`SHARK' FEARLESS YOUTHS SINK THEIR TEETH INTO SHARK STUDY ON WATERY FIELD TRIP.

Byline: Bill Becher/ Special to the Daily News

Someone yells ``Shark!'' and kids jump into the water. What's wrong with this picture?

Nothing, if you're with Team Shark and you're getting into a shark cage wearing snorkel gear like eighth-grader David Imoesiri. He says, ``It's fun and exciting but not too scary to see the sharks,''

I ask him if he's heard about Jesse Arbogast, the 8-year-old Florida boy whose arm was reattached after a shark bite. He has but says that that was a ``once-in-a-lifetime'' event and that it was a bull shark that bit Arbogast, not the blues we are targeting today.

We're about a dozen miles off the coast from San Pedro on a trip run by Team Shark for the Long Beach Unified School district. Thirty-eight middle school kids are along to see, touch, and for some, kiss a shark. They've been at week-long Ocean Camp, learning about marine biology and sharks. One thing they've learned is that it's great white, tiger and bull sharks that are the most dangerous according to records of fatal attacks on humans.

John Manley, president of Team Shark, is a marine biologist who has studied shark behavior for many years. He's supervising the ``chum masters'' - student volunteers who cut frozen mackerel for the chum bucket, a metal ball full of holes. Manley will suspend the bloody bait ball underneath the shark cage. The cage is tied off of the stern of the Great Escape, an 80-foot dive boat.

Other chum masters have been churning up a tub of frozen fish byproducts with a paddle while a hose washes an oily slick from the tub into the ocean. Manley's strategy is to first get the sharks' attention by the mile-and-a-half-long slick (the ``Power Chum''), then to bring them in closer with the tidbits in the chum bucket. Sharks depend on their sense of smell to locate prey, then their vision and ability to sense electrical fields generated by living things to attack and eat it.

We're at what Manley calls ``Shark City,'' in about 1,000 feet of water off the California coast.

I'm in my scuba gear holding onto the outside of the cage hoping for some shark photo ops, but none appear in the first hour. Manley says it takes a while for the sharks to get the chum message, but he is rarely skunked. Sure enough, a few minutes after I get out of the water, the ``Shark!'' cry is heard. The most adventurous kids splash down into the shark cage for a closer look. Several blue sharks swim by and check the chum bucket.

Manley and his oceanographer partner Don Newman used their knowledge of shark behavior in designing the cage. It's made of foam-filled PVC plastic covered with coated metal mesh. Apparently unprotected metal gives off an electrical field that prompts sharks to bite.

The shark cage is bright yellow. Vivid colors attract sharks, Manley tells me later as I strap on my bright yellow fins to get some photographs of him hand-feeding the sharks. Manley hooks a blue shark and brings it on board so the kids can touch it, help measure it and tag it.

The shark is kept alive by placing a hose that gushes saltwater in the sharks' mouth forcing water through its gills. The shark measures 45 inches and Manley releases it into the water. Later, Manley grabs another blue shark by hand and brings it on board. It's too small to tag and the kids line up to kiss it before it goes back in the water.

Ocean Camp is a summer program that provides experiences and encouragement for students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are not likely to go to college. This federally funded ``Gear Up '' program (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) includes classes in oceanography, shark behavior and a day snorkeling at a local beach. It culminates with the Friday shark trip.

Newman has had discussions with Los Angles County Office of Education to implement a similar program for L.A. youth. But you don't have to be a school kid to swim with the sharks.

Team Shark conducts open shark dives for individuals who'd like to see sharks up close but don't scuba dive. They also conduct corporate trips for team building or company outing. One law firm spent a day on a Team Shark trip. No lawyer jokes, please.

Team Shark's trips can be experienced by virtually anyone who can don a mask and snorkel. Equipment, including wet suits, is provided.

``Families make it an outing,'' Manley says. ``Father gets a rush and the kids get to pet a shark.''

Team Shark has hosted Hollywood film divers on break from shooting Pearl Harbor. Although skilled scuba divers can book out-of-cage shark-encounter trips with Team Shark, Manley suggests that certified divers check with San Diego Shark Diving or Salty Adventures for scuba shark dives.

Manley responds to questions about whether feeding sharks could habituate them to humans by pointing out that his programs take place many miles from spots where people swim or dive. He targets only species of sharks that are migratory and not likely to become habituated and are not generally a threat to people.

Manley is concerned that stocks of blue sharks have been depleted and hopes that his trips will help people appreciate these beautiful sea creatures. According to an article by David Holts of the National Marine Fisheries Service, blue sharks are found in coastal and offshore waters of the western United States.

In particular, Southern California waters are a major mating and birthing area for blues, whose young are released fully formed and independent at birth. Blue sharks feed on small pelagic fishes including jack mackerel, northern anchovy, Pacific herring and market squid.

Blue sharks will feed on dead sea mammals but are not known to attack healthy individuals. Holts says in his article, ``Some fishermen and field biologists speculate that there are fewer blue sharks than there were 10 years ago.'' Holts cites pressure by sport anglers and incidental catch by commercial fishing as having the potential to impact the local population of blue sharks.

Manley says his trips generally spot blue sharks and occasionally some makos. Three years ago he saw a 12-foot great white shark about 50 feet from the boat. It was in the chum trail and circled the boat six times. Manley says he felt safe watching the graceful animal, as he knows great whites like to attack their prey from underneath, not eyeball to eyeball. The great white got within 10 feet of Manley before swimming off.

I should be so lucky.

For information about sharks, go to the Florida Museum of Natural History - The International Shark Attack File web site

(http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/sharks.htm)

or The San Diego Natural History Museum has a Shark School for kids page

(http://www.sdnhm.org/kids/sharks).

DID YOU KNOW?

--Sharks replace their teeth every eight days. Some species shed as many as 30,000 teeth in their lifetime.

--Americans are 100 times more likely to be killed by lightning than by shark attacks.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 3 -- color) At left, Team Shark members look for sharks in the water inside a protective cage. Above, John Manley offers a mackerel to a blue shark during a feeding session. At top, Long Beach eighth-grader David Imoesiri watches for sharks underwater from inside the Team Shark cage.

(4) John Manley hand feeds a blue shark during a recent excursion with Team Shark. The organization gives youths a chance to see sharks up close and personal.

Bill Becher/Special to the Daily News

Box: (1) DID YOU KNOW? (see text)