach same on the first occasion that an adequate supply of bait (often a problem) coincides with settled weather. Lay your set-line as near across the passage as coral patches, depth of water, direction of wind and/or current, will permit, and bait your drop lines with fish or meat (the riper the better). . .

Now make for a safe anchorage for

the night, and hope for the best. What you are reiving upon is the shark’s sense of smell, which is, fortunately, remark ably keen. And once he gets the scent, and likes it, he is yours, providing he does not bite through your drop-line, break your trace, bend your hook, or get eaten up on the hook by a brother or sister shark (and this latter quite often happens).

In the morning (if weather permits) “under-run” your set-line, remove sharks (if any), dispatch same (an art in itself), hoist catch on board, remove livers and fins, and dump carcases; then either rebait or take in, your set-line (as wea ther, catch, bait supply, and other cir cumstances dictate).

Now make for shelter again and get busy rendering those livers, for the oil must be fresh and sharks begin to putrefy some six hours after death. In no-time your whole being will be per meated with as cloying an odour as you can imagine—shark oil being like that.

THERE are, of course, lots of other things you could do with your car cases; but, under ruling conditions, the small operator learns not to bother.

Converting the flesh and bones into stock food and fertiliser demands a fac tory ship plus big turnover; preserving the pancreatic gland for extraction of insulin requires special plant and cold storage; and cutting out the jaws and removing the teeth is sheer unremunera tive hard work at present values The skinning and fleshing of the hide is very different from the skinning of a beast, and proficiency is only acquired after considerable practice. The nearest simile I can suggest is that the skinning of a shark compares to the skinning of a beast as the skinning of a prune com pares to the peeling of a banana. Ship ping hides is a problem, too, as most ships running in normal times to the only established market (USA) will not handle wet hides. , In any case the oil, at to-day s price, represents some 60 per cent, of the total value. Rendering the ml is a straight forward job; and, bearing in mind the six-hour puterfaction time limit, it is well to concentrate on this and rest content. Even the fins are of doubtful value at present, owing to the disloca tion of the Oriental market.

JUST how sharks are distributed in the Pacific and elsewhere, and what their local and seasonal movements are no one really knows. This is infor mation that can only be acquired by co-ordinated study in many places over many years. It is safe to say, however that sharks are fairly common in all temperate Pacific waters and I should say that the Fiji quota is more or less typical of most island groups.

I say most groups, because wherever enquiries are made regarding sharks, there is always someone who knows some place that is “alive with them. It is quite likely that there are certain pro lific spots in these waters, but all evi dence points to such places being so far from normal trade routes as to be (a) too expensive to check up on, and (b) too isolated from markets. Sharks being a species of fish, and fish-stones being what they are, one learns early in the shark business to insist on visual proof.

There are certainly more big sharks in Fiii waters than the average resident imagines, and yet there are not enough to justify commercial shark-fishing as a separate and full-toe activity.

And now that I have admitted the whole truth I hope H.M. Fiji Government will note ’its narrow escape from financia! involvement in an unsuccessful ventuie.

BUT, as a subsidiary to general fishing activities, catch sharks by all means. Providing the price of oil remains near its present level, it will be easy and profitable to equip your com mercial fishing craft with simple plant to cope with sharks caught with, or in between, other hauls. And the indica tions are that the price will remain attractive for a long time to come.

And just as well, for in these waters present war conditions make it very dif ficult to promote commercial shark-fish ing. The maritime restrictions in opera tion almost everywhere, the excessive ruling freights, the uncertainty of ship ping, disorganisation of markets, and the scarcity of boat and fishing gear—all these things tend to turn a speculative venture into a real gamble.

Personally, I can speak only of pre sent conditions in the Pacific. The restrictions mentioned do not apply where there exist great fishing banks on the coastline of a major market.

Such a place is the west coast of the United States, where there is now fever ish activity on the part of professional fishermen and shore organisations, co operating in wholesale exploitation of a species of school-shark that swarms in that area. Regarded until quite recently as the fisherman’s curse, this “soup-fin” shark is now sought day and night with nets and set-lines by whole fishing fleets, the catches being unloaded at the near est port into waiting refrigerated trucks that speed away to specially-erected rendering factories, strategically placed.

The liver of this once-despised school shark is particularly rich in vitamin A, and many fishing crews are now making as much per week as they do normally per season on straight commercial fish ing.

I have said nothing about the thrills of shark-fishing. But they are there in plenty, and easily compensate for the discomforts and odours inseparable from this pastime. To get the better of these half-ton monsters of the deep provides all the excitement and satisfaction that any man has the right to ask. Make these thrills lucrative, and, as I said before, you’ve got something.