Sasquatch and the Mystery Sharks of Seattle

[Huntster]

I caught this video this morning and was overwhelmed with the similarity of the story with sasquatchery.

 

First, this is a classic industrial Hollywood environmental docu-drama. The last words of the show tell it all: "Will we discover the truth about them before it's too late?" Same old, same old.

 

Second, and like usual, the industrial science guys were the last folks to get in on the act, despite the action taking place right under their noses, then when they did get involved, they spent BIG money (of course, we weren't told where they got that money, Mr. Taxpayer) to figure out that their front yard is a shark nursery.

 

Thirdly, the first folks to know were private adventure divers who enjoyed their experiences quietly. Think "habbers".

 

Fourthly, It was only when a single fisherman (among many fishing on the dock essentially in front of the scientists offices at the Seattle Aquarium) figured out that these things were there and how to catch them, and the divers raised Cain about this guy killing sharks, that the Science Guys got involved. Then the scientists (trying to figure out what was going on) used the fisherman's tactics (bait) to lure the sharks right up to their viewing windows where they then sold admission for folks to see them, just like a carnival operator.

 

Fifthly, when the sharks disappeared, the Science Guys close out their show with their expected lines of mystery (justifying their everlasting plea for more study money), and their fears of mean, old fishermen killing them all off before they can study them to death (implying that the guy on the dock is as dangerous as Asian fin hunters killing sharks by the millions on the high seas).

 

Kinda' makes me want to shoot a sasquatch as close to downtown Seattle as possible instead of southeast Alaska...........

 

 

[hiflier]

You pretty much nailed the scientific pattern, Hunster. Comparing it to the field of Sasquatchery is an apt move and kinda supports the pro-kill idea that NOTHING will get done without a body or some hard physical evidence. We always seem to return to that point in lots of discussions here so we all pretty much know that science won't budge without physical proof but the issue is should anyone get out of the way and let science handle things or will history tell us that science, at LEAST in the case of Bigfoot, cannot be left to themselves and citizens and public oversight would need to be present in all aspects of any study. Would Dr. Meldrum be a good liaison between science and the public? Of course I have my own opinion on that one: No, he wouldn't.

[Huntster]

1 hour ago, hiflier said:

You pretty much nailed the scientific pattern, Hunster. Comparing it to the field of Sasquatchery is an apt move and kinda supports the pro-kill idea that NOTHING will get done without a body or some hard physical evidence..........

 

I also failed to point out that the Washington fish and game department was also MIA.........until that lone fisherman killed a few sharks, the diving community got pissed off about the fisherman killing "their" sharks, and ugliness started. Then the department put a no-kill regulatory blanket on the sharks, then went MIA again.

 

The exact same pattern occurred here in Alaska with salmon sharks about 20 years ago. Commercial fishermen have been killing salmon sharks en masse as accidental bycatch for over a century, but when a single sport charter operation started advertising to target them as a big game sport fishery, well Hell, Oh Dear, ADFG couldn't regulate it fast enough. Then they lobbied for Big Bucks to "study" the situation. They "found" schools of thousands of these sharks chasing the gargantuan pink salmon hordes that they`ve hatchery raised and released in the ocean for the financial benefit of the commercial fishing industry. After they found so many sharks, do you think they lifted the regs on sport fishermen? Of course not. Their answer when I asked why? 

 

"How many sharks do you need to kill?"

 

........Would Dr. Meldrum be a good liaison between science and the public? Of course I have my own opinion on that one: No, he wouldn't.

 

Why not? Who else do you have in mind? He`s a scientist, he's taken plenty of heat from his useless peers on the subject, and I can't think of a better guy to be the scientific face of the subject, now that Krantz and Bindernagel are gone.

 

In all honesty, I posted the shark story as a suggestion that there may be "divers" out there swimming with sasquatches right now, and as soon as Norseman shoots one with his trusty 500 caliber lever action elephant gun and drags it in to Meldrum, his peers and government will be forced to act as the war between Norse and rhe habbers become public.

[hiflier]

I have to apologize ahead of time for saying this but Dr. Don Jeffrey Meldrum will NEVER be a Dr. Grover S. Krantz or a Dr. John Bindernagel. Not in a million years.

 

A far as the shark thing goes, why is it that science seems to be the Nature Police that works for economics? The shark thing apparently became an economic battle over who had the rights to slay the sharks. Initially it would seem that EVERYONE did. Who's the winner of that fight? My guess (and it's only a guess) is that science (read) WA F&S knew for years that the sharks were making an impact on their hatchery releases (read taxpayer's pockets again) But this new battle over killing the sharks hit the public eye so they were kind of had to step in. I also think they already KNEW about the fishermen. It was the divers that forced the WA F&W's hand.

 

At least that would seem to make sense to me in the F&W world of monitoring species. As far as Sasquatch goes, if that video is indicative of F&W in general then I may have to seriously think about going after one myself if I want to get any response at all out of F&W.....OR science. But that is ALSO an economic issue so one could expect the pushback to be severe.

Edited July 23, 2019 by hiflier

[Catmandoo]

7 hours ago, Huntster said:

First, this is a classic industrial Hollywood environmental docu-drama.

 

Perfect description. Very polished.

  The population of the Elliott Bay 6 gilled shark was known about early on in the previous century. Typically. it stays in deep water.  No one wanted them. There are smaller cousins that we call dogfish or mudsharks. There is a great story made popular by Frank Zappa. The Edgewater Hotel is on Elliott Bay, built over the water on steel pilings. Currently not allowed, they used to advertise that you could fish from your room. Led Zeppelin stayed there in July 1969 and caught a mudshark, reeled it up to their room and allegedly made a  Super8 movie.  The incident has been immortalized  by Frank Zappa with  "The Mud Shark".  Led Zeppelin was banned from the Edgewater Hotel.

