More sharks being caught in our waters

WARMING seas and the prolonged sunny summer weather have resulted in an increase in the number of sharks in Irish waters.

Wicklow Boat Charters has been taking advantage of this abundance of sharks by fishing around 15 miles off Kilmore Quay in Wexford, where blue sharks in particular are plentiful.

‘It’s been a good summer. The sharks are around. We got some last year but there seems to be much more this year,’ said Kit Dunne of Wicklow town-based Wicklow Boat Charters. ‘If you travel the distance you will come across them. You put a bit of chum in the sea and the sharks come after the scent. We have already caught and released quite a few, from two in one outing to 26 in another’.

Shark fishing is a relatively new occurrence, even for an angler as experienced as Kit, who only tried his hand at catching and releasing sharks two years ago.

‘I just thought I’d give it a go and the sharks are still out there. They spend the summer here when the water temperature is warmer and then head south when it cools down’.

While some porbeagle sharks have been caught, the Blue Shark remains by far the most commonly found shark off the Wexford coast. The largest catch aboard Wicklow Boat Charters this summer was an Irish specimen Blue Shark weighing over 100 pounds and measuring in excess of 1.90 metres.

Kit Dunne and Mark Whelan with a Blue Shark they caught off Kilmore Quay.

Colum Loughlin Doyle, Orlagh Deegan and Ciaran Deegan.

Maura McGrath and Agnes Hanlon at the East Coast Classics car show at Arklow Rugby Club.