Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks

  • Juliet Eilperin
Pantheon: 2011. 320 pp. $26.95 9780375425127 | ISBN: 978-0-3754-2512-7

How do shark-attack deaths differ from those caused by chairs, toasters and falling coconuts? As science journalist Juliet Eilperin explains in Demon Fish, you are about 200 times less likely to be killed by a shark than by a defective toaster.

Her book delves into the uneasy cohabitation of two of Earth's top predators: sharks and humans. People used to coexist with sharks more amiably before the advent of technology, even deeming them gods. But with films such as Jaws as a guide, many now presume that sharks are winning the predatorial race. They are wrong. Sharks are losing, big time.

Eilperin has a refreshingly different take on how humans are contributing to the decline of shark populations around the world. Avoiding sensationalism or dry facts, she inserts herself into the daily lives of the 'shark people' who work with or on the fish. Eilperin begins her journey by digging into the psyche of the 'shark callers' of Papua New Guinea, who use rattles to lure the creatures from the deep before catching them with hand-held snares, thereby demonstrating their divine connections with the shark. She then interviews shadowy buyers of shark fins in Asia; larger-than-life shark charter operators; the family of Peter Benchley, author of the 1974 novel Jaws; dedicated conservationists; and quirky shark biologists. All are portrayed in entertaining detail.

Her book draws the reader into the world of these frequently bombastic characters. One charter-boat owner who operates out of Florida boasts of having killed 100,000 sharks, and specializes in hunting the biggest he can find. As he tries to satisfy the fishing needs of his clientele, you begin to see through his business-oriented eyes. Yet any appreciation soon disappears when Eilperin notes his propensity for targeting a thresher shark birthing ground, or his desire to catch and kill pregnant hammerheads because they are larger.

Sharks are more threatened by humans than we are by them, yet the great white still gets a bad press. Credit: IMAGESOURCE/PHOTOLIBRARY

In one of the most insightful chapters — the best I've read on the subject — Eilperin describes how the burgeoning demand for shark-fin soup in Asian markets is a leading cause of the shark's global population decline. Many sharks are now caught and killed solely for the value of their fins — up to US$2,000 per kilogram. The edible yet less-valuable carcass of the still-living shark is sometimes simply thrown back into the water. Eilperin meets elusive fin buyers and sellers, who state that if the sharks disappear from the sea altogether, “there's nothing we can do about it”.

With up to $57,000 being paid for a single basking shark fin, this is big business. Sampling the fabled Chinese wedding soup, the author pulls a tasteless fin strand out of her bowl and concludes that the expensive delicacy is a scam. The chefs she interviews agree, admitting that the fin has no culinary value. A dish that is about style, not substance, may be leading to the demise of entire species.

Although Demon Fish is more about people's attitudes to sharks than fish biology, Eilperin cleverly introduces science into her account. She describes the advocacy positions taken by some marine biologists attempting to stop recreational shark fishing, and relates sometimes-comical first-hand observations of biologists trying to tag sharks. Curious by its absence, however, is any wider discussion of the huge impact of accidental commercial by-catch on shark populations. The author makes the point that the most effective conservation efforts are now being made by market forces such as ecotourism, rather than through abstract environmental idealism.

From the ethics surrounding shark fishing to the delightfully creative methods of shark-conservation groups, including auctioning off naming rights for new species, Demon Fish captures most of the key issues affecting sharks today.