L.A. gets hooked on shark meat.

L.A. gets hooked on shark meat

When Ron Evans goes fishing he takes along three miles, maybe four, of heavy steel cable, several hundred four-inch hooks and a .22-caliber pistol armed with hollow-point bullets.

Evans is a commercial shark fisherman in San Pedro.

A staple of seafood lovers on the East Coast and in many nations of the world, shark has only recently made a splash here in Los Angeles. But shark meat has many merits. A low-calorie, high-protein fish, shark tastes to most palates like swordfish -- traditionally a much more valued and expensive catch.

"There's always been cultural hurdles to eating shark," says Rimmon Fay, an L.A.-based marine biologist and noted diver and fisherman. "People are afraid of sharks, they don't think of them as being proper food. It's only been recently that fears have been overcome. It's really a tremendous meat."

An average of 20 million pounds of shark are caught each year by fishermen throughout the U.S. for human consumption. Only about 2 million pounds of that comes from California waters, but some experts think that will change.

"The demand for shark has really taken off," says Greg Pendleton, a broker with State Fish Co. in San Pedro, which handles thousands of pounds of shark each month during the summer season. "I personally don't like it. What stops me is wondering what the shark has eaten -- license plates, aluminum cans, whatever."

Most of the shark sold in local supermarkets is not caught in local waters -- something fishermen like Evans want to change.

Under a special permit from the state, a fleet of 10 shark boats (including Evans) has since May pursued a native monster -- the mako.

An aggressive, man-threatening shark, the mako or bonito shark is common between Point Conception and the Mexican border. A mako can weigh in at 1,000 pounds, but the average caught off Los Angeles runs from 30 pounds to 200 pounds.

Evans and his associates use "long line" gear, which entails miles of steel cable suspended about 35 feet below the surface. The big hooks, baited with whole mackerel, a shark's favorite, are targeted specifically at the mako -- no other fish in local waters would pursue such a lure.

"They are completely fearless and they will eat anything," says Evans, who returned to port two weeks ago with a hold full of 65 mako sharks.

The lines are left to drift for several hours, picking up sometimes as many as 100 sharks. Once hauled aboard by a mechanical winch, the fish are gaffed and carefully removed from the hook.

How careful? Several hollow-point shells are first pumped into the shark's brain before anyone gets too close. The bullets merely knock him out. The sharks will die hours later of suffocation once stuffed away in the hold.

Nearly all the mako sharks that Evans catches this summer will be sold to consumers on the East Coast, under an exclusive agreement with Pacific American Fish Co. based in downtown Los Angeles. Local consumers simply don't know what they're missing, fishermen say, and East Coast markets do and are willing to pay a bit more for the pleasure.

"A shark is a shark is a shark to most people on the West Coast," says Steve Ross, a fisherman and marketing director for the L.A.-based shark fleet. "But it's just not the case. You look at a restaurant's menu and it will list porterhouse, sirlion and New York steaks. It's doesn't just list `meat.' Why do people accept `shark' as the entire discription? People on the East Coast know better."

Indeed, shark sold in most supermarket chains rarely carry any further identification than generic branding. The typical fillet found at a Safeway or Ralph's, which sells for about $5.40 per pound, is imported frozen from as far away as Ecuador and South Florida or in the colder waters of Northern California and Oregon.

Until recently most of the shark eaten locally were threshers, a species that can also grow very big but poses little or no threat to swimmers. Dwindling catches during the past two seasons, however, have forced state fish and game officials to step in and regulate thresher fishing -- making the dangerous mako more attractive.

"We believe the mako can become as important and popular as swordfish," says Kevin O'Hara, chief buyer and sales manager for Pacific American. "Unlike many other sharks, the mako is not a scavenger," he says dispensing with the myth that the mako "will eat anything."

People often complain that shark meat has an ammonia taste. O'Hara says that is a sign the fish is not fresh or improperly handled. In fact, half the sharks caught off California waters are gill-netted -- as an incidental catch along with sea bass and croaker. Trouble is, the sharks are dead long before they're brought to the surface. "Using the long lines, the fish are brought in live and dressed right away. We ice them down and bring them to market a lot quicker, too," O'Hara explains. "You eliminate that (ammonia) taste by bleeding the shark quickly."

Dealing with such a commodity is obviously dangerous work, but, amazingly, none of the fishermen can recall any major accidents. "My partner had a close call on our last trip," says Evans. "He was cleaning fish on deck one night and slipped, getting real close to a fish we all assumed was pretty dead."

It wasn't. Evans shakes his head: "Stan's boot hit the shark in the face and that mouth came open suddenly, snapping shut on the boot -- just missing his toes but tearing his boot up pretty good. We had to get a pair of pliers to get him loose."

Occasionally the fishermen will feel a big tug on the line, only to find no fish to haul aboard. "No one has even landed a great white but sometimes you'll feel that tug and find a straightened hook and figure that something very big hit the line," says Ross.

PHOTO : Jawing over dinner: Customers at Phil's Fish and Poultry consider mako shark steaks

PHOTO : Heady job: Shark fisherman Ron Evans