The Greenland shark was historically targeted by shark liver fisheries in Norway, Iceland, and Greenland waters. These fisheries may have had a significant impact on this species. The Greenland fishery commenced in the very early nineteenth century. In 1857 the estimated catch was 2,000?3,000 sharks/year, but in the 1910s this had grown to 32,000 sharks/year (Jensen 1914). Commercial fishing of the Greenland shark for liver oil ceased in 1960 (Castro et al. 1999). During the 1970s the species was perceived as a problem for other fisheries in western Norway and the government subsidized a fishery in order to reduce the stock of the species (Catro et al. 1999).

Currently the species is taken as bycatch in Greenland halibut and shrimp trawl fisheries (D. Kulka, pers. comm.) and fish traps and gillnets. It is also caught by artisanal fisheries in the Arctic (Compagno in prep. a).