Imperial Valley press and the Imperial press., 1906-09-08
THE SHARK HUNTERS.
Horrible but Alleged Painless Way
 the Fish Are Killed

the Fish Are Killed.
 The strictly commercial business of shark hunting is done in small sloops whose headquarters are in the more northerIy Norwegian ports. The crews are for the most part made up of pure bIooded descendants of the vikings, who are still to be found in any mum Der among the codfshers of Hammer fest of TromsO And a magnificent race of men they are! Accustomed from boyhood to a life of hardship, they have way of treating Father Neptune with a slightly cOntemptuous tolerahon, like an old friend, of some what uncertain temper, whose rapid changes from smiling benevolence to wild, clustering anger are on the whole rather amusing than otherwise
 They care nothing for danger and little for suffering-in themselves or in others. Why, then, should they stop to think that perhaps a maimed but still living shark can feel?
 The fishing is done off the coast of Iceland in about eighty fathoms of wa ter Three or four gallows-like struc- lures are rigged up around the sides of the sloop and from each of these hangs 6 pulley block, over which runs a strong rope, and to the end of this the baited hook is fastened. A plentiful supply of ground bait is thrown out to attract the quarry, and such is the ea- gerness with which the sharks take the bait that sometimes each one of these gallows-like fishing rods will have its fish hooked and fighting for life all at the same time
 There is no playing" the fish. It is not necessary or possible, and the pow erful tackle is hardly likely to break, no matter how fiercely the hooked shark may struggle. But the shark is not for his size game fish, and except when he is actually being hoisted out of the water there is no very serious strain on the tackle. If he does now and then get away 1t is not because he ever manages to break the line, but be- cause lightly fixed hook easily tears through the soft cartilaginous skeleton of his head and so sets him free.
 As soon as a shark has taken one of the baits the hauling tackle attached to his particular gallows is manned, and without any superfuous fuss or cere- mony he is hauled up to the sloop and hoisted just clear of the water.
 He is not brought on board at all. but with few bold slashes his liver Is cut out as he hangs and is thrown into a tub to be further dealt with later Then his eyes are put out, and he is cut adrift to go and complete the tardy process of dying where and how he pleases.
 All this sounds very horrible, but there is one curious fact which goes far to make us believe that this death cannot, after all, be such a cruel one as at first appears. It is this, the fisher men say-that unless they put out the sharks eyes he will afterward cause them a lot of trouble by coming and taking the bait second time.
 1t sounds incredible, but the state. ment is thoroughly we'll authenticated by eyewitnesses who have seen a liver less shark do just this very thing. Sci entists doubtless are right in saying that the shark (which by anatomical classification Is one of the lowest of the f1shes) does not feel pain in the way more highly organized animals feel it. We will cling to that belief, for 1t is cOnsoling-to us, if not to the shark, who is thus sacrificed that his liver may supply US with-what?
 1t is a secret not to be spoken aloud. Norway is one of the great centers of the cod trade, and from cod is made and looks exactly like it.-Pearson's Magazine.