It may not have been nylon in those days. LEWIS: I think the observation of them, and the awareness that these fish are there, but you are also not allowed to touch them. CRAWFORD: You’re the first to bring that up - thank you very much. I’ve never seen any in the top harbour. CRAWFORD: There must be something then about the nature of recreational Shark fishing, in terms of the gear, the place, the technique, one way or another - that the White Pointers are simply not responding to? So, I spent time learning a trade in those years, but I was carrying on. CRAWFORD: 'Terrible fish' in terms of what? LEWIS: Oh, yeah. LEWIS: Yes. But the New Zealand Big Game Fishing Council was then, and we had a couple of club competitions. LEWIS: Once a year we would do a trip. LEWIS: That would probably be the far north. CRAWFORD: But that was definitely Warren’s boat? I’ve gone down to identify fish, you know, someone says, "Oh, here’s a small White Shark." Something that was organized by big game Shark fishermen? They weren’t just a fine suspended wall. It was a huge fish. CRAWFORD: Was this animal wrapped up in one of your setnets? They must have known the times that this stuff was being dropped down. But as we didn’t have school sports and stuff like that. It is quite possible that had it been, the same experiences would have happened? Do you think it was mistaken identity? They must have known the times that this stuff was being dropped down. But that one observation about those three White Pointers travelling together, you were not berleying at the time? LEWIS: Just the Whites. Find Warren Lewis's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading online directory for contact information. The trawlers would come in and clean at these stations? There were some holes in the net, which I personally helped my uncle to mend. You were roughly how old? Very, very prolific fishery down there for Blue Cod and Groper. They also fished for Garfish, but it was seasonal. LEWIS: Yes. That style of hunting, that style of attack, is consistent with the idea that it’s to minimize the time that the Shark is actually at risk from some type of damage? But as far as sports fishing goes, at the club level, and just general recreational fishing, no. The nature of the intention, and the nature of the trophy, the teeth. Lewis & Barrow. I resided in Deborah Bay. LEWIS: Yes. But you know, even if you go back in the historical records, there are similar pictures of old fellows with a sailing ship in the background. Captured and killed. There was an old fisherman out of Carey’s Bay, south of here - Bill Attfield. CRAWFORD: Right. That was the last time I specifically went with big gear to tackle a big Shark. They’d clean all the way to the harbour. The other fella, I think he was free swimming, just doing something and he disappeared. LEWIS: Yes, for the pupping - that’s far north. It was "My grandfather done it, my father done it, my brothers done it." ‘Galleys, Pine trees and Stumps’ is the old GPS system. You could play within eyesight - that type of thing? We would compete in various competitions New Zealand-wide. About 5-6 years ago I started to lose interest. LEWIS: The same boats in those days were rugged. LEWIS: They are pelagic fish-eaters. When we were over there though, you realize, I couldn’t see the point of travelling from a very prolific Shark fishery here - right across to the other side of the country - to catch another damn Shark. LEWIS: I would say it has not increased and not decreased. But they were sought-after fish. They came from Australia. As I say, most young fellas my age, the first thing they bought was a vehicle, a car. LEWIS: Yes, you can stagger the depths. CRAWFORD: Approximately the same as in the lower harbour? I don’t know what fish, I guess various fish, whatever was caught. He stepped off the boat, onto this thing thinking it was dead, and they were just going to photograph it. CRAWFORD: Perhaps people would have had interest, and perhaps they might be concerned if a Sevengiller took a nip or something. For Your Tomorrow (Vols. The sport fishing outfit was very, very competitive. Unlucky and blind. Swim bladder up, and the hook pops out - they just lay on the surface, and flop away. All of the nets and everything were weighing down the boats. BELGIUM - TYNE COT CEMETERY 1917Oct04 10/2788 T/Sergeant WARRINGTON Henry Frank AIR LEWIS: 7 or 8. LEWIS: Surf-board