The coastal people of Papua New Guinea have kept alive the ancient religious practice of shark calling, which is seen as both an act of reverence and proof of manhood and courage. These people have long believed that sharks contain the spirits of their ancestors, but they have what may seem to us an odd way of showing it. Armed with only a club and a noose on a short pole, men go out to sea (usually alone) in dugout canoes to capture sharks. The fisherman uses a rattle made from shells and coconuts to attract a shark; he then slips the noose over the shark’s head and wrestles it into the canoe where, operating in very close quarters, he clubs it to death.

Dean Crawford, Shark (2008)