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We Went Fishing with Japan's Shark Hunters

Okinawa's fishermen took VICE along on their annual shark hunt, and we met the scientists who study their haul once it's brought to shore.

Off the coast of Okinawa, Japan, fishermen see hordes of their catch snapped up by sharks, which prowl the waters near their boats and tear into their hauls. In an effort to cut down on the problem, the fishermen started hunting for the predators once a year—heading out into the open ocean with bait, hooks, and spears to catch and kill dozens of sharks.

For the second chapter of this two-part episode of VICE INTL, we tagged along on a 2016 hunting expedition where a crew of fishermen worked together to catch a handful of sharks. Back on shore, we found out what happens to the sharks once they’re brought off the boats, and spoke with a researcher using the fish to study pollution in the waters off the coast of Japan.

Check out part one here.

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