 

The video shows scenes of a popular fishing dock on the west side of Elliott Bay. One needs a 'lift net' to get a fish up to dock level. I looked at the video in bits and pieces and did not notice anything about the ethnicity of the shark fisherman. Oriental fisherman pursue 'various' species. Shark is popular in the Orient. The video should have covered that as in shark fin soup, shark penis and shark liver and shark etc.. They also go gangbuster when the squid show up but get busted because a shellfish license is needed. The squids are sponges for PCB's.  The most populous fish in Puget Sound is the ratfish.

 

The scuba divers were unhappy with the sports fishermen at this dock.  Divers entered the area where fishing was taking place and started to cut lines. Fisherman set up for heavy snagging and wailed on the divers, reeled them in. They were hooked bad. The divers were cited for being in a sports fishing zone.  

 

The 6 gilled shark does not mess with humans. The divers want to swim with and pet sharks. Anybody can do that these days. If they were good, they would swim with the giant squids.

 

Side bar:  The Edgewater Hotel is built over water on steel pilings. Years ago, there was a Navy ship in a shipyard on Harbor Island. I can't remember if it was Lockheed or TODD shipyard. The Navy ship was testing the sonar in the bulbous bow. The sonar was being transmitted across Elliott Bay and they pinged the steel pilings of the Edgewater. Ringing like a bell. It took awhile for the hotel people to figure that one out.  The cure was to make an air bubble curtain in front of the bow. Good thing that we learned about air bubble curtains from whales.

[norseman]

This is the exact response I predicted when people would tell me they do not want them officially discovered because it would open them up to being wiped out. I would always say that the government would step in and that’s exactly what happened.

 

Obviously a man ape would have other social, moral implications that a shark would not.

 

But the doc is exactly the scenario I had envisioned.

 

Also what I found interesting is that they thought they had them all figured out and then suddenly they were gone. Migrated else where. There was a study done on migrating mule deer in Wyoming that was happening right under sciences nose. Similar situation. Science is a powerful tool but they ego and dogma must be flogged out. We still do not know everything.

[Huntster]

6 hours ago, hiflier said:

I have to apologize ahead of time for saying this but Dr. Don Jeffrey Meldrum will NEVER be a Dr. Grover S. Krantz or a Dr. John Bindernagel. Not in a million years..........

 

Maybe not, but Krantz and Bindernagel are both dead. Meldrum might not be as aggressive as I'd like to see, but he's the qualified guy at the moment, and he's persistent.

 

.........But this new battle over killing the sharks hit the public eye so they were kind of had to step in. I also think they already KNEW about the fishermen. It was the divers that forced the WA F&W's hand.........

 

Bingo. And after establishing their blanket ban on harvest, they simply walked out of the picture. In short, they couldn't give a rip about those sharks.

 

..........As far as Sasquatch goes, if that video is indicative of F&W in general then I may have to seriously think about going after one myself if I want to get any response at all out of F&W.....OR science. But that is ALSO an economic issue so one could expect the pushback to be severe.

 

Another bingo. You're on a roll.

[hiflier]

4 minutes ago, Huntster said:

And after establishing their blanket ban on harvest, they simply walked out of the picture. In short, they couldn't give a rip about those sharks.

 

A blanket ban is cheap and easy. But I'll give F&W some credit for implementing something to calm the situation and give themselves some time to sort things out. I mean really, snag fishing for divers? Seriously? Something quick had to be done. One could only wonder how quick things would roll if a dead Sasquatch was.....um......presented to the public after a well thought out sure-fire pre- and post- program for doing so. Because you see, it's different for private citizens. A wind turbine can kill raptors all it wants, but if I was to do so then just kiss ol' hiflier's ass goodbye. I have a couple of friends at Audubon. They would probably shoot me themselves even if I did give them the bird to stuff. People can be ungrateful that way  

[Huntster]

As a side note, great white sharks got the permanent protection status after Jaws was released in the mid-70's. Add to that the fact that their main prey (sea lions) have also been granted permanent protected status since 1972.

 

It doesn't take a doctorate in biology to figure out what is going to happen eventually.

 

Sure enough, the "scientists" are now figuring out where white shark nurseries are: the crowded surfing waters of Southern California, from Seal Beach to San Onofre. Why? Because there are lots of them, especially during certain times of the year. Now, these "babies" are 8 footers or so, but they aren't six gill sharks. And, sure enough, just like in Australia, attacks are on the rise.

 

I'm reminded of that old commercial: "Is it live, or is it Memorex."

 

But now it's: "Is it science, or is it ideology?"

7 minutes ago, hiflier said:

A blanket ban is cheap and easy.........

 

So cheap and easy a caveman can do it.

 

(BTW, GEICO is an acronym for Government Employees Insurance Company. Us government types were getting great rates from them long before they invented cavemen........)

[hiflier]

That photo reminds me that I have to get the razor edge back onto my vintage machete   Sheffield steel no less. Can't spend too much time on a hand or a head ya know.

Edited July 24, 2019 by hiflier

[Catmandoo]

1 hour ago, norseman said:

This is the exact response I predicted when people would tell me they do not want them officially discovered because it would open them up to being wiped out.

 

'Discovered' or not, they have done an excellent job of being evasive towards Homo sapien sapiens -------  the genocide species.

[norseman]

3 hours ago, Catmandoo said:

 

'Discovered' or not, they have done an excellent job of being evasive towards Homo sapien sapiens -------  the genocide species.

 

I think it was going to happen no matter which Homo species came out on top.

 

I guess it’s yet to be seen if Sasquatch is also complicit in that global domination march.

 

After all, Apes originated in Africa.....and yet we are here and they are here as well. Tantalizing.