Giant Shark scare in the UK

In another stellar piece of journalism (sharkasm) intended, the Daily Star writes "Jaws attack: Terror after GIANT SHARKS spotted circling the coast of England"

Wow, someone got attacked by a giant shark! Did they survive? What kind of a shark was it?
The article states: "HOLIDAYMAKERS have been placed on alert as huge sharks hit British shores thanks to the recent hot weather.

Still, no mention of what happened. So what the heck is going on?



OK, we are getting somewhere. Here is what happened: "The basking sharks, which can grow up to 26ft long, have been spotted off beaches in many of the country's holiday hotspots.
As if that wasn't terrifying enough – thousands of jellyfish have also been spotted in the waves."

The caption for the picture below read: "HORROR: The terrifying sharks – which can grow up to 26ft – have started circling shallow water around the UK [AK Wildlife Cruises]"
 

source

Wait, did I miss something? Where is the attack? What is terrifying about a basking shark?
The article goes on to say: "Ross Wheeler of AK Wildlife Cruises in Falmouth, Cornwall, captured incredible footage of the first sighting of a shark in UK waters."We had two basking sharks – our first for the season – thousands of barrel jellyfish, 11 common dolphin and five harbour porpoise" he said."

Ah, I see. They are describing some people going on a wildlife cruise and encountering a completely harmless basking shark. The "reporter" mistakenly wrote the wrong headline. He really meant to say: "Tourists are excited about encountering gentle giant" or "Lucky tourists encounter gentle giant and friendly dolphins off the UK coast". Easy mistake to make (sharkasm) intended.

Later on the article correctly mentions: "But the sighting isn't likely to mean a repeat of horrific scenes from 1975 thriller Jaws - the basking sharks are harmless but have been lured to the Cornish coastline earlier than normal.
They swim around with their gaping jaws open to swallow tiny plankton, their main food source."

So the reporter actually knew that there was no attack and the sharks are harmless plankton eaters, which of course didn't stop him from making up a completely fictitious and sensationalistic headline. It's not like the sharks don't have it hard enough already, with overfishing and being killed for their fins. I really wish the media would stop making it worse by portraying even the most harmless sharks as terrifying monsters.

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver 


 
About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.

RTSea Blog - Basker Warning Flags

From the RTSea Blog today, Baskers off the California coast have now been declared by NOAA.

So what does this mean?

NOAA, the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, took a slightly unusual step by declaring the eastern North Pacific's basking shark a "species of concern." While it sounds a bit like a suspect in an unsolved homicide, what the designation actually does is recognize that the basking sharks that migrate along the coast from Canada to the central coast of California are not recovering in numbers as expected since the taking of basking sharks commercially was curtailed in the 1970s.

The importance of a government scientific agency taking a step like this is that it essentially greases the wheels for marine scientists to consider the basking shark as a study subject. With NOAA's acknowledged concern, the designation can assist scientists in seeking funding for research projects.

Complete Post.

Rare Basking shark netted by fishermen off Baja California

Peter Thomas has the scoop on a rare Basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) caught by gill netters off the coast of Baja last week.

The last recorded Basking shark in Mexico was in 2003 creating quite a stir within the shark research community.

We contacted Dr. Oscar Sosa-Nishizaki of the Laboratorio de Ecología Pesquera
Departamento de Oceanografía Biológica CICESE and he confirmed, "technicians are taking measurements and details of this animal."

Peter Thomas Blog

Now comes word of a giant basking shark killed, presumably, in the same manner just north of Ensenada off Rosarito Beach. The gruesome photo is courtesy of Cesar Rivera, who shared what little information he had with 976-TUNA. Rivera estimated the basking shark to measure 26 feet, making it a full-sized adult.

Basking sharks, which are filter-feeding plankton-eaters, were once hunted globally for their fins, oil, meat and vitamin-rich livers, and they're classified as either vulnerable or endangered, depending on the region.

Complete coverage here.

Transatlantic migration and deep mid-ocean diving by basking shark

Transatlantic migration and deep mid-ocean diving by basking shark -

Goblin girl on... something that made her sick!

I work for the government, at the Swedish Board of Fisheries. That means that I usually have to defend the fishermen and the fishing industry, but I also have certain freedom to work for the better of the environment - which sometimes means going against the fishing interest. I know that many of my "shark hugging" friends have problems with even seeing a dead shark, but I still believe that a sustainable fishery is ok. The problem is that very few - if any - fisheries on sharks are sustainable.

When I did my masters thesis on spiny dogfish at the university I even had to kill the sharks myself! It was a tough journey to make from when I was six, nearly crying my eyes out when my guppies died, not daring to even touch them if they jumped out of the aquarium, to bludgeoning my beloved sharks to death and then gut them. But you learned to do it and it was a comfort for me that the bodies went to consumption. And they had gone the same way even if I hadn't done my study.

