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To shoot a shark

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fishimani

Leagues Deep
Dec 28, 2008
113
24
108
I have recently lost some of my gear to one (1) solitary shark which is costing me a pretty penny (he literally ate my spear shaft after i shot a short finned chub (which got wound around coral heads and all over the reef. I brained the fish while he was pinned to the coral head so he wouldnt attract attention then swam up to get a good breath for untangling all of my gear ....saw the shark circling (6ft whitetip reef)..."dont do it....dont friggin do it.....shark"

CHOMP...

all of my rig was gone....he sucked down my fish/spear shaft and clipped my 400lb test mono shooting line like it was nothing. Total cost...roughly 100 bucks (i use a riffe gun)....

I respect sharks and pretty much any apex predator in the ocean, not to mention species which are threatened or endangered. I do not want to kill sharks but this one i seriously thought about putting a spear into. When is it appropriate (in your opinion(s)) to shoot a shark?

PS. Please keep condescending comments and tree hugging remarks to a minimum. This (spearfishing) for me is a secondary source of income and a passion more so than it is a "hobby".

makes for some good stories too
 
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Reactions: agbiv
I am not a spearo - but in my opinion - only when it is endangering your life.

Yea he ate your gear - but you're playing in his house - I'm sure you'd have done the same thing if you were a shark Stuff happens - it's no reason to shoot something out of spite. Plus - shooting a shark could just end up causing more trouble for you - not to mention bad karma..

Just my opinion though
 
Better just to slap the surface of the water or swim at it than shoot it. Its too late once its swallowed the spear either way and I agree with Will, spite is not a good enough reason to kill a shark. Besides, you probably would have just bent or lost your other spear.
 
6ft white tip, I'd think you would need a few extra shafts as finishers. you would probably bend or lose a couple. At least the shark didn't try to eat you. $100 is only $100 bucks, in this activity at some stage you have to expect to lose, damage or have some gear eaten (chuckle) Think about the local implications for other spearfisher's in the area if you got caught. You'd give everyone a bad name not to mention the activity itself. Another location might be in order?
 
If you are going to eat it, shoot away, if not then let it go. Besides, if you kill this "one" shark, another will just take its place. Where you're spearing, sharks are just another part of the sport (just like bad visibility and current are for me in the NorthEast USA). You've got to adapt to your environment because it's not going to adapt to you. Sharks have forced species to evolve for over 400 million years. Perhaps, as a result of these types of encounters, you'll work to increase your bottom times so you don't have to surface and leave the fish down there. Then you can join the ranks of species that are better suited to life in their environment because of the influence sharks have had. But if that thing turns on you, you shoot first and ask questions later.
 
I agree with alexrom1207. If you got it tangled then you risk losing it to a tax collector and that's how it goes. That happened to me a few times but I did not lose gear. I never had a problem with white tips but the greys are a real pain. I think it's not bad to shoot them (not to kill) but just a poke and that usually does the trick for me. We try a gentle poke and if it doesn't work we try a harder one and they usually bugger off after that.

I've shot greys through the pectoral with good results. Shark survives, no one bit and besides a wounded pectoral, the shark is in good shape ready by next week to harass us once again!:blackeye

I really hate to kill sharks when I think it's unnecessary and in most cases avoidable. It's kind of a thrill to watch them devour a few of our fish but if it was a trophy fish I'd be P@#%!@!

Skip
 
Reactions: fishimani
Just be aggressive to the thing. Poke it, jab it, swim toward it. It's gotten used to an easy snack. Let it know you won't tolerate that behavior. :martialIf you're really serious about killing it, then get a powerhead and do it right.
 
alexrom1207 said:
If you are going to eat it, shoot away, if not then let it go.
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I agree with that, with a couple of caveats: not if its an endangered species. If your life or that of others is in danger and that's the only/best option, go ahead & good luck.
 
Reactions: fishimani
yeah i have been having some thoughts about "thinning the herd" of nurse sharks around here myself. they get really frisky and they are everywhere! there cant be SUPPOSED to be that many around here. besides they eat lobsters. if you do decide to shoot a shark, make sure you kill it , not just wound it. why is the life of a shark considered more valuable than other fish? i mean if it isnt rare or endangered, whats the problem? did you know that nurse shark ,(according to my fish book) is the best of all sharks to eat? interesting......... as far as your white tip reef shark, they are not endangered anywhere i have heard. and as far as i am concerned, fair game. as long as you atleast use it for bait, it wont go to waste. realistically, even if it drifted down to the depths, it would feed the worms and eels and stuff, cycle of life, survival of the fittest. and if you DO kill it, dont post anything on this website or you will hear about it. ps : get a powerhead
 
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Reactions: Almostafish and fishimani

You raise some very good points and personally I don't have a problem if the shark species is not endangered. If I happen to kill one in self defense I certainly would not lose any sleep but where I live (Guam) sharks are not a problem for the most part. My friends shoot small ones every now and then. I just don't like dealing with them.

Skip
 
I was watching a TV documentary by an older Australian couple a couple of weeks ago (I would imagine they are probably household names down under). The woman is credited with getting nurse sharks protected in Australia. However the problem there wasn't any natural threat but folk were just killing them enmasse with powerheads to get rid of them, in the mistaken belief that they attack humans (she claims no such attack has ever been recorded) - it looked like the film of the teenagers powerheading sharks from boats might have been taken c. Jaws.
 
