170 Man a?2d Shark 



A big Hammerhead shark is weighed in Malindi, Kenya, before being cut up for salting 

 and selHng. Sharks are sold in a fish auction in Malindi, where tons of sharks are 

 marketed annually. Virtually every bit of the shark is used in some way. The liver oil, 

 for instance, is used in the tanning of leather and also as a wood preservative for native 

 dhows. Courtesy, Veld & Vlei Magazine 



shark meat. So great is the demand for the food that local waters cannot 

 supply enough, and shark meat is imported. 



Meat is not the only shark product Kenyans are using. They have 

 learned to use other products from the shark's ample "larder." Oil, used 

 for leather tanning and wood preservation, is extracted from the sharks' 

 livers; fins are exported for sharkfin soup fanciers; from the gelatinous 

 fibers in the fins comes an ingredient for luxury soap; the skin is shipped 

 off to European tanneries to be made into leather; the teeth are sold for 

 novelties; and fertilizer is made out of virtually all that is left. 



Sharks have made a boom town out of the little South African fishing 

 village of Gansbaai, 115 miles east of Cape Town, on the tip of the great 

 continent. For generations, the fishermen of Gansbaai have been ignoring 

 the sharks off their shore, and Gansbaai remained a sleepy little village. 

 Then, in 1950, a shark industry was begun. Now, on some days, more 

 than 2,000 sharks are delivered to the Gansbaai Fishery Cooperative. The 

 sharks are mostly the familiar Soupfins also found in California waters, 

 and, as once they were in California, the Soupfins (called Vaalhaai in 

 Gansbaai) are tapped for their "gray gold." 



