THRILLING FISHING

Evening Star, Issue 21636, 3 February 1934, Page 24

THRILLING FISHING

MEN AND SHARKS TOGETHER Men struggling side by side with sharks t,o snatch food from schools of mullet, and kiugfish provide an everyday sight at Samarai, Papua, according to Mr W. U■ Wright, who was interviewed while visiting Sydney, The natives hurl a stick of gelignite into a school, and the explosion instantly attracts dozens of sharks that hang about the harbour all day long. Just as swiftly men and boys dive from canoes and race the monsters tor the stunned fish. Mr Wright, who for twenty years has managed the Ahioma desiccating coconut factory, knows of only one boy who lias been 'bitten by a shark in these circumstances. He lost a foot. “ With the advent of white men the natives fifid that blowing up a school tf fish is much simpler than netting or fishing for them,” said Mr Wright. “ But the lurking sharks soon worked out what the explosions mean. “It is a thrilling sight. The natives stand ready in their canoes, stark naked except for diving glasses. Within a second of the explosion the diving boys have rlis-‘ appeared. Swiftly the foam is bloodstained, but only from the destroyed fish and the ones torn in pieces by the sharks. “ The boys bob up between the shark fins and fling their catches into the canoes I have been tempted often to dive in, too. but the boys point to my white skin and deter me. They say a shark sees their black bodies and imagines they are just another lot of big fish. There are no white fish, so a white man's body scares them, and as the first law of Nature is self-preservation the shark in its fright turns on a white man. “ While the natives never hesitate to hop among sharks, they are scared stiff by deep-sea pike, solitary, voracious fish that prey by stealth and lurk everywhere. They have been known to swallow prey so large that the captor has died in the attempt. I have seen the boys come to the surface, their faces ‘ white ’ with terror and gasping ‘Pike!’ in the same way as terrified Australians cry ‘Sharks!’

“The natives arc not cobbers with the sharks. When the school fish are scarce they harpoon a few , sharks, the flesh of which they grill or roast in hot ashes.” ■ There, are other thrills in Papua. Mr Wright sails about the islands in a schooner recruiting and paying native labourers, under Government supervision. In Northeast Papua, when a party of boys leaves in Mr 'Wright’s boat the whole village will hold a “ Christmas,” or big feast of pies fish, and yams, which goes on into the night. When departure time comes all the women, young and old, gather on the beach and light torches, which they wave rhythmically, while others wail and scratch their faces and bosoms until blood flows. The boys climb into the rigging of the schooner and stare at the weird spectacle until the torchlights wink and fade from view. In two years these labourers will return to spread their wages, now tobacco, belts, knives, combs, and beads, among ‘he rest of the village. It is near where Mr Wright lives that a tribe of natives by the sea use strong spider w-hs as bait in fishing. The web catches in the fish’s teeth. So in this village spiders are encouraged and housewives 'cave cobwebs alone