BajaNomad - Shark Sold In Fish Markets

Shark Sold In Fish Markets

bajaguy - 10-1-2008 at 10:10 AM

Interesting story. Check out this link:

http://sharkdivers.blogspot.com/2008/09/ensenada-fish-market...

Woooosh - 10-1-2008 at 10:18 AM

I used to eat grilled shark steak with terriyaki glaze a decade a go when it was everywhere. Great texture actually. Wouldn't want to be sold shark as marlin or swordfish though. Don't some people still punch-out skate and sell it as scallops?

Skeet/Loreto - 10-1-2008 at 10:48 AM

Shari: Do they still have the Factories in your area where the women and children were Punching out "Scallops' for the Stateside Markets??

I happen to like Shark meat and especially if it is a Thresher{SP}| Only caught a couple but there are extra Tender.

Skeet

Ken Bondy - 10-1-2008 at 10:56 AM

I made a deal with sharks a long time ago when I started taking their pictures underwater. I won't eat them if they don't eat me. So far, both sides have honored the deal.

I am horrified and saddened at how many skates, rays, and especially angel sharks have died so they can be punched into "sea scallops". I used to see angel sharks on almost every dive at the Channel Islands. At one spot at Catalina, Ship Rock, there used to be hundreds of them on the sand bottom outside the kelp bed. Same at many spots at Anacapa, Goldfish Bowl, Cathedral Cove, Coral Reef, others. Sadly, I haven't seen an angel shark anywhere in five years. They have literally disappeared. Last photo I have of an angel shark was made in 2003.

++Ken++

Cypress - 10-1-2008 at 11:09 AM

A box of fresh-caught sharks always smelled like a poorly maintained urinal to me.

Sharksbaja - 10-1-2008 at 12:23 PM

Certainly a tragedy Ken. Living and diving at Catalinas' Isthmus was great back in the 80s. I remember a friend, Rocky Strong, now a famous shark researcher and PBS star. He would freedive to 50-60 feet in the Bird Rock area, catch "Angels" by hand, haul them to the surface and tag them with transducers. Then he would row around at night tracking their behavior.
I wonder what happened. Like the lobsters and abalone, they vanished. Pollution? Too many people? Habitat changes?

I crying shame what is happening and has been going on for years in Baja. I've seen literally truck-sized piles of discarded remnants of skates and shark. :mad:

Hug a shark today!

edit for punc.

[Edited on 10-1-2008 by Sharksbaja]

Ken Bondy - 10-1-2008 at 02:22 PM

sharksbaja, small world, I know Rocky quite well. I first met him at Cocos Island in Costa Rica when he was a part of Marty Snyderman's crew making a film on shark behavior (The Secret World of Sharks and Rays). Marty used a lot of my photos in his book "California Marine Life" and for payment I got to tag along on the boat and watch them work. Rocky is a GREAT guy and I don't think there is anybody in the world who knows more about sharks.

++Ken++

Sharksbaja - 10-1-2008 at 03:13 PM

Very cool Ken. Yah, I have yet to see him in our restaurant but have had a number of researchers, film crews and other fishy people say the same some nice things about him. Just a nice positive happy person to be around. He was a grad student at UCSB or was it UCSD? Anyhoo I know wasn't USC, they barely used their own science center where I worked.

GO BEAVERS! :spingrin:

He was a party animal when I knew him, quite a handsome Aussie. His name fit his physique. I hear he is still single. He works on occasion with the folks from Ocean Futures(Cousteau) who used to come here regularly.

Once we lost Kieko, we lost volumes of people, both marine related and tourist related. We need another star!

----
Back on the subject. I really loathe the ones' promoting "finning". I get the idea this is waning but still the market exists. The Norma laws have done little, imo, prohibiting over-fishing in the name of sustaining shark stocks and violators, poachers and long-liners abuse the regulations regularly.

Ken Bondy - 10-1-2008 at 03:38 PM

Great stuff sharks. It was UCSB, he got his PhD in marine biology at Santa Barbara. Right, he was exceptionally good-looking but acted like he didn't know it. He dazzled all the women, a real charmer. I sure hope he is doing well.

