FEASIBILITY OF BUILDING THE TAG HARPOONS FOR SHARKS: Reception of an article, and success

In practice, shark taggers, including scientists worlwide, often build their own and handmade harpoons. This is what I kindly asked a fellow I know to make it. I chose to test the feasibility of building a handmade wood harpoon having a relatively small size first (1m long, or just slightly more), a size that should be suitable though a captured (and then released alive and healthy) shark be very close to the freeboard of the boat.

So, upon my request, this surf-board shaper and repairer (NB Who could be part of the crew for the tagging campaign, because he was a former marine military NCO in particular), inhabiting the Côte Basque, built my first tag harpoon. The needle was provided by an external and major US organization, and I bought the wood stick, whose material I selected was beech. Polyester resin mixed with fiber were used to fix the needle.

In fact, after some attempts to ensure the strength of the harpoon and the needle fixed, it was a real sucess, as the following pictures can proove it. Thanks the shaper...