Unwicked

I found this story about fishermen in Alaska angling after sharks. One section of the story bothered me quite a bit:

In kayak-angling terms, it’s called a “sleigh ride” — what happens when a hooked fish swims away furiously, pulling the kayak and angler along.

It’s the equivalent of catching a good wave while surfing or riding the perfect skinny singletrack while mountain biking.

And it’s exactly what the four men hoped they’d experience.

For short spurts, they got it, pulled along at 2-3 mph, Mautino said. But they found the Hinchinbrook salmon sharks typically “sound,” diving deep to escape.

The idea of hunting for food is one thing. I’m a vegetarian and I don’t dig the idea of killing animals for food, but the reality is that some people need to eat and animals might be their best source of protein. We’re talking kill-or-be-killed and law-of-the-jungle stuff here. I’m not in that boat. I can eat veggie, so I do. I do not need to have an animal killed so I can survive. If I were faced with death and had to choose, I can imagine choosing to eat animal meat again, but that would have to be an extreme circumstance, Robinson Crusoe circumstances, Tom Hanks in “Castaway” circumstances…the thought doesn’t sit well, however.

But the very thought of hooking a fish to take it for a ride? How is it any different than slamming a sword into a cow and letting it drag you around for a while before you eventually kill it and cook it?

Now, I do need to ‘fess up to the fact that I still eat cheese and eggs on occasion, and it’s likely that in most cases the cheese and eggs were drawn from animals kept in captivity under terrible conditions. So I am a bloody hypocrite. So maybe I should just shut the hell up about yahoos in Alaska taking sleigh rides by hooking sharks.