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By Lunelle Spence 



lark fishing for profit has a long 

 history in North Carolina. It dates back 

 to 1919, when a New Jersey-based 

 company started a sharkhide tanning 

 factory on Bogue Sound. Near what is 

 now Carteret Community College in 

 Morehead City, the Ocean Leather Co. 

 featured roofed docks and platforms for 

 skinning and dissecting. Later, another 

 commercial industry joined the site, 

 extracting natural vitamin A from shark 

 livers. All the shark parts were used; 

 they were rendered, cooked and 

 transformed into shark meal and 

 fertilizer the same as menhaden 

 products are today. When synthetic 

 vitamin A became available, shark 

 livers were no longer needed. 



In 1983, more than a half-century 

 later, North Carolina fishermen found a 

 market for shark meat. The National 

 Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and 

 Sea Grant began promoting shark meat 

 for restaurants and home menus. Sharks 

 were considered an underutilized 

 species. With prices rising, fishermen 



Continued 



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