This long skinny island is only 10 km from shore to shore at the widest spot, but is nearly 350 km long. It was also occupied by the Japanese during WWII, but not to the extent that New Britain was. There are atleast 20 different languages spoken on New Ireland. The largest gold mine in the southern hemisphere is located on Lihir Island... just off shore of New Ireland. New Ireland is home to the somewhat famous "Shark Callers" Shark Callers have the ability to draw sharks to them with their voice or with coconut rattles. They then snare the shark with a noose. The noose has a propeller type piece of wood attatched to it designed to create drag and slow the shark down to the point where it can be caught.