Great White Sighting Possible
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".
The footage shows an 8ft-long shark breaching almost three-quarters in
the water in the vicinity of a pod of dolphins.
When Mr Fletcher returned home to Rotherham he spotted the shark among
the dolphins he was videoing.
Occasional visitors'
Mr Peirce, chairman of the Shark Trust, said it was impossible to make
a conclusive identification and that it could have also been either a
Mako or a Porbeagle shark.
He said: "If one accepts that White sharks are occasional vagrant
visitors in UK waters, these animals could not be ruled out."
A spokesman for Falmouth Coastguard said there had never been a
confirmed sighting of a Great White shark off Cornwall.
"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.
"The poor tourist industry this year is having a really hard time. The
last thing we need is scare-mongering over some footage."
British waters contain 33 different species of shark, of which Blue
and Mako are considered dangerous to man, according to Mr Peirce.
A group of fishermen claim to have seen a Great White in 1999 although
it has never been proven.
A 14-year-old amateur marine biologist also claimed she saw a Great
White off the north Devon coast in 2003.
BBC News: 28th August 2007
