Fishing Lines: No chance for shark practice

I WAS standing next to the great white shark hunter Vic Sampson as catches at the Jack Daniel's British Shark Angling Festival were hauled upon the scales. 'Shouldn't be allowed,' he grumbled. 'I mean, fish this small being killed.' The shark he was referring to weighed 85lb.

The largest UK shark ever caught weighed 500lb, and that was a Mako, which is about as common as a dolphin in the Manchester Ship Canal. Most fishing is for blue sharks that are often as small as 20lb. One of 75lb wins you acceptance as a member of the exclusive Shark Angling Club of Great Britain, and a 100lb fish is exceptional.

And for the public at least, any shark will wreck your boat and eat your children. Barry Hosking, skipper of Crafty K, a Plymouth boat, says: 'Most people who come shark-fishing believe they are very dangerous. But blues are pretty harmless.' They may only have the teeth of a poodle, but blues are big summer business for several ports along the south Cornish coast. A day's fishing costs about pounds 20 and during July and August most boats are full of apprehensive holidaymakers hearing not the slap of the sea but the theme tune from Jaws.

Come September, the blue sharks, which feed mostly on mackerel, head farther out to sea and south to sunnier climes. That's why there is talk of holding the annual shark festival earlier in the year. Fierce winds limited this week's competition to one day, when only four sharks were caught.

The choppy seas also put paid to an interesting battle with Geoff Capes, once the world's strongest man, and a Cornish shark. Capes had boasted the night before, between glasses of Hog's Breath (creme de menthe and lemonade) that he would pull a shark straight out of the sea.

In the event, the sharks had the last laugh as Capes spent a couple of hours retching over the side. 'The noises he made were unbelievable,' said one of the other fishermen. The skipper eventually took pity on the ailing giant and headed back to port. The 27 stone man- mountain, several pounds lighter from the experience, staggered back to his hotel, packed and headed straight home to Spalding, Lincolnshire, and his pet canaries.

The sponsors, Jack Daniel, were none too pleased by Capes' abrupt disappearance. They had paid him pounds 2,000 and felt that Capes hadn't quite given value for money (except to the sharks). If you're puzzled why a Tennessee whisky-maker wants to sponsor a Cornish fishing festival, the answer is that 'the shark appeals to macho individuals, which is part of our image: the quiet, hard man sitting in the corner'. Tell that to Capes.

Sharks have been caught from the West Country since the 1930s. The first two were given to a Cornishman, who charged one penny for a look and terrified tourists with exaggerated tales of man-eaters cruising off the swimming beaches. The Shark Angling Club was formed at Looe in 1956, and played a bit part in slaughtering thousands of harmless blues. Recently it changed the rules and now all sharks below 75lb are tagged and returned. It's rumoured that soon all sharks will be put back, leaving hundreds of fascinated holidaymakers nothing to see and touch when the boats return.

For even in shark fishing, conservation is now the name of the game. All the nine great whites that Sampson has caught this year - including a 2,500-pounder, the second largest fish ever caught on rod and line - have been tagged and returned. Sampson, from Dulwich, South London, hates to see sharks just used for fishmeal, the fate awaiting the 89-pounder that won the championship title. 'Mind you, one of that size would make a decent bait,' he said.