Shark meat to provide energy source for Inuit villages
The Arctic Technology Centre (ARTEK) is heading a pilot study to produce biofuel from fishing industry waste in Greenland.
The Greenland Shark, one of the world’s largest species of shark, is killed in large numbers by fishermen, either accidentally when they become entangled in nets or deliberately to prevent predation of commercially valuable species such as squid.
The flesh is toxic to humans, and so the bodies, which can weigh up to a tonne, are usually thrown back into the sea.
Now researchers at ARTEK are experimenting with an alternative use for the oily flesh – producing biogas to supply the energy needs of isolated Arctic villages.
An EU-funded pilot project beginning next year in Uummannaq in northwestern Greenland aims to supply 13% of the energy needs of the 2,450 villagers from the local fishing waste, which consists principally, but not entirely, of Greenland sharks.
The waste will be pulped with household wastewater and macro-algae and to create a fish mince. This will serve as biomass for the production of biogas.
‘The shark could turn out to be an unexpected energy source: it swarms in the Arctic waters and is not in danger of extinction,’ claimed Aksel Blytmann of Greenland’s fishing and hunting association.
But Anne-Marie Bjerg, a WWF specialist on ocean mammals, disputed this: ‘We are opposed to the commercial use of marine mammals, such as the Greenland shark, which is not universal and whose population size is unknown,’ she said.
The Greenland Shark, one of the world’s largest species of shark, is killed in large numbers by fishermen, either accidentally when they become entangled in nets or deliberately to prevent predation of commercially valuable species such as squid.
The flesh is toxic to humans, and so the bodies, which can weigh up to a tonne, are usually thrown back into the sea.
Now researchers at ARTEK are experimenting with an alternative use for the oily flesh – producing biogas to supply the energy needs of isolated Arctic villages.
An EU-funded pilot project beginning next year in Uummannaq in northwestern Greenland aims to supply 13% of the energy needs of the 2,450 villagers from the local fishing waste, which consists principally, but not entirely, of Greenland sharks.
The waste will be pulped with household wastewater and macro-algae and to create a fish mince. This will serve as biomass for the production of biogas.
‘The shark could turn out to be an unexpected energy source: it swarms in the Arctic waters and is not in danger of extinction,’ claimed Aksel Blytmann of Greenland’s fishing and hunting association.
But Anne-Marie Bjerg, a WWF specialist on ocean mammals, disputed this: ‘We are opposed to the commercial use of marine mammals, such as the Greenland shark, which is not universal and whose population size is unknown,’ she said.
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