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Skin-divers battle man-sized
sea-life forty feet down- on
one iungful of air.
The Sea Raiders
ler
of
ian
to,,
Off
>gs
do,
l-re
By HAL MASSON
• This summer, for the second time in history, forty-five
husky young California males journeyed to Laguna Beach
and threw themselves into the surf with a fury that looked
suicidal. They were dressed in costumes ranging all the
)gs c way from bathing trunks and short underwear, to long
ms winter woolen and to strange
)er man-from-Mars rubber skins, an(1 adjacent area.
,us The mayor shot off a gun and \\;Vlhv?
ro- they hit the water in rubher Excitement Under Water
an rafts, on surf boards, some with In the answer to that lies the
a inner tubes and others with secret of the sport's limitations
m- nothing. In their hands t he y --and its actual greatness. You
clutched weapons that ranged and I cannot watch the contest.
all the way from simple steel- If the day ever arrives when
"st tipped bamboo staves powered television can take the spectator
\\;,
el- by a length of elastic to expen- down into the green luminous
ty sire weapons with spring steel sea with the hunter, then this
mechanisms and even more ex- will be one of the world's gret
I- pensive and deadly guns poT- events. But it can't now and
ut ered by cylinders of C.O.2 gas. - doesn't promise much very soon.
w They were fighting their way It is spectators that create sports
.,s. out there into the fishes' own heroes.
in element, to spend four hours But that sme limitation is an
ff among the holes and shelves and element of the sport's greatness.
;e forests of the ocean floor fifteen The contestants are not there for
8. to forty feet down, in the hope money, or for fame, or for ap-
',t J-. of spearing ten, twenty, thirty or plause. They're down there be-
rg more pounds of edible fish. cause they love it. Simply that•
Rewarded 'ith Beach Picnic Walking on th ocean floor, ris-
a- It was a contest. Someone who ing and dropping weightless, ex-
a- likes tltle had collected enough ploring a shimmering aquama-
s. words to name it The Second An- rine world, stalking the game,
ff nual National Underwater Spear- aiming, shooting, sutxluing the
. fishing Contest. The team of fish, then finding the surface
y three men who managed to snag twenty, forty or more feet up;
t . the greatest weight of fish would all that on the small packet of
. become for that year the Cham- oxygen contained in one chest-
y, pions of the Annual National ful of air. TheyTe down there
e Underwater Spearfishing Con- because it's the most exciting/
r test. The reward for winning and beautiful thing they know
,. this gruelling test was posses- how to do.
sion for one year of the Owen The huntei" must know many
. Churchill Perpetual Trophy and things. He must know, for in-
a beach picnic after the meet to stance, that fish like reeogniz-
which they and the spectators able elements of geography, just
s were requested to bring their as we do. Sand a rea s, reefs,
i own food. They had to pay the shelves, caves and kelp forests
': cost of traveling to Laguna; of all provide shelter and camou-
living while there; of an entry flage for different varieties of
1 fee--S2.00; and of their own gear, tenants--h a I i b u t, barracuda,
¢ which can and does get lost. stingrays, eels, perch, sheeps-
They could make no money, they head, sharks.
will not be famous, and the .New World Record
contest itself, despite its title, V}inners of this year's meet"
seems unlikely to ever amount were the Southern California
to much outide of Laguna Beach Skin Divers who brought in 72
pounds of fish, upsetting the Dol-
phins who won the meet last
year with 38 pounds and man-
aged to take second place t hi s
year with 67 pounds. Chuck SLur-
gill of the winning team also
took first prize for the biggest
fish of any kind caught--19'
pound stingray he speared about
fifteen feet below the surface.
Jack Prodanovieh managed to
win no prizes at all, alL, hough
he recently established a new
world record by bagging a 310
pound jewfish off La Jolla after
a three mile chase. Lean a nd
brown and smiling after losing,
he stated modestly that anybody
can hit a submarine but it takes
a good eye to hit a perch.
Nina Warren, the Governor's
pretty young daughter, presented
the trophy, and her brother E'rl,
Jr. establhed a commendable
precedent by makh:g presenta-
tions in blue jeans and bare
feet. "
'othing To It
"What," I aske4 a skin-diver,
"is the main hazard you face in
• this sport?"
He thought a moment
thought very carefully ther
cocking his head on one side, he
answered. "Sometimes if I stay
down a tong tin my eyes get
tired. So I gottabe awful care-
ful of the ears on the way home."
I pursued my inquiry with an-
other man. "What about octopi?"
I asked. "Or stingrays? Or getting
back to the surface in time?"
"Well, yes," he admitted.
"That breathin' is something you
gotta watch. Now I'm getting
older I can't stay down longer
than three minutes. But sting-
ray--" he patted the elastic
cables on his spear"this thing'll
deliver four hundred pounds,
go c?ear through a ray---or a
man. Octopusses? Oh, them
things don't bother you if you
mind your own business. Only
little ones round here anyway."
"All right," I insisted. "Sharks."
"Mister," he said, "you been
reading too many books. I'll take
, you down with me some time
and if I can ketch you ahold of
one of their tails you'll get t h e
damnest ride--"
See what I meat}? There's real-
ly nothing to it.
