BOATS GOING OUT; MEN FISHING; TWO SHARKS BEING CAUGHT; BOATS RETURNING.




Initials JBC/VS/MR/PC



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Background: GIBRALTAR' FIRST INTERNATIONAL SHARK ANGLING FESTIVAL GOT OFF TO A FLYING START ON FRIDAY WHEN 40 RODS RETURNED A TOTAL OF 1,031 LBS. ALL THE FISH WERE BLUE SHARKS. THE SECOND DAY HAD TO BE CANCELLED BECAUSE OF THE ADVERSE SEAS, BY NINE FISH WEIGHING 332 LBS. WERE TAKEN DURING SUNDAY'S OUTING, AND 12 ON THE LAST DAY, MONDAY.

THE FIRST OUTING, WHICH INCLUDED ANGLERS FROM NORWAY, HOLLAND AND THE UNITED KINGDOM, PRODUCED THREE FISH OVER THE 100 LB. MARK - THE BIGGEST TO MR. A. VASQUEZ, OF GIBRALTAR, AT 149 LBS. THE SECOND LARGEST FISH, AT 123 LBS. WENT TO MR. HECTOR BYRNE, ALSO OF GIBRALTAR, AND THE THIRD LARGEST, AT 123 LB. WENT TO MR. GOLDSMITH, OF GREAT BRITAIN. MR. VASQUEZ'S FISH TOOK THE PRIZE FOR THE LARGEST SPECIMEN IN THE COMPETITION.

ON SUNDAY THE CROWDS GATHERED ALONG THE QUAYSIDE SAW THE FAMOUS ENGLISH ANGLING WRITER AND ARTIST MR. BERNARD VENABLES WEIGH IN THE LARGEST FISH - A FEMALE BLUE SHARK OF 143 LBS.

THE DATE FOR THE 1968 FESTIVAL HAS YET TO BE ANNOUNCED. BUT BEFORE THAT COMPETITION IS HELD, LOCAL ANGLERS HOPE TO BREAK THE EUROPEAN RECORD FOR BLUE SHARKS. THIS STANDS AT 218 LBS., AND ONLY THE WEEK BEFORE THIS YEAR'S COMPETITION, A FISH WAS TAKEN IN GIBRALTARIAN WATERS WHICH TUNED THE SCALES AT 211 LBS.