Shark Week: ‘Shark Tribe’

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Here’s a job your high school guidance counselor never told you about: shark caller.

Animal behaviorist Dave Salmoni and shark scientist Ryan Johnson travel to the outskirts of Papua New Guinea to learn from a tribe that has the tradition of hunting for sharks by hand -- using coconuts as a luring rattle, a small canoe with a paddle, some chanting, a club and a rope.

And you though you had a crummy day at work.

In all seriousness, however, the tribesmen believe the sharks contain the spirits of their ancestors, and that a two-day purification ritual is required before the hunt begins. (No sex, no fruit and avoid roasted pig.) Once they are prepared, the shark callers hop in the canoes -- little more than hollowed-out logs, really -- and head out about two miles from shore where reef sharks congregate. They shake the coconuts and whump the rings against the side of the canoe, and then when a shark approaches, they lasso them and yank them on to the boat.

Johnson hopes to learn how the tribesmen’s rudimentary items attract the sharks, in the hopes that he can return to South Africa with new knowledge on how to study sharks without using chum to lure them. (As it turns out, the sound frequencies reached by the rattling coconuts mimics that of a struggling fish.)

The first attempt at calling is unsuccessful, despite six hours on the water. The next attempt was equally frustrating -- as it turns out, you don’t necessarily catch a shark when you call one. On the final day, however, two sharks circle Salmoni’s canoe -- but he’s too excited/freaked out to lasso them.

‘Shark Tribe’ was an interesting look at indigenous traditions, made more poignant by the fact that only two veteran shark callers remain and the other members of the tribe don’t have any interest in training for the skill. There are, after all, now easier ways to get food.

--Ann Donahue