New Ireland's Shark Calling

 In a world where most humans view sharks with a mix of fear and loathing, Papua New Guinea is one of the few places where people embrace them. For the villagers in Temin, Mesi and Kontu in the New Ireland Province, sharks are an integral part of their creation story, a religious faith that has endured for centuries. The above mentioned villages see shark calling as a divine right, one of the few skills they boast that no other civilization can offer.

Their ability to lure sharks from the deep and catch them by hand using snares, represents a unique culture that should not be snuffed out by either colonization or modernization. Just because outsiders might not understand the practice, they say, doesn't mean it lacks value.

 Henry Bilak, a retired soldier living in Mesi, says outsiders don't fully appreciate what his people can do when it comes to connecting with sharks. " This is the oldest form of human communication with sharks," he says, sitting in a village garden blooming with yellow, white , red and pink hibiscus. " The bottom line is this is what human beings can do. This is what God has given us.
Marriage into one of the clans of the above three villages gives you the privilege to become a shark caller. For example, Aeluda Toxok, a veteran shark caller in Mesi,took on the calling when he married a woman belonging to the Nako clan. Now in his late 60s, Toxok still goes out regularly in search of sharks. In a given season, he may go out to sea 30 times. Toxok was 30 when he first learned shark calling.

Aeluda Toxok in the process of Shark Calling.

 The ritual is learned through elders who were taught by their forefathers and was passed down to them by their ancestors. Therefore a core part of the ritual is the calling upon of ancestors for aid in order to corral such a fierce predator.

Further, a shark caller has to be a confident person who can sense when the time is right to go out to call the shark. It is also important that he prepares all the rituals that are needed to be done before commencing on his journey to catch a shark. Once, the shark caller is out in the sea then he proceeds further with the ritual and the last part is blowing of the cone shell which lures the shark to his outrigger canoe.

 He must then subdue the shark by hand using a noose made of plaited cane, which is attached to a wooden propeller float. When the shark is through the noose up to its pectoral fins, the shark caller jerks up on the propeller float. When the shark is through the noose up to its pectoral fins, the shark caller jerks up on the propeller's handle, which in turn tightens the noose around the shark.At this point, the shark struggles to break free, and the shark caller must resist the animal's force to keep it from escaping. Once the shark is exhausted, the fisherman can relax for a few moments and let the float bring it to the surface. At this point the caller stabs the shark in the eyes, to debilitate if further, clubs into submission and brings it aboard his canoe.

The practice of shark calling is carried out in three sets of islands along the Bismarck Archipelago and they are New Ireland, the Duke of York and the Tabar islands, and in each case they use a contraption to catch the sharks that is used nowhere else.