Shark Leather for Gloves, Hats and Shoes

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 150, 15 September 1927, Page 13

Shark Leather for Gloves, Hats and Shoes

Big New Industry For North West A ustra 1 ia By Ca'ulc.—Press Association.—Copyright LONDON, September 6. The 2,000-ton steamer Istar, which Marine Products, Ltd., is sending in October to Carnarvon, North-west Australia, to engage in shark-fishing, was formerly a yacht belonging to M. Goulet, the champagne maker. The Istar, which will be capable of treating 30 tons of shark carcases a day, will operate In conjunction with a meat factory at Carnarvon. Dr. Ehrenreieh, an American, says that after 22 years of research he has perfected a secret process for the curing of shark-hide. Marine Products, Ltd., will invest £300,000 in the Industry, and will use only Australian labour, which will be trained aboard the Istar, and Australian materials, including a pine solution for tanning. Dr. Ehrenreieh claims that the process will revolutionise the leather industry. The company will be able to make the softest leather, enabling the production of gloves, jackets, hats, handbags, footwear, and even stockings. The doctor claims that 21 byproducts, including dyestuffs, glue, and fish meal, will practically cover the cost of the production of the leather. He says that shagreen is at present selling at 3s 4d a square inch. The company will dmoke the flesh and export it to the Far East, also to London, where 250 tons of shark flesh is eaten daily under the name of rock salmon. , , . . The Istar will catch sharks in cotton nets, in which the entangled gills will be closed, resulting in drowning. There is no fear of a shortage ot sharks. It is officially estimated that one million sharks are born daily, and that five million pass the Great Barrier Reef each day.