At least that's what they tell
me.
DR. NELSON MATHISON of Long Beach hauls n a,48-pound
white Sea Bass in the big spear-fishing contest.
"'It Could Happen To Your Farm Tonight"
years about establishing a foot.
and-mouth laboratory where we
could study foot-and-mouth and
other vikus diseases and pro-
duce vaccines if necessary.
Meanwhile, the rinderpest vac-
cin6 that we and the Canadians
(Continued on Page 5)
borders, ports of entry, and our
international airports.
The rest is up to Civil Defense.
There we are making a start--
but only a start.
Special courses in animal "dis-
eases have been given to 25
U.S.D.A. veterinarians by the
Bureau of Animal Industry.
These vets are located in key
spots around the country--one
could get to your farm or ranch
in a matter of hours if needed.
But we need to train a lot more
25 are not many.
No Laboratory
And consider this: with foot-
and-mouth disease within a day's
drive of the Mexican border,
we've fiddled around for three
READ THE
CLASSIFIED ADS
IN
"The Market Place"
If T.,,
.Page Issue
You may find a bargain there,
or you may be "reminded of
something you have to sell..
Put The Market Place to work
for you. Try a classified ad in
MAGAZINE CALIFORNIA.
MAGAZINE CALIFORNIATPAGE 3
(Continued front Page 1)
strength for a long struggle.
Germ raids, and possible insect
attacks, on farms would be di-
rected mostly against livestock
and crops, rather than against
people.
Where wouht raids likely be-
gin?. Probably in hatcheries,
stockyards, sales barns, feed
mixing plants, railroad terminals,
and other centers where large
numbers of animals pass through
on their way to farms.
Other possible targets are
commercial laboratories where
serums, vaccines, and other
medicines are made.
On the crops front, the targets
would include seed houses, fer-
tilizer mixing plants, and places
where spray materials are made.
Seriou---But Not Alarming
This is not something to be-
come hysterical about. B.W. is
just another special weapon .of'
war--and not a new one. There's
a defense against it. Th best de;
fense is to detect new insects or
foreign diseases quickly, and be
ready to stamp them out fast.
You may think that we have
about every imaNnable live-
stock disease now. If so, you
were never more wrong.
Consider:
Rinderpest, an Asiatic cattle
plague that kills nearly 100 per
cent of the animals it strikes.
Foot-and-mouth disease, an in-
fection that spreads like wild-
fire.
Clanders, an Oht World disease
of horses and mules that is fatal
to humans unless it is recognized
early.
Fowl pests and foreign strains
of Newcastle disease, probably
the two most destructive poultry
diseases in the world.
Can't Be Penny-Vise
Spotting a dangerous disease,
or a new insect, early, is the key
to a strong defense. Scientist
believe that the Japanese beetle
got at least a year's start on us;
even then we probably could
have wiped it out completely
by spending $50,000. We didn't,
and we've got the beetle in 28
states now• Very likely we could
have backed the gypsy moth off
our map with a few thousand
dollars if we'd got at it when we
discovered the pest. Now it has
spread all over the northeastern
United States.
How could new diseases or
pests be brought in? By smug-
gling them across our borders;
by dropping them from enemy
planes; by setting loose foreign
rusts, scales, and blights in our
fields. It wouldn't be too hard to
do.
One man with a few test tubes
full of rust like the new 15B
which attacks wheat could
spread a little all the way from
Mexico to Canada, and within a
year or two we could have a new
scourge all over the Great
Plains.
Some of the more serious in-
sect pests.are the Mediterranean
fruit fly, the citrus black fly
(just across the border in Mexi-
co) the oriental fruit fly, and
seed weevils that attack legume
seeds•
Only A Start
What is out" government doing
to protect us against B.W.?
You didn't know it, but at the
peak of World War II 4000 men
including some of the Nation's
top scientists, were working on
it.
From timt work came a new
toxoid that will protect you from
botulism, the deadliest type of
food poisoning; a vaccine that
gives animals reasonable pro.
tection against rinderpest; and
a wealth of information about
"plant growth regulators," some
of which has been put to use in
peace time.
Our present line of defense is --
t is: . , -- ".-- .. ,'" P . "el:;"
It's up to the Armed Forces to • -
J
et-i
ds
cut off attacks by planes or germ- ;.'"
. • . rcald, , rrtar ps-'t at al 10
filled missiles or shells. ,/ ----,-,. ...
.... ....... .PALMGRIIN "HOIflHF" ANGLE VlSll
Tne 1 151 Is on the lOOK-OUt ,or "tk.y'][' Aceuratel mahtn and grttchastted,
• 1 11 Jaws, l-Plain, 1.Grv. Orde¢
sabotage and under-cover raids. NOW, oy ,4 . w,,, ,,..
-- " Tool" Ctruhtt*.
The U.S.D.A. watches for for-
. .. • , . , &GO TOOL & ENGINEERING (!0.
elgn alseases an pests a[ our s: uth Chicago Ave., Chief, go 17, ill.