Close Encounters Of The Jaws Kind

June 3, 2004

Penzance has been on 'shark watch' this week after sightings at Long Rock and in the town's harbour.

The first incident resulted in two terrified schoolboys swimming to the shore after they had a close encounter with 'Jaws' off Long Rock Beach, and yesterday all eyes were on the harbour after a shark became trapped in the wet dock at low tide. Experts say that both sightings were most likely basking sharks which are familiar visitors to West Cornwall waters at this time of the year.

The two lads involved in the first sighting have since told The Cornishman that they will think twice about going back into the water after encountering two sharks - "face to face" during a tea-time swim.

And yesterday, the sight of a dark fin moving through Penzance harbour caused something of a stir.

The previous night a 12ft basking shark became trapped inside the wet dock as the dock gates closed and it was seen by a large number of people the following day, as a dark shape, about 12ft in length, just below the surface of the water.

Despite its size - basking sharks can grow to a length of 40ft - they are harmless to humans as they feed only off plankton and have no teeth.

'Watchers' were anticipating that the juvenile basking shark would return to the sea when the dock gates re-opened later yesterday.

The earlier incident at Long Rock involved ten-year-old Joseph Rose, of Sancreed and Josh Dodsworth, 13 of Newlyn, who say they were "terrified" when they came face to face with two sharks during a tea-time snorkel on Tuesday, May 25.

The boys, who regularly swim in Mount's Bay, say they made a mad scramble for rocks to get as far away from the creatures at possible.

"They were about as big as me and Joseph" said Josh, who told The Cornishman that while the behaviour of the sharks was not particularly threatening, they were both extremely frightened by the experience.

"They looked straight at us so we got away as quickly as we could. We scrambled up on some rocks and stayed there until we thought it would be safe to swim back to the shore."

Joseph takes up the story: "The sharks were only about 10 metres away from us and we were terrified. We got away from them and stayed on rocks and waved to my dad who was walking the dog along the beach."

Joseph's father, David, heard the boys shouting and waving and says he waved back and beckoned them to come back to the shore."

The boys estimate that they were approximately a "half-hour" swim from the shore when they encountered the sharks and have since been checking pictures in a book on sharks which belongs to Josh.

"We think that they were some sort of blue shark," added Josh.

While they may have indeed been blue sharks, freelance wildlife researcher Dr Nick Tregenza, of Penzance, a member of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, believes they were more probably basking sharks.

Both are not uncommon visitors, but basking sharks were, he said, seen more regularly at this time of the year.

"Basking sharks never attack - though they could thrash you with their tail - and Blue Shark, which do have teeth, have never been reported to attack anyone in our waters," he said.

"Neither are rare in any case, and the blue shark is the sort that is marketed. Tuna fishermen, certainly until a year or two ago, would bring back blue shark which would find their way onto the fishmonger's slab."