Can We Farm Sharks to Meet Demands?
If sharks are considered cartilaginous fish, then why can’t we create shark farms like we do for bony fish? This is one question we often get asked, especially surrounding the announcement of sharks needed for a COVID-19 vaccine. So, why can’t we breed sharks to meet the demand of fins, meat and squalene? While breeding sharks is a well-intended thought, unfortunately is not possible. Here’s why:
Not only do most shark species take nearly a decade to reach sexual maturity, but they also only reproduce every 1-2 years with a handful of pups, completely unlike bony fish. Adding to this is the fact that the sharks with the biggest livers are deep water sharks that mature even slower than the megafauna we typically think of. The large livers of these deep-sea sharks of course make them a hot commodity for squalene. Deep-sea shark species, such as Gulper Sharks, are actually believed to have the lowest reproductive rates of any shark species, some have to be 30-40 years old before they reproduce.
Most shark species are predators that are carnivores only. You would have to catch more than enough fish to feed them. Do that for a decade and it becomes prohibitively expensive and far less sustainable than intended.
The majority of sharks need to swim to breathe, they cannot stop and pump water over their gills like other fish do. Only a small handful of shark species can pump water over their gills while still. Thus, sharks need vast enclosures to breathe freely.
Sharks do poorly in captivity, they rarely reproduce when under pressure, so we would have to rely on artificial insemination.
Farmed fish usually are the type of fish that are super hardy, can handle being jammed up in tanks, will eat some cheap fish food and produce thousands of eggs within a short period of time. Sharks? Not so much.
Essentially what we are saying, is that to raise a shark is about as hard as raising a human, time and energy-wise. It just doesn't work. If it worked, it would be great, because we could grow sharks for meat, fins and all the other products people want to have without putting immense overfishing pressures on them. We think it is much smarter to use plants, bacterias, algae, or even synthetic processes to grow something you can reproduce over and over again, with ample of quality and purity control.