118 Man Against Shark 



start appearing again. The Soupfin shark {Galeorhinus zyopterus) was 

 practically exterminated off California during the vitamin A "gray gold 

 rush" of the 1940's. After a couple of years of relatively light fishing, due 

 to the slackening demand for shark-liver oil, the Soupfin again became 

 plentiful. 



"It must be remembered above all," warns Dr. Perry W. Gilbert, 

 chairman of the Shark Research Panel, "that sharks are unpredictable. 

 Moreover, we know relatively little about the behavior patterns of sharks, 

 about the environmental conditions which compel a shark to attack, and 

 about the conduct of a swimmer which may provoke a shark to attack." 



With this warning in mind, let us take a look at some weapons, new 

 and old, in man's age-long war against dangerous sharks. Several methods 

 of making beaches— and individual bathers— safe from sharks have been 

 tried. All have been found to be far less than perfect, but some still offer 

 some hope of shark defense. Many seem to work, but their apparent 

 efficacy may be mere luck. 



In 1934, after a series of fatal attacks around Sydney, Australia, a 

 Shark Menace Committee was appointed to investigate ways to rid the 

 beaches of sharks. The committee eventually recommended that nets 

 be strung to catch sharks cruising along the beaches every night and 

 then be removed the following morning. The scheme was called "mesh- 

 ing" by the committee. It was called "a stupid, futile waste of money" 

 by one of its many critics. Because of the criticism, and because govern- 

 ment funds to finance meshing were slow in coming, this effort to protect 

 the bathing beaches did not begin until 1937. 



Since then, however, there has not been a recorded shark attack at 

 a meshed Sydney beach. 



For several years, counts were kept on the number of sharks en- 

 meshed in the nets. From December 1, 1939 to December 1, 1940, a 

 total of 751 were caught. The following year, 705 were caught. No 

 meshing was done during World War II, but even by 1948 the annual 

 number of sharks caught was down to 260. Since then, the number of 

 sharks caught each year has continued to decrease. The general as- 

 sumption is that the shark population is decreasing also. There was a 

 time when a dozen or more sharks would be caught overnight in a single 

 net. Today, the nets are often empty for days at a stretch. Yet, barely 

 a mile off the beaches, sports fishermen still regularly catch sharks 12 

 to 1 5 feet long. 



The meshes used around Sydney today are great nylon mesh nets 

 500 feet long and 20 feet deep. The area is not actually enclosed; the 

 meshes are anchored outside the breakers athwart the probable paths 

 of sharks. The bottoms of the nets are weighted to keep them on the 

 sea floor. Glass floats strung along the top of the nets keep them vertical. 



