MENACE OF SHARK

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1932, Page 6

MENACE OF SHARK

, MAKO TERRIFIES FISHERMEN. ATTACK ON DINGHIES, . Although the schnapper are now schooling in the Hauraki Gulf, the great mako shark that for two years past has harassed the line fishermen has not yet been reported,, states the Auckland “Star” When the. schnapper come in from the east coast to spawn in the waters near Kawau hundreds of sharks follow the migration and “live high” at the expense of the unfortunate schoolers. They are a pest, but' no menace to a man in a good boat—all except that one dreaded mako. CURSE OF EXISTENCE. “For two years past that mako has been the curse of our existence while the schooling schnapper are in,” says the skipper of one of the Auckland fishing boats. “My first glimpse of him was about this time two seasons ago. We were busy fishing when we heard a scream from a dinghy fishing about a quarter of a mile away. It was a scream of absolute terror. We raced across to the boat.. “As we approached we saw that it was rocking violently. Then we sighted the dorsal fin of a big shark, circling the boat at top speed. The fisherman was crouched in the bottom of his boat, white With fear. Aboard the launch he told us that the shark had come to the surface and lain motionless head on to the broadside of his boat, just staring. The sight of it so got on his nerves that he picked up a fish and threw it at the beast. With a swirl of its tail, the mako charged straight at his boat. He had sense enough to drop flat to the bottom, and that. saved him for the shark, diving under the keel, gave the dinghy such a blow with its tail that it almost capsized. The fisherman caught no more that day.”

CHALLENGED WITH OAR. ' Since that date the big mako has been a fisherman’s nightmare. Last season he came again, even more boldly .than before. Some men would not go out in their dinghies to. set their lines while he was about, and several who did were nearly capsized by him. His habit is to float .on the surface, head on to and within two. of three yards of a dinghy, and just stare unwinking at the fishermen at work. Left alone, he does not attack the boats, but his steady stare and the sight of his rcws of great jagged teeth will bring out a cold sweat on any man in a fivefoot dinghy. The most reckless challenge the mako .has aver received yaa a blow, to iha

mouth with an par. He was out-staring one of the crew of the’Ruby when that exasperated fisherman picked up an oar and drove it into his mouth. The blade shattered on the beast’s teeth, and the fisherman dropped on his face to steady his boat against its charge. “The blow of its tail as it dived under the boat nearly stove her in,” the fisherman declares. “For a while the shark raced round me, and then made off. I did not See him again that day—which was almost worth the price of the brandnew oar I had smashed.” CUNNING MONSTER. Too cunning to approach the -launches, from which he might possibly be harpooned,- the mako has so far escaped the several attempts made to destroy him. No one in his senses would try to fight him in a dinghy, though one reckless youth did put out an attractive-baited line from a small boat one day last season. The fishermen consider him very lucky that the mako did. not touch it. Fishing boats are not allowed to carry firearms, but they think nothing less than a .303 bullet would be effective against such a brute.

Of all the . sharks in New Zealand waters, the mako is the fiercest and most feared. “Other sharks are just a nuisance, though any big shark, if hungry, > would possibly attack a man in deep water,” say one of the: oldest and most experienced men in the fleet. “But the mako is really savage—always looking for fight and ready to try his teeth on anything. He does not grow as long as some other species, but his bigger girth, in proportion, gives him greater weight and strength. The particular beast that has ‘put the wind up’ so many of the fishermen is not gUffh mprt than

14ft. long, or 15ft. at the most, I reckon, but he is as big round the barrel as a draught horse. If he turns up again this season, I think I will leave the schoolers and go back to seining. . That’s how much I like him.”