UK Jaws-style sighting sparks concern as locals imagine beast is nice white
A Jaws-style sighting has got locals in a flutter – with some suggesting it was a Great White shark.
The beast was spotted stalking the coast just yards off Monmouth Beach in Dorset. The pebble and rock beach stretches for around one mile from the harbour at Lyme Regis to Pinhay Bay, in East Devon.
And witness Paul Lessemun reckons he saw the predator’s large dorsal fin moving close to the shoreline for around two hours.
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He said: “It just hovered around Monmouth beach for two hours a few yards from shore.
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
“People were drawn to it By the size of the dorsal fin the shark was big.” Sightings of great white sharks in the UK date back to 1965.
Wildlife boffin Richard Peirce has led investigations on nearly 100 claimed sightings of great white sharks around the British Isles – with 12 sightings remaining credible.
He said this one was likely to be a smaller basking shark.
(Image: Paul Lessemun)
But that didn’t stop people speculating that it was a killer beast.
Local Jamie Tipton said: “Definitely a great white fin that. They have been feeding here recently.
“I’ve seen great whites they are definitely around with a massive supply of food here for them.”
(Image: Getty Images)
And fellow spotter Claire Cranton added: “Our waters are very suitable and with the increase in large tuna it’s only a matter of time.
“Though I do think they are likely to be here already.”
Shark expert Colm O’Hare added: “The waters around the UK and Ireland have been getting steadily warmer for decades and there have been multiple sightings of great whites by experienced fishermen.”
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Last month (May) we told how the number of shark attacks is up 60% in 30 years.
International Shark Attack File figures show there were 69 unprovoked attacks worldwide last year, 10 of them fatal.
British shark expert Professor Oliver Shipley said climate change could see the creatures moving north and “interacting with beachgoers”.
