Commercial Shark Fishing in the Caribbean Area 31 



SECTION II! 



SHARK LIVERS AND LIVER OIL— HOW TO HANDLE THEM PROFITABLY 

 AND HOW TO ESTIMATE WHAT THEY ARE WORTH 



Shark livers and liver oil are valuable chiefly for their 

 Vitamin A content. The amount of this Vitamin which 

 is found in livers varies in different sharks depending 

 upon the species, sex, feeding habits and the time of year. 



The Bonnethead Shark (Figure 48), the Sawfish 

 Shark, the Tiger Shark (Figure 42) and the Nurse Shark 

 (Figure 33) have very little Vitamin A. This lack is un- 

 doubtedly dependent to some extent upon their feeding 

 habits. The Sawfish, for example, feed chiefly on re- 

 fuse flowing down rivers from the interior. Tiger Sharks 

 feed on waste found near the entrances to harbors or near 

 canning factories and slaughter houses. 



On the other hand, the rest of the sharks of the Carib- 

 bean area generally average a good Vitamin A content. 

 The Requiem Sharks are higher than most and the Ham- 

 merhead probably has the most valuable liver in the 

 Caribbean area. 



The Vitamin A content is higher also in males than in 

 females, although this difference is not great. It is men- 

 tioned here chiefly to explain certain differences in price 

 which may occur for your shipments. There is also a va- 

 riation in content at different times of the year, but these 

 differences, too, are small and are not very well under- 

 stood, therefore no formula can be given for this fact at 

 the present time. 



In general you should try to avoid fishing in places 

 where you will be apt to catch any one of the four sharks 

 which will lower the value of your total catch. Methods 

 of recognizing and locating different species of sharks 

 have been discussed in Section 1 and in Appendix C. 



It is important for you, however, not only to keep the 

 total value of your catch as high as possible, but also to 

 protect the Vitamin A in the sharks which you have 

 caught by taking care of it as soon as possible. Other- 



