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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JuNE 4, 2022
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A 1940s advertisement highlights the importance of shark liver oil to the war effort.
Sharks in sight
Reflecting on an era of coastal shark liver fishing
Julia Triezenberg
the war, many communities on the
West Coast stepped up to help.
Fisheries adapted assembly lines
and boats set their sights on the
catch.
Before the shark fishing indus-
try hit its stride, most of the United
States imported vitamin A from
Europe in the form of cod liver
oil. When the cod fishing industry
was nearly shut down because of
the war, the shark fishing industry
boomed.
Instead of cod liver oil, peo-
ple began looking to shark liver
oil to provide vitamin A. Fisheries
along the Oregon Coast in Astoria,
Depoe Bay and Newport expanded
efforts to address the demand.
More than 30 species of sharks
have been recorded near the Pacific
coast of North America, but only a
few were sought after for commer-
cial purposes during the trade.
The spiny dogfish and soupfin
A liver can label highlights the trade of
shark livers by the numbers.
See Sharks, Page B5
By JULIA TRIEZENBERG
For The Astorian
A great rise in demand for shark
liver, lasting from 1939 to 1950,
brought the Northwest to the fore-
front of a global trade, providing a
source of vitamin A during World
War II.
Considered a crucial resource
during the war, the vitamin was
believed to help pilots prevent
night blindness.
In fact, much of the mythol-
ogy about carrots being a so-called
superfood for eyesight origi-
nated from this period. Some have
also suggested that wartime pro-
paganda promoting carrots was
merely a cover to hide new radar
technologies the Allies were using
against the Axis powers.
While neither carrots nor shark
liver will make you magically see
in the dark, it’s proven that vita-
min A is good for eye health.
When demand skyrocketed during