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SCMP Reporter

AUSTRALIAN shark hunter Vic Hislop arrived in the territory last night vowing to catch Hongkong's killer within a week.

  But Government departments have called on all shark vigilantes to stay out of Hongkong waters.

  The diminutive Mr Hislop arrived on a day when no new shark sightings were reported, but all 30 public beaches were closed and expected to remain so today. Government helicopter patrols have been stepped up to four a day.

  Amazingly, despite two fatal attacks and warnings about safety, Hongkong people continued to swim at the territory's beaches and make amateur attempts to trap sharks.

  One man, aged about 60, went swimming at Silverstrand Beach in Sai Kung, where a 61-year-old man was killed in the latest shark attack - but he was soon warned off by lifeguards.

  Another swimmer said: ''If you really like swimming, you've got to bear with the risks.''   Meanwhile, at other beaches in Sai Kung, people were also in the water as lifeguards watched closely.

  At Silverstrand, a man on a boat had a line attached to a live duck, and a bait line with a dead fish tied to the duck's feet.

  A Regional Services assistant director, David Chiu, has warned shark baiters to stop their hunts to avoid attracting even more sharks to Hongkong waters.

  ''When they use meat and other bait they are just attracting even more sharks. It does no good and their speedboats cannot withstand a big shark attack,'' he said.

  ''I have consulted some overseas shark hunters and learned there is no standard method to wipe out sharks because their appearances and habits are so hard to predict.''   The Agriculture and Fisheries Department has also asked people not to hunt the sharks.

  It is believed the recent bad weather and changes in water temperature could have affected the tiger sharks' usual behavioural patterns, causing them to come into shallow waters during daylight. Tiger sharks are normally nocturnal hunters.

  Hongkong University scientist Dr Carl Leung Ka-kui said: ''There are two very unusual things about the latest attacks.

  ''One is the shark took more than one bite of the second victim. Usually they just bite once to see what they have found.

  ''The second is they have come in to hunt during daylight. They usually hunt at night and go back to deeper waters during the day.

  ''This strange behaviour could be caused by the recent bad weather which is confusing the sharks.''   Mr Hislop warned last year after a woman was fatally attacked by a shark, that unless it was caught then, it would return this year and kill again.

  The shark attack two weeks ago on 41-year-old hairdresser Yan Sai-wah, at Sheung Sz Wan, has been confirmed by forensic scientists, who say the teeth marks are those of a monster tiger shark up to seven metres long.

  Yan's left leg was viciously ripped off leaving behind scores of tell-tale lacerations caused by the row formation of a tiger shark's teeth.

  An autopsy on the body of the second victim, Kwong Kong-hing, will be held on Tuesday, but is expected to confirm suspicions it was again a tiger shark attack - and possibly by the same one.

  Mr Hislop travelled from Cairns, Australia, yesterday, with his flight and stay in the territory being paid by mystery sponsors.

  The shark expert - at slightly more than 1.5 metres tall a most unlikely-looking adversary for the efficient killer - was met by a pack of reporters at Kai Tak airport almost as dangerous as the shark he has come to kill.

  There were extraordinary scenes with television cameras, microphones and tape recorders thrust in Mr Hislop's face as he tried to negotiate the airport concourse with a trolley laden with rope, tackle, giant hooks and metal poles.

  As journalists fought for the best quotes and pictures, they were thwarted by two unknown sponsors who met Mr Hislop at the airport and whisked him away in a taxi.

  In spite of protestations and threats from his mystery sponsors to leave Mr Hislop ''stranded without a flight home'' if he talked to the press, the shark hunter told the Sunday Morning Post : ''It will take me about a week to get Hongkong's shark using a hand line.''   Wearing a large shark's tooth around his neck, he said: ''I don't charge people for what I do, they just pay my expenses. Everything has been arranged.'' 



'I'll catch it in a week'