Collecting the fish - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 219

ing in an hour or so, Ken pulled each line in to see what we'd caught.
There were a couple of five-foot leopard sharks, which we released; one
line, though, had just what we were looking for: a nice six-foot sev-
engill. Maneuvering the shark into the stretcher alongside the boat, we
lifted it on board and lowered it into the long, plastic-lined “shark co‹n”
transport box. The oxygen pump was then plugged in to bring the dis-
solved oxygen above saturation level. Just as it had for Sea World's blue
sharks, this high concentration of oxygen would compensate for the
lack of water flowing over the gills of the sevengill.
All this was done with utmost care. Sevengills are quite flexible and
can move quickly when they want to, and they need to be handled
with a lot of respect. To let down your guard when they're quietly ly-
ing in the stretcher could be a tragic mistake. Their razor-sharp teeth
are, after all, designed to cut through flesh.
That first day of fishing we caught two nice large sevengills, which
we transferred to the tank on one of the two trucks. We then called the
aquarium to let them know the good news and to alert them to be ready
for us when we returned. That done, Gil and I took o¤ for the ten-hour
drive back to Monterey, stopping every hour or so to check the sharks'
condition and to make sure oxygen was flowing from the pump.
Fortunately, our timing was just right and we got through the San
Francisco Bay area after rush hour tra‹c had subsided. Creeping
through bumper-to-bumper tra‹c with a tank of delicate animals can
definitely test your frustration tolerance. Arriving at the aquarium
shortly before midnight, we were happy to see Chuck Farwell and three
aquarists waiting to help move the two sharks into the Monterey Bay
Habitats exhibit. We backed the truck under the electric hoist, and the
three-thousand-pound transport tank with its two precious occupants
was lifted up and inside the building.
On the deck adjacent to the exhibit, the lid to the tank was unbolted
and removed and the tank lifted again, swung out over the water, and
lowered in. At that point the lifting bridle was unhooked from one
side of the transport tank, while the other side was lifted gently to al-
low the two sharks to swim out. No doubt confused and sti¤ from be-
ing confined in the tank for over ten hours, the sharks took a little while
to become oriented. Until they were able to maneuver flawlessly, the