Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1920-06-12
SEA SCAvENCE:R
FRIEND OF MAN
Expert Says Sharks Can Supply
Good Food and Fine
Leather.
FLESH HAS DELICATE FLAVOR
Scientist Gives Some Interesting In
formation About Fish Which Seems
to Have Been Grossly LibeIed-
Particular About Food

New York.-From time immemorial
the shark has been considered as an
enemy to man and a scavenger of the
sea. He has been pictured as the
cannibal of the deep, and in fiction
has been painted as the monster who
turks about the Inflated ship in order
to devour the unfortunates who may
have met their death in a gale or on
the reef. We therefore. for genera
tons have cherished an antipathy for
this creature of the sea and have been
very willing to accept as fact all Of
these stories, never stopping to con-
slider that perhaps after all the shark
might have few points in his favor.
To begin with. the shark does not
live exclusively on the flesh of. man.
says DR.. Allen Rogers of Pratt insti-
tute, Brooklyn, in the current number
of the Journal of Industrial and En-
| cheering Chemistry Of the American
/ Chemical society. IN fact, there are
/ only 4 few species who would eat hui
man flesh, even if IT were possible for
7 them to secure it. The principal spe-.
cies considered a man eater, the tiger
shark, probably has seldom had the
pleasure of this dellcacy. +. Sharks like
all other fish, live on the smaller fish,
thus unfolding the proyerb that the
big fish eat the little ones.
Sharks Devour Food Fish.
Sharks travel in schools or singly
and are found most abundant where
food fish are plentiful. They are es-
pecially fond of the mullet. menhaGen,
mackerel and sea trout. Thus it viii
be seen that they are migratory and
at various seasons are found in differ
ent waters. They are naturally warm
water fish, which accounts for the
! large number to be found in the Gulf
I. of Mexico, along the coast OF Florida
and the West Indies. Being rapid and
powerful swimmers, they often follow
ships for hundreds of miles, picking up
; food as it. is thrown, over the SIDE of
the vessel. Thus their diet at such
tines is not unlike thAt.of our db4des-
! tic hog and poultry, Iteis claimed By
fisher folk that the shark will not eat
uhsound food, wliichi shows him even
more, particular than our friend the
| porkeri Why, then, if he is so clean
! in his habits Of life, should We dis
criminate against him?
The bureau os fisheries fer several
years has endeatored to interest the
4peYpies. in tiris soeling,Eain usin4fhark
f2fAe$ft as ia edible pe6ttg Is witl9h GERS
kstaiusaInoj1i1 fof .Stle@ass? ''fif-fa'ct, that
species of shark known as the dog fish
is being canned in large quantities and
sold under the name Of gray fish, Ger
tain fisheries on the New England
coast are removing the head, tail and
fins and selling the product in Boston
and New York as deep-sea sword fish.
italians Eat I'm.
In Boston, also shark meat is being
sold as such to the italian trade, who
appreciate its food value and enjoy its
delicate flavor. Why, then, should we
not take lesson from the Italians and
acquire the shark-eating habit?
For the last five or six years the
writer has baen Interested in develop
Ing a method for converting shark
skins into a understandable leather. AS
a result Of This work several processes
have been devised which have been
assigned to a company operating fish
4 cries in the south.
A conservative estimate indicates
that for catch Of 2,000 sharks. daily
at an average weight of 200 pounds
there would he 100000 pounds of fish
AS at least 80 per cent could be used
| for human consumption, we woult
have 100000 pounds daily, or 1900,
QUO pounds annually. Assuming thai
the market price could be set at X
cents, We have a saving OF $7,300,000