BTW I used to have family in Myrtle Point (near Roseburg), I have flown into Newport many times. Great part of the Oregon Coast.

Back on the subject, if the world doesn't come to their senses about killing sharks I think the health of the oceans is at great risk.

Sharksbaja - 10-1-2008 at 04:30 PM

Whistler, while living next to Cat Harbor I'd go down there at it's shallowest spot and wow the kids a few times a year by playing "Catch the shark by the tail"
Tt was a great sport! They would be in maybe a foot or two of water and I regularly caught 30+ lb shovelnoze. Delicious and my son thought it was chicken! :lol:

Made some great shark jerky as well. My bad.

Ah the good ol days.

Sharksbaja - 10-1-2008 at 04:32 PM

I remember the days when huge hammerheads made home of LA harbor.

Today, large specimens are a rare find, particularly in the SOC.

No Shark Lover

MrBillM - 10-1-2008 at 04:49 PM

Either in the ocean or on the plate.

I don't go out of my way to harm them, but I've never let a hooked one return to the ocean alive. Did my part to assist Darwin.

My father, on the other hand, had a passionate dislike of sharks. Fishing with him and his cousin for (usually) Rockcod and Halibut off of Catalina Island many, many times in the mid-late 50s, they both delighted in catching Blue Sharks, ripping their guts open and dumping them back for their brothers (and sisters) to feed on.

One of the funniest events among those trips was when we were tied up to a friend's boat and hooked a Six Foot Blue. After fighting it for a long time and getting it near the surface, the friend took out his M1911 and put a number of .45ACP slugs in before boating it. They took it back to the moorings in Avalon, dumped the dead shark overboard and took turns "Fighting" with it while I took the pictures.

Cool.

Ken Bondy - 10-1-2008 at 04:58 PM

It was sad to read your post Bill. At first I thought you must be kidding, then I realized you were serious. Doc Anes, owner of San Diego Shark Diving, told me that they don't run their blue shark trips off of San Diego any more, because there are no more blue sharks to be seen. Que lastima, they were a beautiful, graceful pelagic shark:

That was taken on a San Diego Shark Diving trip 20 years ago. It's the last blue shark I have ever seen.

Cypress - 10-1-2008 at 04:59 PM

Sharksbaja, Large specimens of any species are rare in SOC, unless you're counting gringo fisherman with empty fish boxes.

Sharksbaja - 10-1-2008 at 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cypress
Sharksbaja, Large specimens of any species are rare in SOC, unless you're counting gringo fisherman with empty fish boxes.

You are right, so sad Cypress.Mindsets such as our own Mr Bill.

Take a clue Mr Bill your dislikes are not appropiate except in your warped little place. If you see no value in life other than to admonish those that do then why bother. All a bunch of smelly gas and stench, not unlike the piles of shucked seafood that litters the playas of Baja. Do those tickle you?

OHHHH NOOOO, Mr Bill! :lol:

No class.

Good on you Ken, you have followed the leanring curve. You my friend are one of the most relevant sources here for marine knowledge and guidance. Kudos for speaking up.

btw Bill, "blues" are inedible imho. Fishy mush not suited for gatos. Think about why they are gone....... just for a minute! :light:

Oh So Blue

MrBillM - 10-1-2008 at 07:35 PM

I am hurt that my Blue Days don't meet with your approval, but that's the way it was and so what !

Actually, I've never killed a Blue, but that's probably only because I never boated one. I've never felt any compassion towards Sharks. Back in my surfing days, I would have been happy to see them all gone. There was always that uneasy feeling dangling my legs in the water outside the break.

IF they're mostly gone, my Dead Dad and his Dead Cousin can be credited with doing their part and someone else's too. They racked up the numbers and it wasn't to eat. They threw them all back. They just enjoyed the kill.

The most unique event I remember (other than the pic event) was when they cut open a Blue and there were little Blues inside. Until that moment, I hadn't known that the little critters were perfect miniatures of mammy when born. Took two of them home in the bait tank to show around, but they were dead when we got back to Inglewood.

My Dad was one of those "empty out the ocean" anglers. We'd fish Rockcod year round and bring home Gunnysacks full to give away to friends and neighbors. None of that sport stuff. High test line and bring in as many as possible. I used to sit out on the bow and top-fish for Mackerel with a light rod while they cranked like machines.

