Greenland shark bounty: why the $45 payout for 1,000 animals was stopped

If you buy sustainably certified cold-water halibut from North Atlantic fisheries, a municipal dispute off Greenland’s coast came close to threatening the supply chain that certifies it. The Avannaata municipal council approved a bounty to cull 1,000 Greenland sharks — the oldest living vertebrates on Earth — before Greenland’s fisheries authorities stepped in to stop it.

The Avannaata municipal council in northwest Greenland passed a motion offering 300 Danish kroner (about $45 USD, £34 GBP) per shark heart, targeting up to 1,000 animals. Local longline fishers targeting Greenland halibut and Atlantic cod reported catastrophic gear losses. Fisher Henrik Jensen said he lost up to 6,000 hooks and 30,000 DKK in a single day when sharks consumed hooked fish and shredded lines. The plan was halted after Greenland’s fisheries ministry questioned its legal basis, ruling that the municipal authority lacked the standing to issue such a wildlife mandate.

With the cull blocked before any sharks were killed, inshore longline fishers continue facing thousands of dollars in daily gear damage. Without government subsidies for shark-excluding hook designs or loss compensation, the conflict between fishers and the species remains unresolved. For international seafood buyers, the standoff draws attention to the sustainability status of West Greenland’s cold-water halibut, which relies on Marine Stewardship Council certification for access to many European and North American retail markets.

Why These Sharks Make Any Cull Extraordinarily Difficult to Justify

Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) grow less than one centimeter per year and don’t reach sexual maturity until roughly 150 years of age — when they measure approximately four meters in length. They can live beyond 400 years, making them Earth’s longest-lived vertebrates by a large margin. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists them as Vulnerable on its Red List, citing extremely slow population recovery times that exceed a century.

Conservationists at the IUCN Shark Specialist Group have pointed out that removing large numbers of individuals risks eliminating century-old cohorts that cannot biologically replace themselves within any human planning horizon. The numbers involved aren’t just large — they represent generations that took 150 to 400 years to develop.

There’s also a practical problem: a localized cull likely wouldn’t work. Satellite tagging research shows Greenland sharks are capable of traveling over 1,000 kilometers across their range in the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, and Svalbard regions. Culling animals in Disko Bay or the Ilulissat Icefjord area would not stop sharks from entering those same fjords from distant open-water feeding grounds.

The Legal and Trade Conflict

The cull attempt exposed a gap in Greenland’s shark management framework. In international offshore waters, the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization’s 2022 binding measures — co-sponsored by the United States and Canada — already prohibit commercial vessels from retaining Greenland sharks on board. But coastal inshore waters within three nautical miles lack any formalized national management plan.

The municipal council tried to exploit that inshore gap using an unregulated pest-control authority. Greenland’s fisheries ministry, on reviewing the motion, questioned whether municipalities have the legal standing to issue wildlife cull mandates of this kind, and the plan was dropped before implementation.

Jenseeraq Poulsen, Executive Director of Oceans North Kalaallit Nunaat (ONKN), has publicly stated that the organization does not support culling and that gear-based solutions — including modified hook designs and deterrents — are a more appropriate direction. Greenland’s fisheries authorities are reviewing the inshore management framework, with the outcome expected to determine whether artisanal fishers and one of the ocean’s oldest species can share the same Arctic waters.

*Is the Greenland shark cull currently taking place?* No. The Avannaata municipal council approved a 300-kroner bounty per shark heart, but Greenland’s fisheries ministry questioned the plan’s legal basis before any culling began, and the proposal was dropped.

*How old do Greenland sharks get, and why does that make culling risky?* Greenland sharks can live beyond 400 years and don’t reproduce until approximately age 150. Because a single generation spans more than a century, removing even a few hundred individuals can permanently eliminate cohorts that took hundreds of years to develop.

*Are Greenland sharks protected by international law?* Yes, in international waters. Since 2022, NAFO has required commercial vessels in its regulatory area to immediately release accidentally caught Greenland sharks, prohibiting their retention, landing, and commercial sale.

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