It definitely sounds like them. Quite ironic seeing as they took more than their fair share of sharks back in the 70's. Conservationists now, but earlier... :naughty
 
Reactions: kmo
yeah the only thing i worry about with shooting a shark s what was mentioned earlier people go up in arms if someone harms a shark protected or otherwise spearo's already have a bad name like the fellows that shot the tiger shark in self defense that caused a uproar in the conservationist's.now imagine what killing a smaller shark doing nothing more than eating your fish would cause id just be careful and go about said action in the most discreet manner if you do decide to kill it
 
Try fishing somewhere else for a few weeks, it will probably move on once it sees you are not frequenting the area. If you decide to terminate it, certainly try to eat it, if not yourself then others may find it palatable. I'd go the PH, 6' shark is very very strong!
Cheers.
 
Reactions: podge
IMHO i think it would be rather senseless to kill the shark.

Not to mention that white tips are very dosile sharks and do not like anysort of confrontation. Dont let the shark get close enough to your catch to get it. Take a pole spear with you and give it a couple of jabs next time. It will get the messege real quick and you probably wont have any more problems with it.

I have always felt that sharks are like dogs. You have to show your dominance or they will take advantage of you. They are oportunistic predators who naturally go for an easy meal. If they have to expend too much energy in order to get it more often then not they will move on.

As far as a quest to "thin the heard," and again, just a personal opinion, I think its a rather destructive mind set. The sharks are there to fill a niche in the eco system. With out them something else will take its place and an invasion of another species will occur.

In Hawaii in the past a group of fisherman took it apon themselves to eradicate Tiger sharks from our local waters due to an influx in attacks on humans. They did this for some time before the Hawaiians were eventually able to stop it. What they found was that due to the lack of the apex predator keeping smaller sharks in check the local reef fish populations had dwindled somewhat. There is a natural balance which has to be maintained and I have a hard time agreeing with anyone thinking they should change it.
 
Reactions: devondave, podge and dave
kmo said:
Was that Ron and Valerie Taylor Mr X?
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Yes, I think it was. They seem to be on quite often here now, probably BBC3 or 4. Much of footage looks good but fairly old - I think they are doing a look back.
blaiz said:
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I have always felt that sharks are like dogs. You have to show your dominance or they will take advantage of you.
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Better start watching the Cesar on the Dog Whisperer (I'm sometimes "forced to watch it" but must admit that guy is onto something).

Yup, nature is a big control system that tends to adapt to compensate for changes. There has been some talk recently here about the environmental impact of building a Severn Barrage to generate huge amounts of tidal power. Upstream there are a lot of unique wetland and estuary environments (and at least one nuclear power station). But apparently something similar was done in France some years ago and their view is that yes, you loose one environment but things change and adapt (or perish) and new a environment emerges. That's the cost of an ever increasing human population - more mouths to feed, more cars to fuel more homes & businesses to heat/cool/light; the world isn't getting any bigger. The BBC news yesterday was predicting that wind power will be Britain's main power source by, I think they said by 2022, as off-shore wind farms just passed an important hurdle. Hard to believe but that would be good, just think about all those new artificial reefs -- or "fish aggregators" as I like to think of them. [Not everybody in the countryside dislikes windmills].
 
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Thanks for all of the good opinions, tips and advice everyone. I see both sides of the issue about sharks. I personally stand right in the middle.....i try not to be wreckless about anything when it comes to taking natural resources...but you dont have to take it to the extreme...sharks are in fact designed to kill....and so are people...just in different ways. I didnt end up killing the shark in question, and i did go back to my favorite fishing hole.....he left me alone the second time....just saw him once....then he dissappeared.....shot a massive uku (jobfish) and a legitimate barracuda a damn good day through and through.
 
As far as a quest to "thin the heard," and again, just a personal opinion, I think its a rather destructive mind set. The sharks are there to fill a niche in the eco system. With out them something else will take its place and an invasion of another species will occur.

In Hawaii in the past a group of fisherman took it apon themselves to eradicate Tiger sharks from our local waters due to an influx in attacks on humans. They did this for some time before the Hawaiians were eventually able to stop it. What they found was that due to the lack of the apex predator keeping smaller sharks in check the local reef fish populations had dwindled somewhat. There is a natural balance which has to be maintained and I have a hard time agreeing with anyone thinking they should change it.[/quote]

i think the same thing happened here: the fisherman have killed all the big sharks and now the nurse sharks are out of control and are eating everything and overrunning the reef, hence the problems. i didnt cause this, but now there are too many of one species, it is obvious to everyone i know. and if one of them messes with me again he may find himself on the grill! maybe i will give the fish a break for once and kill a shark or two. why not? in my belief system all lives are equal. a ballyhoo ,(bait fish) is just as valuable as any shark, and they kill them to use for bait, just so they can reel in a marlin, then let it go. now THAT is pointless, wasteful and mean in my way of thinking. and the sharks are NOT the apex predator ,humans are, and as such need to keep the SHARKS in balance, just my opinion.
 
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