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Monster spotting silly season in full swing
by Howard Swanwick
01/08/2007:// With the school summer holidays well under way, and little else to do but while away the hours in the traditional summer tourist spots, what better time to announce a monster lurks in the ocean praying on hapless bathers.
Any regular ocean users, swimmers, surfers and in particular Cornish trawler men, will confirm that there are many large predatory sharks in UK waters. We all know that these creatures have been here for years, enjoying the relatively clean waters and abundant food chain of the British Isles. As many qualified wildlife specialists have constantly reminded us, we should be asking why Great Whites aren’t here, not if they are.
The Cornish, Welsh and Irish waters are home to many marine mammals, dolphins, porpoises, seals and whales. The fish stocks are relatively plentiful and we enjoy a warm current brought to our shores by the North Atlantic conveyor. All these conditions would be favourable to large shark species. While Great White sharks do not prefer tropical waters, they do like cold to temperate waters seen around the UK. The furthest north confirmed sighting of a White is the Bay of Biscay, while we already know there are an abundance of these creatures in The Azores and Mediterranean Sea. Recent marine researchers tracked by satellite, a White moving from South Africa to Western Australia, an epic migration, on the scale of the large whale species.
So next time you read about “Some-fin Fishy” in The Sun, just remember, Great Whites are nothing new, and have probably been visiting our shores for years. While no one is suggesting we are overrun with them, most marine biologists accept the possibility they are here. Other large sharks have been seen in UK waters, Hammerheads, Makos, Threshers and of course Porbeagles. These sharks are either native to, or have visited our shores, without any press hysterics.
Perhaps the only reason to become hysterical is if you run out of copies of The Sun to read, or perhaps you could roll up your copy and beat the monster over the head with it while it tries to chew your foot off.
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[Pablo Gutierrez winner of the Superbock Pro]
Hawaiian Carissa Moore won the Roxy Pro Junior surfing in her first ever contest in France
ASP International has announce the inception of their fourth regional branch, ASP Australasia
Twenty-six-year-old Pablo Guitierrez took top honours in the Superbock Pro in Portugal after defeating fellow Portugeuse surfer Eduardo Fernandes in the final
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