‘Surprise’ as 6ft shark seen swimming in West Country harbour

There has been another rare sighting of a shark near land in the West Country. The blue shark was seen swimming around a harbour in Cornwall on Wednesday (August 9).

The shark – also known as a great blue shark – was filmed inside Newlyn Harbour. William Harvey, of Newlyn-based W Harvey & Sons, was watching the boats coming back into the harbour on Thursday lunchtime when he caught sight of it.

He said: “I spotted the 6ft blue shark swimming underneath the harbour wall. Of all the wildlife I’ve seen in the harbour, including dolphins, seals and even a deer swimming one early morning it’s was definitely the biggest surprise!”

Experts have previously spoken of the “incredibly rare sighting” that is a blue shark so close to land in Cornwall. Blue sharks are usually seen in UK seas from June through to October, especially on the South Coast, but will usually be spotted at least ten miles out to sea.

The Wildlife Trusts website states: “Blue sharks are active predators and feed mainly on small fish and squid – though they have been known to take seabirds and other small sharks too. They even feed on fish that live near the seabed and have been recorded at depths of up to 350m.”

The largest blue shark ever caught in UK seas weighed a whopping 256lbs (116kg) and measured over 9ft (2.74m). They are described as having metallic blue colouration on top and white underneath with distinctively long front fins.

A snorkeller was bitten by a blue shark off Penzance ^[2] in the first attack of its kind in 175 years last year in what was called a “freak” and “unusual” attack. They suffered an injury to the leg as a result.

Shark attacks remain rare however, especially in the UK. Several species visit the Cornish waters every year, including blue sharks, porbeagle sharks and basking sharks. None of them tend to attack humans.

Marine officer Matt Slater said at the time the attack ^[3] was unusual as people are highly unlikely to “encounter a blue shark just by accident around the Cornish coast”. He added: “This is something that nobody really expected, and a very, very rare and quite a sad story really, because it obviously tarnishes the reputation of an amazing animal.”

References

^{^} Bristol Balloon Fiesta 2023 live: latest updates from day three (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} bitten by a blue shark off Penzance (www.cornwalllive.com)
^{^} said at the time the attack (www.cornwalllive.com)