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Our crippled boat is towed back to San Felipe by helpful Mexican
fishermen. (Photo by author)
across its gills to maintain its oxygen-sensitive nervous system. I knew
from past experience that it wouldn't survive if we released it.
The owner of the boat said he wanted to keep it to sell in the fish
market, but at an estimated eight hundred pounds it was much too
heavy for us to lift into the boat. So he killed it with a knife lashed to
a net handle and we tied it o¤ to the side of the boat. Pulling in the
remaining longline, we felt another shark. It also turned out to be a
great white, this time an eight-footer, which we managed to get on
board. White sharks make for good eating; this would be a fine catch
to bring back to the village.
Our first day had been most strange: first a magically vanishing and
reappearing line, and then two unexpected great white sharks. Not what
we were after, but still very interesting.
The skipper, not knowing what to do about the larger shark along-
side, decided to turn it loose tied to one of our inner tubes and come
back for it later with more help. I was a bit puzzled by this decision. Didn't
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