Great white shark spotted off UK coast ?

[UM-Bot]

Submitted by Mark: A Great White shark is believed to have been spotted by a holidaymaker off the Cornish coast. Richard Fletcher, from South Yorkshire, filmed a shark breaching in the water near a pod of dolphins about 200 yards (182m) from Porthmeor Beach, St Ives.

Cornish shark conservationist Richard Peirce, who saw the footage, said the possibility it was a Great White could not be ruled out. But coastguards have dismissed the claims as "scare-mongering".

View: Full Article | Source: BBC News

[Commander CMG]

Interesting article... I think this may be the footage to compliment the story: Link

Edited July 29, 2007 by XSAS

[__Kratos__]

Clicky here!

I wonder how a shark if there, could have wandered so far away. Quite the turn around.

[Leonardo]

The Porbeagle shark is not 'completely different' to a Great White - except in size. I believe it has in the past been mistaken for Carcharodon.

Click linky to see image of Porbeagle.

Not saying it's impossible the person saw a Great White - just that it's more likely they saw a Porbeagle.

[zukie&jim]

sounds like the old bumper sticker--'send more tourist--the last ones were delicious !"

[BaneSilvermoon]

I find the fact that the mere idea of a white shark leads to "your scaring tourists away!" quite amusing.

Edited July 29, 2007 by BaneSilvermoon

[Shalott]

"The last thing we need is scare-mongering over some footage"

That sounds slightly familiar... think I heard something like that in Jaws you know, right before the shark started eating everyone

[glorybebe]

That sounds slightly familiar... think I heard something like that in Jaws you know, right before the shark started eating everyone

That's my thought, too.

[Commander CMG]

Another News report and footage.. Click here

[Mr Black]

Sounds like other stories in the past, i think people want to believe, however it is extremly difficult to tell from that footage.

[louie]

So is it mistaken identity. its not a great white after all.

[Blackwhite]

There has been a second sighting:

Second Great White Shark sighting shocks holidaymakers in Cornwall

30th July 2007

The shark was spotted off the coastal resort of St Ives, Cornwall, in Britain's far south west

A terrified tourist has described how she videoed what she believed was a Great White Shark hunting off the coast of Cornwall.

Catherine Price was on a boat trip with son Callum, seven, when they spotted a '12ft fin' in the water.

Fellow tourists on the boat dismissed the animal as a harmless basking shark but Catherine was shocked to find out it could have been a deadly Great White circling off St Ives.

"It was horrifying. If I'd have known it was a Great White at the time I would have panicked," she told The Sun.

The picturesque town of St Ives, Cornwall. So far south, the seas are definitely warm enough for a Great White to live

Coastguards have dismissed the second claim of a great white shark sighting in three days as "utter rubbish" and "scare mongering".

But Curator of the National Sea Life Centre in Birmingham Graham Burrows told The Sun: "I would not rule out the possibility of this being a Great White — the tail is identical. There are other sharks off the coast of Britain that have similar features.

"But I would be amazed if there are not Great Whites in the sea off Cornwall. There is a plentiful supply of food and I cannot see why they could not thrive in the conditions."

Holidaymaker Nick Fletcher filmed what he thought was the fearsome man eater 200 yards from a beach in St Ives, Cornwall, last month.

It was only when he returned home to Rotherham, South Yorkshire, that he spotted the shark hunting among the dolphins he was videoing.

Richard Peirce, chairman of the Shark Trust, watched the footage and said it was impossible to make a conclusive identification or say if it was a great white - immortalised in the 1975 Steven Spielberg movie Jaws.

A statement on the Shark Trust website read: "Richard's opinion was that it was impossible to make a conclusive identification, and that the shark could either have been a mako, a porbeagle, or, if one accepts that white sharks are occasional vagrant visitors in UK waters, these animals could not be ruled out."

But Marc Thomas, duty watch manager at Falmouth Coastguard, said: "The poor tourist industry this year is having a really hard time. The last thing we need is scare mongering over some footage.

"There has never been a confirmed sighting of a great white off the Cornish coast.

"We get basking sharks and the odd sighting of a porbeagle shark which looks similar fin wise to a great white but they are a lot smaller and completely different.

"They are not the man-eating Jaws."

He said rare sightings of mako or porbeagles were hundreds of miles offshore and added: "It's not like there are swarms of them around the Cornish coast."

He said "harmless" basking sharks were more often spotted around Cornwall. They feed from plankton and people have been reported to swim with them, although Mr Thomas did not recommend this. Mr Fletcher, a local government officer, was on holiday with his wife Michelle, 38, son James, four, and baby Laura at the time.

He was filming dolphins playing from above Porthmeor Beach.

Tourist Nick Martell, 57, from Newcastle upon Tyne, told The Sun newspaper: "Coming face to face with a great white is every swimmer's worst nightmare.

