Even those who never saw the movie, the word “Jaws” causes a large variety of angst among water lovers.
Steven Spielberg’s 1975 screen play by author Peter Benchley’s book a year earlier to this day brings for some the same fear it did when the “American Classic” first hit the screens.
Lines waited for hours outside nationwide theaters to see the movie about a crazy, man-eating shark that was plaguing the Martha’s Vineyard oceanfront.
For years, people were afraid of going into the ocean because they thought a shark was going to attack them.
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat,” was the cry whenever one was scene.
But as time went by, anglers and fisheries biologists began to realize the fearful emotions it caused depicted just about all the wrong facts.
The East Coast fishing fleet – commercial, charter and private – all realized that sharks were just a part of the sea. A major part and a very important one as well.
Here’s where the story really starts getting weird.
NOAA Fisheries years ago deemed many shark subspecies in danger. Overfishing was depleting their numbers and they didn’t care what charter anglers reported on their catch forms – caring even less about the captains’ sightings and experiences.
Sharks became protected despite the numbers seen of the coast. Many charter captains reported having to catch 15 tuna to bring 5 whole ones to the boat. Sharks had learned the timing and boat vibration the angling community was bringing to the table.
Sharks learned the habits of anglers that made their feeding efforts considerable easier.
Which brings us to the rules.
As with many species of fish, bring an angler who is a lawyer specializing in gamefish rules. It’s complicated.
On the other side of the equation, there is a chance for anglers to bring to the plate some outstanding fish to eat.
Mako obviously are the species most have have heard the eat.
But they is another species, one many captains call a pest in the bottom fishing world, that’s available.
Spiny dogfish, a bad name for a shark species that is so plentiful that recreational anglers can have a free go at them.
They are, even in many chefs’ minds, one of the best tasting fish you can put on a plate.
Here’s the ticket: cut the dogfish’s throat and gut it before putting it in a cooler of ice and water. That way it can bleed out and make the meat better.
Filet them, or better yet, steak them and marinate then in something you love. I prefer a blackening season before dipping them in melted butter and putting them on the grill.
Yeah, Jaws caused problems along the entire coast. But it was all unfounded.
The media loves to talk about “shark attacks,” but that’s not what they do. There are encounters with humans because we’re in their house. If they were known for going after people, nobody would enter the water.
Bottom line: bring home a few of the species you are allowed to and marvel at the others.
Both sides will be better off if we do.To read more of my work, go to: leetoliveroutdoors.com