Part of his antipathy came from going down over a hundred feet with a six-gang leader and a pound or so sinker and coming up with fish heads. That last 50 feet or so was a race with the Blues.

He would have killed them anyway, though. Whether it was fish, rabbits, quail or whatever, he tried to kill as many as possible.

That's Life.

BajaGringo - 10-1-2008 at 07:44 PM

I am still trying to decide if you are serious or just trying to get a reaction...

Ken Bondy - 10-1-2008 at 07:46 PM

Sure glad more people don't think like you MrBillM, unless you are just trolling :biggrin:

++Ken++

[Edited on 10-2-2008 by Ken Bondy]

Sharksbaja - 10-1-2008 at 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrBillM
I am hurt that my Blue Days don't meet with your approval, but that's the way it was and so what !

Actually, I've never killed a Blue, but that's probably only because I never boated one. I've never felt any compassion towards Sharks. Back in my surfing days, I would have been happy to see them all gone. There was always that uneasy feeling dangling my legs in the water outside the break.

IF they're mostly gone, my Dead Dad and his Dead Cousin can be credited with doing their part and someone else's too. They racked up the numbers and it wasn't to eat. They threw them all back. They just enjoyed the kill.

The most unique event I remember (other than the pic event) was when they cut open a Blue and there were little Blues inside. Until that moment, I hadn't known that the little critters were perfect miniatures of mammy when born. Took two of them home in the bait tank to show around, but they were dead when we got back to Inglewood.

My Dad was one of those "empty out the ocean" anglers. We'd fish Rockcod year round and bring home Gunnysacks full to give away to friends and neighbors. None of that sport stuff. High test line and bring in as many as possible. I used to sit out on the bow and top-fish for Mackerel with a light rod while they cranked like machines.

Part of his antipathy came from going down over a hundred feet with a six-gang leader and a pound or so sinker and coming up with fish heads. That last 50 feet or so was a race with the Blues.

He would have killed them anyway, though. Whether it was fish, rabbits, quail or whatever, he tried to kill as many as possible.

That's Life.

Ok then, you should be rightly proud! Methinks you share in a very small minority.

No Troll

MrBillM - 10-1-2008 at 08:50 PM

All True. just the usual abnormal childhood days growing up with someone who enjoyed killing beasts on land, in the sea and air.

I've always been a moderate when it comes to fishing and I have never hunted animals, but I do love Meat, Fish and Fowl so I'm as responsible as anyone for dead critters. My Dad's rabid love of killing God's critters is one of those things that wasn't handed down from father to son. The only animals I've ever shot at were on two legs and I've only hit two of them.

On the other hand, I don't get weepy and indignant over those who do both in excess or whatever. And I don't shed tears for what's lost. You can't change human nature. I played such a small part in the loss of Shark population that it's meaningless. Those who eat shark are responsible for more loss than I am.

Although I don't eat Shark and contribute to their demise, I confess that I absolutely LOVE eating another endangered species. Swordfish. I'd buy that a couple times a week if it wasn't so expensive. Someday, they'll be gone too, so get it while you can.

LOSARIPES - 10-2-2008 at 03:04 AM

I remember when getting bb guns for Christmas was very common. (in Mexico at least) Come Dec 25th and you needed to be careful out there. Lots of kids shooting at whatever moved: birds, mice, plants, dogs, cats and whatever else. This rarely happens nowadays. Modern society grew out of it for the most part and replaced the style with other sort of activities as video games. Simulated violence that is, but at least it hurts nothing and nobody.
My point is, we all have a naturally violent part of ourselves but we outgrow it. There is a time when you trade your spear gun for an underwater camera and enjoy the results just as much and even more.
I personally, kill fish when I have a chance but never kill more that I can eat. That's my rule and feel pretty good about it.
Some people never outgrow their killing instinct. Sad, very sad.
On the other hand, it is not this type of cruelty that hurts the oceans. It is Commercial Fishing........ heartless, greedy, sick, people. They will drag us all down. They are the planet's enemy and there seems to be nothing we can do.