The Greenland shark is just a nuisance to fishermen. It is toxic for humans to eat. It gets caught in our nets.
Thousands are thrown back into the sea each year.
“It’s a large predator that devours fish, squid, seals and other marine life, and it also ruins the lines and nets of the halibut fishermen,” says Leif Fontaine, the head of Greenland’s fishing and hunting association.
“Entire trawlers are sometimes full of sharks and they are caught everywhere, especially off the east and west of Greenland, to the fishermen’s great dismay,” says Bo Lings who used to work on a big trawler.”
In Uummannaq, Greenland sharks represent more than half of the waste disposed of by the local fishermen.
They can weigh a ton and be 23 feet long.
So, why not get some use out of them?
The Greenlanders want to use this “fishing industry waste” to make energy.
We’ve used stranger things to make biofuels – even nuclear waste. Why be squeamish?
But is it ethical to make energy from other creatures?
Even if they are a nuisance? Other animals only eat eachother. Ah, but you say; we have a precedent. After all, we commonly used whale oil to read by in the 19th century.
Once, the Inuits hunted this shark to light igloos with its liver oil. Now, at the Arctic Technology Centre in Greenland, researchers are experimenting with ways of using the animal’s oily flesh to produce biogas.
“I think this is an alternative where we can use the thousands of tonnes of leftovers of products from the sea, including those of the numerous sharks,” says Marianne Willemoes Joergensen; in charge of the pilot project at ARTEK. The shark meat, when mixed with macro-algae and household wastewater, could “serve as biomass for biofuel production.”
“Biofuel is the best solution for this kind of organic waste, which can be used to produce electricity and heating with a carbon neutral method.”
What do you think? It’s a tough one for me.
After all; biofuel based on sharks and other fishing industry waste could supply 13 percent of energy needs of the 2,450 inhabitants of Uummannaq. Greenlanders usually dispose of fishing industry waste and household wastewater by throwing them into the sea.
A waste material would displace use of fossil fuel.
Engraving found by griffinlb
Via PhysOrg
About Susan Kraemer
I don’t know if this would be a good idea. What are the implications for using the fish as fuel for the survival of their population? Will they become a commodity or raw material to the extent that they will be overfished themselves? The justification for this possible endeavor is pretty thin…