Shark-Eating Men 169 



42 years from now on, if the current explosion continues at its present 

 phenomenal rate. Population experts believe that only by more efficient 

 exploitation of the riches of the sea can the new mouths be fed. 



A study of the catch per unit of effort for long-line-caught sharks 

 made during cruises by Pacific Oceanic Fisheries research vessels during 

 1956 showed that six species are captured commonly and are abundant 

 over wide areas. 



The White-Tip and the Brown are equatorial; the A'lackerel shark 

 less abundant but wide-ranging; the Great Blue very abundant in colder 

 waters; the Bonito shark, scarce; and the Thresher, not uncommon but 

 subject to unknown factors causing it to appear only in certain longi- 

 tudinal belts and nowhere else. All of which indicates that (a) the sharks 

 are there and (b) we know almost nothing about their habits. 



In the 90 billion acres of ocean that girdle our crowded planet, an 

 incredibly bountiful crop is often unharvested. That crop is fish, a 

 food rich in protein and containing— unlike some forms of protein on 

 land— all the amino-acids essential to the human diet. Yet, while an 

 estimated two out of every three persons on earth are not getting even 

 a minimum protein diet, one of nature's finest and most readily obtained 

 sources of protein is virtually ignored. Some one billion tons of fish- 

 about 30 times the current world catch— could be landed each year, 

 and not from depleted fishing grounds such as the North Sea. But the 

 technology of fishing remains for the most part on the level of primitive 

 hunting, not on the level of modern farming. But we are awakening, 

 at last, to the fact that more fish must be harvested to feed a famished 

 world. In its Freedom-from-Hunger Campaign, the Food and Agriculture 

 Organization of the United Nations is seeking ways to catch and use more 

 fish. And among them is the shark. 



Fortunately, in some countries where the population explosion is 

 particularly critical, sharks are being caught and used for food. Cen- 

 turies ago, Arab fishermen introduced shark fishing to natives along 

 the East African coast. Not until a few years ago, however, was shark 

 fishing carried on as a large-scale commercial venture. To meet the de- 

 mand for a low-priced protein food among Africans in Kenya, the Fish 

 Division of the Kenya Game Department began teaching native fisher- 

 men modern fishing techniques. Hand-made nets of the lowest grade of 

 cotton, quick to tear and rot, were replaced by tough, rot-resistant 

 nylon nets. Modern marketing procedures were introduced. 



Now a native fishing boat proudly pulls into a port such as Malindi 

 with perhaps 30 or 40 sharks and a couple of Mantas. Some of the flesh 

 is cut into small chunks that are sold for a dime each. And each Friday 

 in Malindi, after midday prayers, the fish auction beings. In a babel of 

 a dozen African and Arabic tongues, dealers bid excitedly for salted 