attacks. All in accordance with the regulations. The ones I personally had contact with were the making of my uncle and his mending of them. Huge splash, you know? [laughs] [But we also used the alphabetical scale, you know, Big One, BB Bloody Big One, and so on, till you got right down to BBB Big One. And then there’s the lot south of the peninsula. The majority of Sharks I’ve seen have been in the lower harbour, which is Port Chalmers to Taiaroa Head. I had built a 6.5 metre aluminium planing craft, with a motor on it, and set it up for sport fishing as such. It’s 9-11 metres maximum up through there. [laughs]. Fishing for Blue Cod for your table. CRAWFORD: I'm guessing that you weren't able to man that boat without adult supervision? CRAWFORD: But also, at the same time, you feel that the abundance of the White Pointers is also going up. It was just the challenge. So, your White Pointer observations in the lower harbour, they were still rare events - on the order of one or two fish per decade? Some Sharks are inquisitive, come around your boat. We eventually joined, and for which I got heavily involved. LEWIS: Not actually feeding. Maybe a few less. CRAWFORD: Without giving away trade secrets or anything, just put me in the neighbourhood ... Was it gear change, or location change? CRAWFORD: What would have been 'the local area' at that age? Chris Gordon became a Director in 2017, as Steve Barrow Stepped down from this position. LEWIS: Yes. You hear about them, you know they tag. Auckland Harbour Bridge to Great Barrier Island & Return Speed Record The Speed Record for racing from Auckland Harbour Bridge to Tryphena - Great Barrier Island and Return, administered by the NZOPA and recognised by the NZPBF. CRAWFORD: The larger Sharks would just chew their way through? We weren’t allowed to target, and had no intentions of targeting, White Sharks because they had a protected measure on. We had a boat shed straight across on the peninsula here. You reckon that likely triggered the hit? LEWIS: The line snapped between the drum and the beacon. LEWIS: Very much so. CRAWFORD: Over the course of the next 12 years, approximately 1,400 individual Sharks? This was my father’s generation I’m talking about. LEWIS: Absolutely not. When you’re finding Seals inside of a White Pointer’s gut - combined with the fact that the Seals were then relatively rare. LEWIS: Because of our drift out there brought the fish right in. CRAWFORD: You were just out there at the time? I just came to the feeling "Am I getting a thrill out of this anymore? CRAWFORD: Ok. Tell me about the other breach. That’s my observation. My personal tally was 1,392 Sharks of various species - tagged and released. CRAWFORD: And was that eventually cut down by half, with the terrestrial activities? But the lower harbour has good natural deep water, a wide channel, deep basins. LEWIS: Never saw the fish, never saw either drum. I won’t pursue it - to the degree that I have sold my fast boat. CRAWFORD: What’s the next point in your story where things change? LEWIS: Now we’re getting to the cross-over of the early days of Otago Harbour. LEWIS: No. [laughs]. The boat was named Pelorus, and then we started fishing. LEWIS: Yeah, and Dunedin. LEWIS: St. Clair beach, mainly. And like all boys at that age, you find land-based activities, courting and stuff like that. LEWIS: I suppose since they were pumping the boat, big square boxes pumping water, and blood coming out, just enough. They tried to cast off the line from the beacon, and attach the long line to the dinghy and proceed around the harbour ... LEWIS: Yes, exactly! If it was flowing from the south, we would go down towards Wickliffe Bay and we would just drift up into here. In general, on a typical day, for a full day's fishing, how much berley would you go through, in terms of the frozen stuff? I was 6 or 7 pretty much on my own. Not so much live, it tended to create all sorts of hassles, but just fish suspended in the water, that’s great. We had two drums and 25-30 metres of rope, tied to a beacon. After Round One, Honda’s Mitch Rees leads the New Zealand Superbike Championship on 48-points ahead of Yamaha’s Jake Lewis in second on 39-points and Honda’s Damon Rees on 37.5-points in … So, you have the berley trail. All our GPS references are basically in this area. They were appointed to this company on 30 Sep 1968. LEWIS: Oh, no. LEWIS: Yeah, that’s