Scubaism

Tokyo-based Chuka Takahashi Co. has developed a line of new shark-meat products, such as shark nuggets and deep fried shark tatsuta. In all, Chuka Takahashi has seven different shark meat items, including shark croquettes.

Although Chuka Takahashi has traditionally dealt with shark fin processing and sales, it now sells 50 million yen’s worth of shark meat products each year.

Five years ago, the company launched a special team to handle shark meat. “We were beginning to feel a little guilty about handling fins only,” company official Koichi Oikawa, 62, said.

The finning practice was criticized internationally as savage and wasteful. Shark finning was first banned in the Atlantic Ocean, and a similar ban will be implemented in the mid-western Pacific Ocean next year.

Shark meat has traditionally been used as an ingredient in fish cakes, but Oikawa says that is not enough. “We have to create new demands and get shark meat traded at a certain price. That’s the only way to expand its use,” he said.

From fiscal 1996 to fiscal 2003, the Miyagi Prefectural Fisheries Processing Research Institute conducted a research project at the behest of the Fisheries Agency to find more ways to use shark meat.

The institute developed more than 20 products, including rice crackers and jellies, but none was commercialized, mainly because of the high costs.

The meat contains urea, which becomes unpleasant-smelling ammonia after the animal’s death. But shark meat contains other special characteristics that could help in its marketability.

The meat is low in calories but high in protein. It also contains collagen, a protein attracting a lot of attention for its use as a beauty aid.

Chuka Takahashi plans to expand its sales network overseas. It has already been displaying its products at exhibitions in China.