SHARK FISHING.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 January 1920, Page 1

SHARK FISHING.

AN AUCKLAND INDUSTRY. „ AUCKLAND, Jan. 6. Shark fishing as an industry is carried on to a certain extent’ at Matakana about 40 miles north of Auckland. Even in pre-European days the coast in this locality was noted for ij? infestment by sharks, and the name Matakana, which means “putyid fish,” .is said to. have been given', to it by' the Maoris from a, malodorous stench arising from the practice of drying on the beach catches taken from the prolific waters of the coast. The reason Tor the-abundance of the fish at certain seasons of the year is that they swarm into shallow water off .Matakana for breeding, purposes in the summer months, and then readily fall a prey to fishermen. Some years ago a factory was opened in the district with the object of extracting oil from the livers of sharks for medicinal uses, and rendering down the carcases to convert them into fertiliser. Fins were saved and dried for exportation to tlie Far

East, where they are esteemed a delicacy by Chinese epicures. The. factory at present is idle, but the industry of oil extraction and the export of fins and the use of flesh ,as, a fertiliser, is still carried on by Mr Fred Green, a settler in the district, and in a smaller degree by other farmers The present is the time of the year when the sharks abound at Matakana flats. An Auckland visitor to the district during the holidays witnessed the capture of several formidable fish, 9ft.and 10ft. in

length, and on Mr Green’s expeditions for manufacturing purposes it is not uncommon to secure from 100 to 150 in a> day, mostly of large dimensions. In securing them stout Manilla lines aie used, with strong hooks, and the lure is generally the flesh of kahawai. To attract the fislv it is usual to squeeze out on the surface of the water a quantity of oil from the livers of previously caught sharks, an expedient which seldom fails to bring to the locality some of the largest scavengers lurking in the neighbourhood. In the case of the hugest, fish, it is usual to play them for some time, occasionally hauling them up to the boat’s side and there hitting them on the snout with a heavy mallet, until they are sufficiently exhausted to ho ultimately kept alongside the boat and dispatched with a knife, ®mnl lor sharks, say of 4ft or sft. can safely be brought into a boat at the first haul, and there put out of misery with a mallet. -