So what makes me sick? Well, you saw earlier this week that the fate of the mantas made me really sad. Is it something that really makes me sick, it's pure waste! If you have the stomach for it, watch the video below. Then remember that this happens to a 100 million sharks every year. And still many of those sharks are taken care of in different ways. Sometimes only the fins - which is a great waste! -, sometimes the whole body. This basking shark got caught in a trawl off Iceland and the fishermen just wants to get rid of it. They mutilate it, but doesn't kill it. Such a big animal can take a month to die, lying on the sea floor, starving to death. That makes me SICK!

Dr.Steve Turnbull - We Know Him!

Funny - you play around in the shark world long enough and you start seeing names of people you have met, or worked with, or both.

In this case shark diver/shark researcher Dr. Steve Turnbull is in a news article this week about a basker that washed up near his hometown of St.John's, Canada.

We met Steve at Isla Guadalupe a few years ago.The article makes great reading and as it turns out Steve's genuinely nice fellow:

Steve Turnbull, a shark researcher at UNBSJ, said little is known about the basking shark, which is a vulnerable species. Because 25 per cent of its weight is liver, the prehistoric beast was almost hunted to extinction for its oil.

"He's an early arriver," Turnbull said. "Usually they come in with the food source," in the summer.Warmer waters bring plankton and the gaping mouths of the basking sharks.

While it's a hulking beast and has a row of tiny teeth, the basking shark is a harmless filter feeder. "They open their mouths and everything goes through," Turnbull said as he inspected the shark.

Complete story

Shark Alliance - Illegal Basker Kills, Greece

The Shark Alliance, a coalition of NGOs dedicated to restoring and conserving shark populations, yesterday condemned two illegal landings of basking sharks, both over seven metres and weighing roughly two tonnes, taken from waters off Greece within the span of a week.

The sharks were reportedly taken unintentionally by net fishermen off the coast south of Athens, one on 12 March and another just two days later.

The basking shark, the second largest fish species on earth, is protected under EU regulations and classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as “vulnerable” to extinction in the Mediterranean.

Ali Hood, conservation director for the Shark Trust, a founding member of the Shark Alliance with a long history in basking shark conservation, said: “There are so few safeguards for sharks in Europe. It is critical that all existing regulations, particularly those for endangered species, are strictly enforced and that fishermen are educated about them.

“Fishermen must be made aware of the need to avoid netting basking sharks and the importance of carefully releasing and reporting any that are caught accidentally,” Mr Hood continued.

The basking shark landed on 12 March was sold at a local fish market. The shark’s huge liver is valuable for its oil which is used in cosmetics and pharmaceutical products.

Basking Sharks: A Global Perspective, Kudos

When disparate research interests, conservation groups, and fishing interests get together you know two things are going on:

1. What brings them together is usually grim news
2. There's still hope

Kudo's to the Save our Seas Foundation and others who have initiated this conference:

THE Isle of Man is to host a conference on basking sharks this summer following four years of ground-breaking research. Experts from all over the world are expected at the three-day scientific event, Basking Sharks: A Global Perspective.

It will be hosted by the Manx Government, the Manx Wildlife Trust and Save our Seas Foundation.

The Island's basking shark population has received worldwide attention since a shark tagged in Manx waters crossed the Atlantic in 2007. It was previously believed basking sharks on this side of the Atlantic were a completely different group to those off the Americas.

It is estimated there are now only about 8,200 basking sharks left.

'We are close to losing them,' said Jackie. 'This practice must be stopped and our tagging work lends power to the scientific argument against it.

Where The Basking Sharks Are...4146 feet!

Researchers using the latest tracking tech have discovered a quirky window into the ongoing mystery of the Basking Shark Cetorhinus maximus.

They dive deep, in one case to 4146 feet. Another mystery revealed is the bi-coastal nature of these critters- turns out these animals are both citizens of the U.K and Canada.

Worldwide tracking efforts are discovering this to be the case with almost every pelagic species tracked, making regulations and management all the more challenging.

We're just hung up on the 4146 feet deep dive. What are they doing down there?

Why Shark Tagging is Important-Baskers Make "5000+ Mile Trek"

During a simply amazing power point presentation, researchers from the U.K unveiled a Basking sharks 5000+ mile migration from the U.K to Canada and back.

Partially funded by the Save our Seas Foundation-a rabidly pro shark org, this latest data underscores the point that our oceans are not just a series of coastlines "owned and managed" by individual countries, rather an interconnected web of life and pathways.

Marine life it seems does not recognize borders, treaties, and Marine Protected Areas. Life instead follows ancient and well defined undersea highways often becoming the policy definition of more than one country at a time.

Food for thought.

Ach Laddie-That Shark Nay What Ye Think It Is!

Another case of shark "mistaken identity" by the always rabid U.K press. Today's news that a vicious shark rammed a fishing vessel off the coast of Scotland. The real story? Couple of jocks out for a laugh come across a completely harmless Basking shark...that just happens to glide under their boat.

It would seem the crowd at You Tube agrees with us (check comments)