Megamouth Shark Is Not One to Be Feared by Catalina Travelers

I suppose if your imagination is overly vivid you’d never go to sea. You’d ruin the enjoyment of cruising by conjuring visions of all of the strange creatures in the deeps beneath your keel.

When I read of the megamouth shark the other day in the “National Fisherman” I had a shudder of awe myself. This rare creature can weigh nearly a ton, with jaws about four feet wide, big enough to swallow a horse.

It was netted a shade less than a year ago by the commercial fishing vessel Helga five miles east of Avalon, Catalina Island.

I’ve passed over these waters several times, and every time I have, I recall the horrifying tale told to me by Bob Cranton who runs the fuel dock at Avalon. It seems a sport fisherman decided to take a little dip off his boat to cool off. A shark, probably a great white, bit off his leg. Cranton was part of the rescue party and said the man was a terrible sight. They were able to save his life at the Avalon Hospital.

Now, the megamouth. For peace of mind, the megamouth doesn’t relish human legs. It seems that of all the 350 known species of shark, this particular one is only the third filter feeder. It eats mostly plankton and tiny crustaceans called euphausids.

The megamouth off Catalina’s east end is only the second such species ever caught. The first one was netted in November, 1976 off Kahuku Point, Oahu, Hawaii by a research vessel at a depth of 545 feet in a parachute drift anchor. The Catalina megamouth was caught in a drift gill net at 125 feet over a depth of about 500 fathoms.

Scientists believe the megamouth is capable of generating its own light to attract the tiny plankton on which it feeds.

None of this will stop me from cruising and fishing in these waters, but you can be sure I’ll never go swimming off the east end, no matter how hot the weather.

The endangered sea otter, which in my lifetime was pretty much confined to a refuge in the Carmel-Monterey area, has been staging a comeback. A halibut fisherman, working at 16 fathoms, caught an otter accidentally in his gillnet a couple of months ago off Morro Bay. It’s believed a few other otters have been caught this way. Several otters have been sighted as far south as Santa Barbara.

Well, the ill-fated Morro Bay otter has stirred consternation among halibut gillnetters because a new ban against netting for halibut shoreward of 20-fathom-the line from Piedras Blanca to Cape San Martin-has been ordered by California Fish and Game and the Marine Mammals Commission. A previous closure at 15-fathoms from Santa Cruz to the Santa Maria River has forced halibut gillnetters from that area.

Halibut gillnetters are angered about losing more turf to the otter, a protected species. The otter versus fisherman controversy is not going to abate. In the last century, the otter’s natural range, until they were practically eliminated by hunters for their pelts, extended at least as far south as Catalina Island. We’ll live to see the controversy raging over our waters. Don’t forget, the otter loves to eat abalone, prying them off the bottom with its paws. So do commercial divers, with a tire iron type tool in their paws.

Sailing Notes

- More than 65 brand names will be represented in the 400-boat fleet to be displayed at the 17th annual Southern California International Sailboat Show at the Long Beach Convention Center, Oct. 26-Nov. 3. The largest single exhibitor will be Catalina Yachts with 21 boats.

- The California Coastal Commission, whose staff has recommended denial of the land use plan for development of the Bolsa Chica Marina complex just east of Huntington Beach, will hold a public hearing on Oct. 23 at 9 a.m.in the Holiday Inn, 9901 La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles.

- With the dredging of Upper Newport Bay completed this week with the opening of a temporary dike permitting the sea to flood the area west of Jamboree Rd., a tour of the sanctuary should prove more interesting to nature lovers. To this end, the Friends of Newport Bay will again lead tours of the ecological reserve on the Saturdays of Nov. 16, Dec. 14, Jan. 11, Feb. 8 and Mar. 8. Tours will begin at 15-minute intervals from 9 until 10:30 a.m. Docents will discuss plants, birds, fishes and mudflat organisms in the bay.