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Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy
I heard a while back that sharks were pretty fished out around Hawaii.* People had been going after them so vigorously that they ain't there no' mo'.* Heard that there was a movement to stop shark fishing for a while there.
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Swordfish & honu have spent more time in the news than sharks, although we get a sharkbite or two every year. The honu & monk seals have come roaring back from the brink of 1970s extinction so now the sharks spend more time around the beaches.
I don't think anyone's legally fishing Hawaii for sharks but a lot of critters get trapped during netting. Everyone gripes about it but the fish markets are still full of customers. There's a strong cultural demand around here for shark-fin soup (and no doubt other parts as well) so I'm sure there's a brisk black market.
The photos actually came from Mike Stott, a realtor. I haven't seen anything in the local papers yet although people always suspect the Hawaii Visitors & Conventions Bureau of suppressing this sort of news.
White Plains Beach has a flat, sandy bottom. Even a couple hundred yards out the water's only about six feet deep. Sharks hate that environment-- apparently it messes with their senses or their gills-- so White Plains hasn't had a shark sighting since the '40s. But when the local monk seal buzzes through the lineup heading for the beach it sure raises the pucker factor!
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