great white shark in cornwall ?

[gonefishing]

saw a large sunfish off alderney about 2 months ago...but i suppose its warmer over there...

[chevin]

TriAngler:

I seem to recall that the Guiness Book of Records ,in a long past edition ,recorded that the White Shark Rod Caught Record had been broken, but later disallowed on discovery that Whale meat had been used for bait.

That is more than likely because I believe that the IGFA specifies that white pointers must not be caught on any mammal meat if a record is to be claimed. While I cannot vouch for it, I believe that the reason for that ruling was that some Australian anglers who fished for them in the Albany area of Western Australia were killing dolphins for bait when they were unable to get any whale meat from one of the whaling ships that worked out from Cheynes Beach. The ruling really makes no difference to us these days because the white pointer is now a protected species around Australia so we are not allowed to fish for them with any bait!

[hembo]

well the great white will go down in urban myth like the beast of bodmin so could we have the carcharoden of cornwall . checkout this http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwal...all/3168083.stm

it may turn up but i hope the data will be of interest to us because there seems to be a lack of sharks out there !

[chevin]

hembo:

well the great white will go down in urban myth like the beast of bodmin so could we have the carcharoden of cornwall .

If there was a white pointer seen in the area, then it was likely to be one that was just passing through. We have that happen from time to time here, though a couple of years ago, one did stay long enough to kill a swimmer at a local beach.

 

I have fished for sharks quite a lot and generally speaking I would expect to catch sharks like the white pointer and tiger sharks in areas in which there are seals. Sharks like that are not fish chasers. The sharks Richard Peirce says he did see are fish chasers and it is almost surprising that any of those still exist in that part of the world. They were slaughtered out of hand in the '60's, but in fairness to those who fished for blues, I must confess that I never caught a blue that could be returned. Every one had it's guts hanging out of it's mouth by the time I got it to the boat.

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

quote:

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Originally posted by chevin:

I must confess that I never caught a blue that could be returned. Every one had it's guts hanging out of it's mouth by the time I got it to the boat. [/QB]

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I'm gonna upset you here mate

 

Blues are one of the many sharks that can and do expel their stomachs when caught; this is simply the fishes way of trying to get rid of the meal that is causing it the discomfort. This does not cause them any harm and they retract it back in without any problems.

 

So basically .. they were just being sick and almost certainly would have survived if they had been returned

 

Sorry to be the barer of bad news

 

re the e mail you sent me.. I've checked, I dont have a phone number at all

[corydoras]

I don't really understand why this claim is so controversial and is being scoffed at so much. After all there is only really one ocean out there, so there is nothing to stop a Great White heading for Cornwall if it wanted to. I belive that the most northerly confirmed sighting of a Great White is off La Rochelle in the Bay of Biscay. It is not a very long swim from Frisky Biscay to Corwall for an ocean going fish like a Great White.

 

Fishbase (www.fishbase.org) gives the following data on the distribution of all sorts of fish:

 

60 °N 50 50°S Great white

 

64°N - 50°S Mako

 

66°N - 22°N Porbeagle

 

Porbeagle, Mako and Great whites are all Lamnidae sharks and I am sure that it would not be that difficult to mistake a large mako or porbeagle for a small great white, or am I missing something?

[SandTiger]

Not a matter of "scoffing" just healthy debate. But you have to admit this is becoming a bit of an annual event.

 

Personally, given the very large UK fishing fleet we have and the amount of gill nets that are down along with the potters that now hang baited hooks off their crab pot ropes I would have expected to see one come up before now.

 

In a way I would prefer it if they weren't here but if they are then there would need to be pretty swift domestic legislation put in place to protect them from every eejit who fancies playing Quincy from Jaws once there's a national hysteria.

[Davy Holt]

I gotta agree with Tiggs, nowt wrong with debate anyway what do you expect when the "sighting" holds water like a sieve.

 

Not only did she claim to see a Great White but she also claims to have seen a mako further out, so not only has she seen a new species for UK waters she has also identified at range, a species of shark that most cant tell the difference from a Porgie when it's sitting infront of them and just to make it better, there are no fully authenticated records of a Mako being caught inshore since the mid 1970's.

 

I believe we have been visited in the past by Great Whites but I think it's a case of very very very few and far between, not that we get regular visits.

[Kieran Hanrahan]

On the subject (well ,sort of ) of rare species arriving in our waters, I was given a hard time by a few people on this forum who could not believe that atlantic pomfret and swordfish can be caught off the west coast... and they are, albeit on a very irregular basis.

 

But what is more apparent is that the pattern of fishing is going haywire - we are getting cold water species like torsk showing up in shoals on wrecks in Donegal in August, and cod and haddock are showing up on some marks previously monopolised by pollack and coalfish (praise be, don't get me wrong I am not complaining...)

 

It is not just that warmer water species are now available... maybe they always were, and we did not know it... it seems the overall patterns are changing.

 

Has anyone else noticed odd fish or changes in fish poulations on marks in recent years?

 

FWIW...

[Ed Matysiak]

Kieran Hanrahan:

I always thought that great whites preferred colder water since the main prey is seals ???

 

10 gets 1 it was a basking shark ...

Im with this. Me and my old man spotted a basker a couple of years back near Tenby. It was twice the size of his flippin boat!? Although harmless, seeing a massive black shape in the water is s*** scary!