Last night when we went to the usual Saturday night Chinese, there was a big group of people out on the boat ramp which can be seen from the restaurant. We weren’t really sure what was going on, until they started using this winch which holds up a big fish you’ve caught. They’d caught a Mako shark, about three metres long. It was huge!
So this is bad for many reasons, the worst of which is it reinforces my fear of sea water to go swimming in. I blame my parents for allowing me to see Jaws at an early age. And I felt sorry for the shark, because he/she probably was just out there minding its own business when it got hooked by these people. A 40 minute struggle (the other half went out to find out more about what happened) followed by two large hooks into the side of the fish because they couldn’t get it into the boat. It wasn’t humanely killed. I’m not sure how you humanely kill a shark. I guess you don’t.
But I think since swimming in the sea I have gained a new respect for fish. They’re not the stupid little creatures people make them out to be. I find it more difficult to eat them now.
The Chinese owner went out and talked them into giving him the shark fins, he gave them a couple of bags full of Chinese food in return.