Oh here we go again! A “great white” is seen off the South West peninsular and the headline writers have a field day, while The Sun’s graphic designer even produced a mock-up image of what a great white shark might look like hunting dolphins. Sensationalism? Perish the thought.
The worst thing about this particular knee-jerk is that it's very unlikely to be based on a genuine sighting.
I watched the footage on breakfast television, and the dorsal fin striking fear into the hearts of editors across all news media was definitely that of a basking shark. Shock horror: we’ll all be gummed to death! A large rounded fin with a large triangular caudal fin trailing a few meters behind, dark brown rather than grey, it screams basker rather than great white.
Great white sharks belong to the mackerel shark family, which includes the mako, which resides in our coastal waters. These sharks are characterised by stiff very triangular dorsal fins, and the footage I saw on TV was nothing like it.
There have been sightings of large sharks, including the great white, off the Devon and Cornwall coast, but only a few. These are large fish, with the capability of travelling huge distances, so it’s somewhat naive to imagine that they wouldn’t be seen occasionally off our shores.
The trouble with sensationalising seeing Jaws visit Padstow is that what should be the mainstay of the article is always obscured.
Sharks are in catastrophic decline in our seas globally, and most sharks are now very rare or endangered. Peter Benchley, the novelist who wrote Jaws, claimed in the early nineties that if he were to try to write Jaws again it would be a totally different book, and therefore not so successful. Benchley was a committed environmentalist and did a huge amount of work promoting the cause of sharks, but there is no disputing the impact that book had.
Locally, the big shark we should all be looking out for, out of interest and not morbid fear, is the basking shark. So little is known of this ancient animal and yet they were once so commonplace that fishermen used them as fenders on the prow of their fishing boats. Now, basking sharks are a rare treat to behold, cruising steadily near to the surface, filtering an Olympic swimming pool of water every hour through that massive gape. As with all the biggest animals in the sea, these giants feed on the smallest, trapping vast quantities of plankton in their gills.
Summer is the time to see basking sharks off the Devon coast, as they are migratory, although no-one is quite sure where they go in the winter months. The Journal has teamed up with the Devon Biodiversity Records Centre and has marine identification charts available free of charge from the office. If you are interested in the whales and dolphins (and basking sharks, which also feature in this publication) then pop down and pick up a copy.
There is more coastal fun to be had this August, as the East Devon Coastal Festival returns for its third year. I will be leading rockpooling events in Exmouth on Monday, August 13, in the afternoon, and again on August 29, down at Maer Rocks.
There are other events going on throughout the month, details of which can be found at the Tourist Information Centre. This year’s coastal festival will be promoting the Finding Sanctuary Project, which I wrote about here a few months ago, so, if you have any questions about marine conservation policy, come along and find out more. I will probably not be able to field every question immediately, but will endeavour to get you an answer, so come along and ask away.
As well as rockpooling, beach fun and Jonathan Dimbleby’s Question Time, there will also be coastal path walks and sea watching events going on at locations along the coast. Seawatching is the most wonderful way to pass the time and relax and, if you have never tried it, come along and give it a go.
There is something incredibly meditative about staring out to sea, and every so often something exciting pops into view to make the heart race! Some people watch for pelagic birds, others watch for whales and dolphins. I like to combine the two and double my chances of seeing something and, the more eyes focussing intently on the horizon, the better!