FISHERMEN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 759, 5 February 1954, Page 13

FISHERMEN

SHARK-O! by P. Fitzgerald O’Connor; Secker and Warburg, English price 15/-. UNDERWATER HUNTING, by Dr. Gilbert Dosleahe Allen and Unwin, English price "HE author of Shark-O! already had a successful novel to his credit during the period covered by this book. He lived on an island in the Hebrides, and had a small motor launch which he used for local pleasure trips. A chance telephone call from an old acquaintance started him on a shark-hunting expedition in that same smal] launch. This first trip did severa] things-it proved the practicability of handling these large creatures from so small a boat, it, fired O’Connor with enthusiasm for sharkhunting, and it gave him sufficient experience to plan the following year’s expedition. The story of this planning is expertly told and maintains the tension at a pitch which tempts the reader to skip, in his eagerness to follow the action. Even more exciting are the parts dealing with the hunting, chasing; killing and processing of the sharks. At the same time the descriptions of .the scenery and the characterisation of the crew read far more like thrilling fiction than a factual account of a commercial fish- ing operation. Economics of various aspects of fishing’ are dealt with: the wastefulness of using only the threequarter ton liver of a five-ton shark, the greedy methods of herring and mackerel fishing, which so soon deplete the waters, and the organised poaching by fleets of foreign vessels. Shark-O! is a delightful combination of entertainment and education. Dr. Doukan has produced what is by way of being a text-book on an entirely

different form of fishing. He describes the gear and techniques used in the comparatively new sport of underwater fishing, in which the sportsman equipped with goggles, breathing tube and harpoon gun, swims under water and stalks his ‘prey. The long catalogue of descriptions of various fishes, coupled with the somewhat stilted and pedantic translation, make this book rather heavy going

for anyone but an enthusiast.

B.

C.