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



nortli, over the whole district of Upernivik. Even right up in the Wolsten holme 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 JuUane- 

 haab district there were frequently 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and up to 9 sharks on the Hne, These 

 figures however do not give a true picture of the frequency of the sharks, for the hnes 

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

 and cod) were not suited to the shark fishing. A better estimate 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 off the fish, hook and a bit of the hook-line with it. Once, 

 for cxample, a line with 600 hooks set out in Tunugdliarfik 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 

 seldom escaped with less than 20 % loss of hooks. 



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

 is best obtained from the many taken by the natives. As late as 1780 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 Dånes 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- 

 portance 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 



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

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

 a barrel of liver. 



