Survey to shed light on the secret life of basking sharks

This weekend the Ulster Wildlife Trust’s Basking Shark Survey 2004 set sail from Bangor Marina in search of the largest wild visitor to our shores - the basking shark.

Crews of local volunteers and marine conservationists will sail the yacht around Northern Ireland’s coastline for three weeks, and will monitor, photograph and record sightings of basking sharks and other marine activity.

Little is known about the basking shark, which makes effective conservation very difficult.

The Ulster Wildlife Trust is running this project, funded by Environment and Heritage Service, in order to increase our understanding of this internationally recognised vulnerable species. In contrast to the rest of the UK where it is illegal to catch, kill, maim, harass or disturb a basking shark, they are not protected in Northern Ireland’s coastal waters.

Kate Hutchinson, Irish Seas Marine Policy Officer for UWT/WWF, said: “The basking shark population has declined by 90% since the 1960’s. They are particularly vulnerable as they are slow to mature and breed - if their population is to survive they need protection from human activity in the marine environment. We need adequate protection for the basking shark here in NI waters.

“This is the third year of the basking shark project and it is hoped that this year’s survey will add to baseline information from the 2002/2003 surveys and enable us to draw more conclusions about the activity of these sharks in and around NI waters.”

Basking sharks are already known to travel considerable distances in search of the best patches of plankton to feed on. One of the main aims of the survey is to find out which areas are important feeding or breeding grounds for the sharks.

Hundreds of individual sharks have been identified by the project using photo-identification and video images from previous year’s surveys around the UK. These will be compared with images of sharks taken on this year’s survey, allowing the team to track the movements and habits of individual sharks and to help establish population size and structure.

Rachel Bain, Conservation Manager at Ulster Wildlife Trust, said: “Lots of people are surprised when they learn that we have a regular visitor to our shores which can be compared to the size of a double-decker bus. The project also aims to raise awareness about the basking shark and what people can do to help save it."

The survey will train the local volunteer crew in marine survey techniques, which they can use to continue to monitor basking shark activity in our shores after their time on the project – this means they can continue to contribute to the conservation of the species.

(GB)