Shark experts have launched a great white shark hunt in South West waters after saying the predators 'could' and 'should' live here. Researchers say the creatures have been migrating north from the Mediterranean in search of food.
The number of great whites have rocketed in recent decades, which some experts have put down to increasing seal numbers, one of the creature's food sources. Chris Fischer, founder of Ocearch, told The Times his organisation has tracked other groups of great whites northwards in search of seals and researchers are backing their bags for the UK in hopes of finding more.
“We believe they should be moving up past Brest [in Brittany] and Cornwall,” he told the publication. Ocearch researchers have planned their trip to Cornwall for next year.
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Great white numbers have boomed since the 1970s, particularly in Cape Cod, a peninsular in Massachusetts - ironically, next to the island where Steven Spielberg's Jaws was filmed, DevonLive reports. The species was almost non-existent there, but has kept on growing since.
It is believed groups of sharks - known as a 'shiver' - flock there because of the increasing seal population, which has also seen a rise in numbers due to a number of federal protections. Seals are regularly seen in Westcountry waters, Cornwall in particular.
However, one expert says he would be "surprised" if any of the razor-toothed hunters were found in UK waters next year. Gregory Skomal, a marine biologist, told The Independent: "There’s no documented white sharks off Cornwall.
“They should be there but they are not and we don’t know why.”
There are low numbers of great whites in the Mediterranean, though not a lot is known about how they wound up there. They are usually found in cool waters close to the coast and are often spotted near South Africa, other parts of Africa, California and New Zealand.
