Show mo mob V A mr olk W V 0 4 kev IS I 1 lpt apt Q R 1 01 firms 10 lo Q NISSEN A four hundred pound shark prepared by no t lonal society NV washington ashington D 0 servi service ce f HARKS the much feared d denizens S h of warm seas now are eagerly J so sought aught along the eastern c dast coast of australia for they yield 20 commodities to commerce the cry shark sends the bathers at sidney scurrying to safety but not far north at a sleepy sleep y village on the i shores of port step stephens hens which Is the headquarters arters of the growing shark fishing industry it Is good news F founded several years ago the shark industry of australia has at last reached the commercial stage like the rabbit the snake the lizard the crocodile and the alligator the shark has attained this status mainly through the whims of milady fashion the world over she demanded something new in footwear and bags and she has it in sharkskin several years ago a trading company in england sent four experts out to australia to specialize in sharks shark catching and shark treatment they were the specialist nucleus of marine industries ltd the australian offshoot of the english company after investigation the quartette chose as the scene of their operations it had and has haa the first essential sharks thousands of them all kinds and varieties all sorts and sizes and all within a few miles of the shore the devil and the demon specialty specially built motor boats were put into service staunch little craft they were proving themselves so with the heaviest of freights freight S and in any weather the first attack was launched at the entrance e to the port a stretch of water three quarters of a mile wide the nets were unlike any used before in australia abe they y were approximately 1000 feet long about 16 10 feet deep of bf an eight inch mesh and they were leaded and anchored to the bottom with glass buoys to hold bold them upright on the surface marking markeng the anchors that helped secure the net to the bottom and at the same almo me holding it steady were large drums usually the nets neta are set in the afternoon and raised the next morning no lack of sharks when the first net set was raised the shark fishers discovered that for once at least the local fisherman had told the truth there were sharks there in abundance all sorts and sizes gray nurses whalers chalers wh alers tigers school sharks blue pointers hammerheads hammer heads carpets begones be gongs shovel noses dummies gummies gum mies angels and port jacksons the shark fishers learned too that sharks were really stupid an eggcup egg cup would have covered the brain of the biggest shark an 18 footer this lack of intelligence Is demonstrated by the fact that once a shark runs into the mesh of the net once he even touches it his doom Is more or less sealed though he may sense its dangerous dai berous potentialities he will not retreat he presses ahead and na as he does so those thin brown cords get tangled more and more securely around his gills then he be Is there to stay the devil and the demon are each manned by a crew of two and a half men two very strong men and a lad ad on the job of raising the net the ek skip lp per Is at the tiller brightop right op 11 one chap his legs braced against alit tle tie football foo foot trall mil hauls and a little farther along the deck taking the strain la Is the lad ad hand overhand over hand they heave and pull until at last the man mah calls a halt here comes one he says gays and below a mass can be seen tangled in the net thrashing and writhing then the skipper leaves leave s the tiller and lends his weight it Is a mans job for even without walthou the catch to inar increase ease its weight a shark not net when wet tips the beam at half a ton at last that part of the net which holds the shark Is pulled to the surface then tor for daring speed of hand and sureness of foot there Is little to equal a trained shark eisber the forward hand learis leans over aad grasps the tall of the struggling monster no matter what the sharks shark s size weight and temper that tall tail roust must be hitched and when the shark boat Is shipping green seas and a savage 15 footer la Is venting renting his rage on the net with the forward hand haying only a tiny to give him stance and grip then the ordinary angler comes toia toa realization of the difference between fish ing for sport and netti netting ng for sharks getting him out of the net the sharks head Is tangled in the net his fits tall securely noosed koosed white while J the forward hand la Is fixing the noose the tad fad has swung out the derrick derric karin arm th tull tuil loop Is linked up the lad xi fea works the windlass and shark a and nd net are hoisted into the air follows another hazardous operation extricating the shark from the net the mesh Is wound round and round and fastened about his gills and quite possibly too his fins and tall are entangled with infinite patience and the speed of long experience the fishers pull the net clear clea pull it clear from razor edged teeth thras thrashing hini tall and madly squirming body until at last the shark la Is clear of the net and hanging by its tall in each shark boat Is an outsize in baseball bats or at least what looks looka like a baseball bat only it Is rougher and very much heavier there Is also a revolver of large caliber with one of those these weapons an anesthetic Is administered to the captive either the bat thuds with every ounce of the wielders elders wl weight on the nose of the shark the nose being the equivalent of the point of the human jaw or the revolver does the job another way on the dock the shark surgeon Is waiting when be herons dons his bloodstained apron bares his muscular arms and delicately tests the keenness of his big collection of knives the great fish Is headed for a sharks equivalent of the hereafter parts that are utilized the salvaged portions of a shark in order of value ure are the hide the liver the fins and the stomach bag contrary to prevailing opinion the teeth are valueless it Js Is generally believed that sharks teeth pass as currency in many of the south sea islands but although teeth ranging from the razor edged tanga fangs of the tiger to the ivory stilettos tos of the gray nurse have been hawked throughout the islands they lave have never fai found udd a market to revert to the commercialization first the shark Is killed no stunning or near killing this time next the carcass Is washed and the surgeon sets about cutting away the fins and begins skinning this to Is a most delicate job for one false cut and the of the hide Is materially lessened what makes the cutting so difficult Is the toughness of the hide it Is rough and thick and stubborn a veritable piscatorial coat of mall and each cut plays havoc with the skinning knife so much so BO that after six sit incisions hone or oilstone must be brought into play however in a few minutes the sharks clothes look like ilka a cubist crossword cross word puzzle then it Is tug and pull until the hide Is off after shark and hide bide have parted company the latter Is beamed tho the flesh Is cleared away from the inner side beaming completed the hide bide Is closely inspected it if any parts are faulty they are cut away and then it goes to the shed for its first coat 0 of f brine A week later it Is given another coat and two weeks later a third it Is then ready for the tanner the tanner as a matter of fact la Is the man who lias h as made shark fishing a feasible and profitable proposition until recent years although it had been proved that sharkskin was among the most durable of leathers it was not found possible to treat it commercially with any great degree of success but new methods have developed ve it Is now possible so to soften the toughest hide that it may be put to practically every purpose for which the best bullock leather Is used it Is also possible now to retain not only the markings that make sharkskin so distinctive but also its remarkable qualities of durability at present the most articles manufactured manufacture ed from sharkskin are footwear handbags cases case sand and luggage the hide of the carpet shark with its distinctively mottled Is used for exclusive feminine footwear and pocketbooks oil from the big liver once you have seen sharks liver you can understand why the shark Is such a bad tempered fellow he Is probably the liver champion of the world that Is in point of size seemingly he specializes in big livers for they put his other organs to shame record in this respect Is that of a 15 foot tiger who hada liver 18 feet long weighing poin ds and other sharks are proportionately equipped this dreadful looking organ soon boon loses it its entity or whatever whatever Is the anatomical equivalent it Is dumped into a big container and cooked heat breaks down the oil colls cells and the resulting product Is shark ilver oil the nearest blood relation to cod liver oll OIL if anything it smell worse but physicians say that its medicinal qualities are the same the liver referred to in its liquid medicinal state yielded 16 10 gallons |