Searching for elusive sharks with those who farm the ocean
Tuesday September 16 2008
Standing on deck, with the boat pitching and tossing in a heavy swell, I watched the blue balloon floating about 50m away as it rose and fell in tune with the sea.
After a time I became almost hypnotised as the balloon and I moved with the waves, rising and falling, while all around us, seabirds skimmed the surface of the ocean.
I was on John Brittain's boat, aptly named Bluewater, about seven miles off Slyne Head, fishing for shark. We had left Cleggan harbour earlier in the morning and, having caught mackerel for bait, we now waited for the elusive shark.
First, John had placed a net bag in the water, which contained a mix of bits and pieces of mackerel, suitably seasoned to provide the maximum scent. This concoction is called Rubby Dubby, a quaint name which does not prepare you for the powerful smell -- quite revolting to you and me but apparently irresistible to shark. John then set up our tackle of a gutted mackerel on a huge hook attached to a wire trace.
Thirty feet or so further up the line, a children's party balloon was tied on to act as a float. There were four rods fishing that day, all with different coloured balloons. Mine was blue. All I wanted was for it to disappear, indicating that a large shark had taken the bait.
Sharks have an incredible sense of smell and can pick up the scent of Rubby Dubby from miles away. It takes about an hour for the scent to disperse sufficiently through the water and, if one is lucky, sharks will gather around in numbers.
Sadly, on this occasion, they were elsewhere in the Atlantic, but during the day we caught mackerel, ling, cod, pollock, whiting, gurnard, coalfish, haddock, wrasse and even an octopus. We also saw a variety of seabirds -- gannet, fulmar, petrel, skua, guillemot and many other kinds of seagull.
The storm petrels and fulmars were amazing to watch as they skimmed the waves, inches above the surface. Bird watching has become so popular that John now takes groups of ornithologists out to enjoy the spectacle and see rare species that appear occasionally along the western coastline. He said that five years ago, at this time of year, he would be guaranteed to catch shark, but over-fishing has reduced their numbers. The enormous nets now used by factory fishing boats have caused havoc in the world's oceans, and once-common species, such as cod, are now a delicacy due to their scarcity.
The few days I spent in the West were an education on how the people who live on our coastlines farm the sea. The wide variety of seafood they supply is in great demand worldwide, but the growth in commercial fishing has had a catastrophic effect on the small fishermen, who ply their trade from our coastal villages.
Fishermen in Africa or Spain are as badly affected as those in Ireland. But even if trawlermen are in difficulty, you still see people picking mussels off rocks or tending to their lobster pots.
Farmed salmon or bass are now also for sale in every supermarket. This has, to some degree, reduced the pressures on our wild stocks, but already some species are on the verge of extinction, and the crazy EU laws relating to fishing and quotas appear to be of little use.
Trawlermen are, at times, forced to dump fish overboard because they happen to be of the wrong species or they are over quota. Despite these scarcities, John Brittain has been responsible for landing no less than seven species of specimen fish over the past few years and he has some marvellous photos of huge tuna, shark and ray that he's brought ashore at Cleggan.
If you want the excitement of catching one of these monsters, or maybe just visit the islands and enjoy the scenery and bird life, visit his website at www.seafishingireland.com
- Joe Barry