"It's not the sort of thing you expect in Cornwall, but now I know it's possible I'll definitely be on the lookout."

But Mr Thomas said: "It's utter rubbish. We have never had a shark attack down here and we would urge people to take this with a pinch of salt.

"The beaches around Cornwall are safe, nearly all of them are lifeguarded by the RNLI or councils.

"They are well guarded beaches making them safe for holidaymakers and swimmers."

Richard Peirce, chairman of the Shark Trust, watched the footage and said it was impossible to make a conclusive identification or say if it was a great white - immortalised in the 1975 Steven Spielberg movie Jaws.

A statement on the Shark Trust website read: "Richard's opinion was that it was impossible to make a conclusive identification, and that the shark could either have been a mako, a porbeagle, or, if one accepts that white sharks are occasional vagrant visitors in UK waters, these animals could not be ruled out."

But Marc Thomas, duty watch manager at Falmouth Coastguard, said: "The poor tourist industry this year is having a really hard time. The last thing we need is scare mongering over some footage.

"There has never been a confirmed sighting of a great white off the Cornish coast.

"We get basking sharks and the odd sighting of a porbeagle shark which looks similar fin wise to a great white but they are a lot smaller and completely different.

"They are not the man-eating Jaws."

He said rare sightings of mako or porbeagles were hundreds of miles offshore and added: "It's not like there are swarms of them around the Cornish coast."

He said "harmless" basking sharks were more often spotted around Cornwall. They feed from plankton and people have been reported to swim with them, although Mr Thomas did not recommend this.

Mr Fletcher, a local government officer, was on holiday with his wife Michelle, 38, son James, four, and baby Laura at the time.

He was filming dolphins playing from above Porthmeor Beach.

Tourist Nick Martell, 57, from Newcastle upon Tyne, told The Sun newspaper: "Coming face to face with a great white is every swimmer's worst nightmare.

"It's not the sort of thing you expect in Cornwall, but now I know it's possible I'll definitely be on the lookout."

But Mr Thomas said: "It's utter rubbish. We have never had a shark attack down here and we would urge people to take this with a pinch of salt.

"The beaches around Cornwall are safe, nearly all of them are lifeguarded by the RNLI or councils. "They are well guarded beaches making them safe for holidaymakers and swimmers."

dailymail.co.uk

Edited July 30, 2007 by Blackwhite

[Vincent Campion]

It could have been a Great White.

[:PsYKoTiC:BeHAvIoR:]

It could have been a Great White.

Exactly. The Great White could have strayed away. Atleast, it's more plausible than having claims of seeing the Loch Ness visiting the UK!

[Commander CMG]

News Update:

It looks as if it may be safe to go back into the water after all.

Weeks after British television stations broadcast grainy images of suspicious-looking fins backed by the score from the film "Jaws," one of the men behind the sightings admitted he had been lying.

Bouncer Kevin Keeble claimed he had a photograph showing a great white shark about a mile off the coast of Cornwall, southwest England, but on Wednesday told his local paper the picture was actually taken while on vacation in South Africa.

Shark experts weren't surprised. At the time of the sightings, they had argued there was no proof the fearsome fish had paid British shores a visit. Experts say there's no hard evidence of a great white population in the Northeast Atlantic.

But that didn't stop the media frenzy that started when The Sun tabloid warned that British shores were being haunted by a man-eating monster.

Keeble said he couldn't believe anyone had been foolish enough to take the picture seriously.

"I didn't even get any money out of it," The Newquay Voice quoted him as saying. "If I'd have made a few quid (dollars) then maybe I could have gone on another fishing trip to South Africa."

Source

[glorybebe]

News Update:

It looks as if it may be safe to go back into the water after all.

Weeks after British television stations broadcast grainy images of suspicious-looking fins backed by the score from the film "Jaws," one of the men behind the sightings admitted he had been lying.

Bouncer Kevin Keeble claimed he had a photograph showing a great white shark about a mile off the coast of Cornwall, southwest England, but on Wednesday told his local paper the picture was actually taken while on vacation in South Africa.

Shark experts weren't surprised. At the time of the sightings, they had argued there was no proof the fearsome fish had paid British shores a visit. Experts say there's no hard evidence of a great white population in the Northeast Atlantic.

But that didn't stop the media frenzy that started when The Sun tabloid warned that British shores were being haunted by a man-eating monster.

Keeble said he couldn't believe anyone had been foolish enough to take the picture seriously.

"I didn't even get any money out of it," The Newquay Voice quoted him as saying. "If I'd have made a few quid (dollars) then maybe I could have gone on another fishing trip to South Africa."

Source

What I was wondering was why he would do that? Can he be charged with mischief? That's not a joke, that's just idiotic, IMO.