Huge Basking Sharks Ahoy Off Cornish Beaches

June 1, 2005

Release from:
This is Cornwall (www.thisiscornwall.com)

Huge basking sharks have made their first public appearance of the season in Westcountry bathing waters, to the delight of swimmers and divers.

Blazing sunshine and a calm sea helped plankton, the sharks' staple diet, to mass close to the surface at the weekend, enticing these "gentle giants" with their mouths agape close to the shore.

Marine photographer Charles Hood, of St Hilary, near Penzance, said: "A couple of years ago, up to 300 basking sharks were seen off the Lizard.

"This year in comparison has been very slow, with chill winds blowing in from the north-west and the south-east.

"Over the weekend however, the wind died right down, the sun came out, there was increasing warmth and the sea turned from dark blue to green as plankton massed near the surface."

Three basking sharks were sighted feasting off Porthcurno in West Cornwall on Sunday, followed by two off Penberth and two off Sennen on Monday.

"Some of them came in very close to the shore, while the biggest one, which was about 22 feet long, stayed about a quarter of a mile off," Mr Hood said. "We were out in a 17 feet long boat and felt very small in comparison.

"I was dropped off 50 yards in front of one and it came slowly towards me. They are the gentle giants of the sea."

Ali Hood, director of conservation for the Plymouth-based Shark Trust, said: "We've had reports of the basking sharks having been around Westcountry waters for quite a few weeks now.

"The great thing about the weekend was that it was lovely sunny weather and the sea was quite calm.

"These conditions allow the development of thermal fronts which help to aggregate the plankton.

"In turn that has attracted the basking sharks to feed on them.

"The area around Land's End is well known as a particular hot spot for sightings of basking sharks.

"As the water gradually warms up over the summer months, they will travel with the development of the thermal fronts all the way up to Scotland."

The basking shark is a coastal-pelagic species, found throughout the world's arctic and temperate waters.

Wayne Elliott, a spokesman for the Met Office at Exeter, said that sea temperatures off Devon and Cornwall were beginning to rise.

"At the moment the sea temperature is about 13 Celsius offshore and getting warmer than that in the shallower waters closer to the beaches," he said.

"It is not surprising to hear that the basking sharks have been seen close in because weather-wise it was an excellent weekend for the South West.

"We have been having extremes of weather around the UK - very cold in the north, very warm in the south-east.

"We cannot say that summer has arrived. This week will see more rain and cloud around the South West but we should have some reasonable days.

"May has been another dry month, with only three-quarters of its average rainfall. The temperatures for the months of June, July and August look as if they could be above average."