Ad. S. Jensen : The Selachians of Greenland. 9 



north, over the whole district of Upernivik. Even right up in the Woistenholme Sound 

 (at 76° 30' N.) there are many sharks, writes Peter Freuchen to me. 



On most of the long-hnes set out by the "Tjalfe" Expedition from the Frederiks- 

 haab district and northwards only one specimen at a time was taken, but in the Juliane- 

 liaab district there were frequently 2, 8, 4, 6, 7 and up to 9 sharks on the line. These 

 ligures however do not give a true picture of the frequenc^y of the shai'ks, for the lines 

 used by the Expedition (for the capture of fish sucji as the halibut, Greenland halibut 

 and cod) were not suited to tlie shark fishing. A better estnnate of the quantity of sharks 

 is obtained from the number of lost hooks; the shark namely is attracted by the fish 

 caught on the line and bites ofT the fish, hook and a bit of the hook-line with it. Once, 

 for example, a line with 600 hooks set out in Tunugdiiarfik came up with a piece of 100 

 hooks removed and also 100 other scattered hooks wanting on the part of the line saved, 

 on which were 7 large sharks which had not been able to break away and 19 whole and 

 a number of bitten Greenland halibut. In the fjords of Julianehaab north district we 

 seldcjin escaped with less than 20 % loss of hooks. 



An impression of the abundance of this shark along the coIouIzcmI part of Greenland 

 is best obtained from the many taken by the natives. As late as 1 780 Fabricius com- 

 plained that the sharks were not made useful as they deserved; although they were 

 found in great numbers neither the Greenlanders nor the Danes did capture them 

 — in his time they were only taken occasionally. In 1805 the first experiments were 

 made in extracting oil from the liver; as the experiment gave good oil in large quan- 

 tities, the burning of the liver was continued, but even in the middle of last century 

 Rink estimated the yearly catch at only about 2000 — 3000 sharks. The fishery gradually 

 spread, until in the beginning of the nineties it increased to ca. 11,500 — 15,000 and at 

 the present time it amounts to ca. 32,000 sharks annually^). 



It is remarkable, on the whole, that the Greenlanders are able to catch so many 

 sharks. If the shark fishery were carried on under the same conditions as elsewhere, 

 for example at Northern Norway and Iceland, where it can only be carried on in open 

 water with expensive vessels and gear and by hardy sea-folk, no shark fishery of im- 

 ()ortance would ever have been developed. But in Greenland the conditions are such, 

 that the fishing can be carried on just out from the houses, on the fast ice or from the 

 available primitive boats. 



Of the shark oil production the greater part takes place in the North Greenland 

 colonies, where the solid ice in winter greatly favours the fishery; the sharks are caught 

 in an extremely simple manner through holes in the ice. No boats are required, and 



') Calculated from the prodnctioii of shark liver, which during the 5 years 1907108 — 1911/12 

 amounted to ca. 6400 barrels yearly and assuming that a shark yields on an average one fifth of 

 a barrel of liver. 



9 



