The great Rig shark hunt

The Great Rig Shark Hunt of 2011

The task: conduct a survey of harbours and estuaries for Rig sharks, particularly juvenile rig sharks.

Lindsay Hawke holds up an adult rig caught on Otago Harbour. It seems that it is not just the juveniles that are using the estuaries at this time of year.

Net Cleaning 101

Our nets were getting fouled by weed constantly. Ulva and filamentous reds were clinging to the nets. In some cases, so much weed clung to the nets that they became like sails in the running tide. At Blueskin Bay, the current and weed were enough to fold the nets in half and move them several hundred metres down stream.

Cleaning nets became a tiresome and time consuming chore, particularly to the uninitiated. Lindsay Hawke, a net handler from way back showed the lads how it is done. Stand apart and cross the head and the lead line over themselves in a cross handed swishing motion. The meshes rub against themselves and most of the weed goes flying. Make sure the boat is parked to windward .... or grounded at a safe distance. Next cleaning at Careys Bay, Dunedin

Net cleaning was a long and ardous process for the entire Dunedin leg of the survey

A haunting photo. At Blueskin Bay, one of our nets was flushed out of the lagoon, around the Bar and halfway along the ocean side of the main beach. Swells drove the rumbled net closer and closer to shore. Rather than leaving a dead marine ghost fishing, Team Leader Warrick couldn't resist one last desperate attempt to retrieve the net as we left for Duneding. The buoys were tantalisingly close to the shore, but definately above groin height (significant in the cold southern waters) and possibly out of reach. The older team members let the young one test the waters and this was possibly the last picture of our heroic leader before he drowned horribly tangled in a mess of net mesh and old railway line weights.

Fortunately Warrick managed to drag the net, floats and weights back to shore.

When his breath came back .... his voice was squeaky. That is just how cold the Southern Waters are ... even in February.

A picasa site of the other photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/112065917634892155187/GreatRigHuntWebPhotos

Enjoy