A TV documentary has examined whether great white sharks could be making forays into British waters.

Sunday’s BBC 1 programme Sharks: Great Whites in Great Britain? looked at accounts of sightings by holidaymakers and fishermen, with analysis from experts.

One story came from a North Cornish fisherman, who saw something large leap out of the sea. He went over to find blood on the surface - as if, it was suggested, a seal had just been taken by a great white.

And an expert on great whites, examining other seal remains in Wales, said the injuries could well have been inflicted by a great white.

But expert opinion was also that hard evidence has still not emerged to suggest that the great white has ventured as far north as Britain.

The nearest confirmed great white was a juvenile caught by fishermen off the port of La Rochelle, in the Bay of Biscay, in 1977. In Britain, irrefutable proof may have to come in the form of a similar accidental catch or beach stranding.

It could even be divers with cameras who finally settle the issue. Bude-based Richard Peirce, Chairman of the Plymouth-based Shark Trust, has been running Britain’s first shark diving programme off Cornwall, using dive cages and chumming techniques.

Peirce told BBC News that, in his view, the case for great whites off Britain was “much stronger” than that presented in the BBC documentary. He said: “My view is that there is strong circumstantial evidence that we get occasional vagrant visitors.”

*A large porbeagle shark was washed up at Porthmadog in Gwynedd late last week, just days before the BBC documentary. It was a timely reminder that perceived sightings of great whites in Britain can be down to other species.

The 2.2m porbeagle is a member of the lamnidae shark family, which includes the great white. A third lamnidae member is the mako, also found in British waters. The sharks have clear differences but, to the uninitiated, could look similar.

Another creature capable of giving a misleading impression is, of course, the large basking shark.

Related links
Richard Peirce Shark Conservation
The Shark Trust

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