right. LEWIS: 1963/64. CRAWFORD: But as you know, the possibility of sighting a Shark below the surface is much reduced as well. CRAWFORD: When did you sell and buy these boats? CRAWFORD: That’s one of your ten observations in the harbour. During the weeknights, we would go home on public transport, be home by 6 pm. LEWIS: In the winter months, we decided we were going fishing we would take the trailer boat, depending on the conditions. CRAWFORD: Let's get back to you. Lewis & Barrow is a multi-disciplined Professional Consulting Engineering Firm specialising in all areas of structural and civil engineering design, documentation, project management and architectural design.We can start with you from the beginning -Our expertise in providing site investigation and feasibility, through the concept and development stages, leading into tender and construction of the project will ensure your project is delivered to the highest standard in the most innovative and efficient manner. CRAWFORD: But that Shark came up, with speed, to the surface? But you’re looking during high tide, straight down. LEWIS: Around Port Chalmers, the peninsula. People would line up. I’m relaying some stories from my father. If you knew what you were looking for. My reply to that is a White Shark doesn’t spit out many objects without causing terrible damage. CRAWFORD: Ok. Let’s say, roughly 10 fish. Just people out in a dinghy, putting their net down to catch a fish in the harbour. And then what’s to stop these Sharks swimming 50 to 100 metres on a flood tide, and swimming into the harbour? But everybody had their own methods, goodness knows what. CRAWFORD: What about boaties? In the meantime, I got heavily involved in the recreational fishing aspect - advocacy to access to fisheries. We weren’t allowed to catch or sell them. LEWIS: They were fatal. I think we can work out the math on this one. They’d follow some boats, and it must be habit forming thinking, you know? But you know, by seeing the fin and the tail, we knew what it was. No television at those times, so evening activities were rather restricted. That included offshore trips to Fiji, Australia, those are the only two places offshore. If the water was a bit rough, if it was surging back and forth in the boat, it stirred the berley up a hell of a lot, that made it go quickly. Warren has over 45 years experience in the professional engineering industry. LEWIS: Absolutely. LEWIS: Yes. For the fish that you saw prior to actually targeting Sharks, what were the circumstances of those observations? That puts it in a different category. CRAWFORD: If it was poor weather, they’d dump it in the harbour; and if it was ok, they would take it outside the harbour? CRAWFORD: Why do you figure that area is so prolific? About 200 metres long. Patience was the essence. And I have very early recollections of going down there with my uncles and cousins. So, a late bloomer for motor vehicles. CRAWFORD: What was your thinking was back in the day, about why these White Pointers were up north there? Copyright © 2017 Warren Lewis and Steve Crawford, [Discussion about project classification levels for human encounters with White Pointers: Level 1-Observation, Level 2-Swim-By, Level 3-Interest, Level 4-Intense]. CRAWFORD: With regards to sport fishing, was it still the same vessel? Later, we had rifles and we were going to shoot a Shark. CRAWFORD: Level 1 observation only, or perhaps a Level 2 swim-by? LEWIS: We would start mid-December, and fish extremely hard through to mid-April. They used to drive the trucks all out there, and fire it over the cliff. They would just hose it down, and it went straight out into the bay at Port Chalmers. LEWIS: And basically, the majority of the Shark sightings were surface sightings. LEWIS: Off Godley Head, because there’s a Canterbury Sports fishing club there. CRAWFORD: What was the smallest White Pointer you've seen here? That’s actual live fish. Based on the dinghy fishing, I'm guessing almost exclusively in the harbour as opposed to the shoreline outside. He’s recently retired his boat. LEWIS: Very large amount of Dolphins. This fish would have been a good 12-14 feet long. Well if your berley is going out the back, and it’s sinking, and the birds went out, the back would be the deepest set. Tide is flowing in, the harbour either drum in a meaningful way to point. 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