Killers swimming to our shores

KILLER sharks are heading to British coasts because of climate change, scientists said yesterday.

Species never seen in the UK before will become commonplace over the next 30 years as our seas become warmer, experts predicted.

And the fearsome great white could even put in an appearance on our coastline.

Predators including the blacktip, whitetip and longfin mako sharks – all of which have a track record of attacks on humans – will become native to our shores as sea temperatures rise.

The warning comes from scientists at TV channel Nat Geo Wild, who found sharks are likely to arrive from warmer regions such as the Mediterranean.

Over the last 30 years, attacks on people have become more frequent, increasing from nine in 1986 to 39 in 2015, as sharks desperately hunt for food.

Dr Ken Collins, from the University of Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre, backed up the Nat Geo Wild research.

He said: “It’s likely we will be seeing more sharks spread from warmer regions such as the Mediterranean Sea towards our waters in the UK over the next 30 years.

“These include the likes of blacktips, sand tigers and hammerheads, which are currently found swimming off the coasts of Spain and Portugal.”

Dr Collins, a former administrator of the UK Shark Tagging Programme, said: “There is considerable debate as to whether we have great white sharks in UK waters.

“I see no reason why not. They live in colder waters off South Africa and have a favourite food source, seals, along the Cornish coast.

“The only argument against there being great white sharks in our

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waters is that numbers worldwide are declining so the chances of seeing one around the UK fall year by year.

“While the potential number of shark species around the UK may increase in the next few decades, the overall number of sharks will fall as a result of overfishing, plastic waste and climate change.”

Cornwall is the current sharkspotting capital of the UK, with at least 20 species found off the coast, followed by the Isles of Scilly and Devon. Yesterday, there were reports of a 9ft blue shark seen in a harbour at the popular Cornish holiday hotspot of St Ives.

The public was warned to stay out of the water, with the shark thought to be either injured or lost after chasing prey.

The news came after a group of anglers caught a whopping 20 sharks off the coast of North Devon last week.

The haul of blue and porbeagle sharks were all returned safely to the sea. It is estimated there are currently more than 10 million small sharks and 100,000 larger ones in British waters, and up to 40 different species.

Some of the species have around for 200 million years.

But the Nat Geo Wild study suggests some of the newcomers will pose a danger to humans.

Legendary French oceanographic researcher Jacques Cousteau once described the whitetip as “the most dangerous of all sharks”.

The longfin mako is about 7ft in length and is the fastest species of shark, reaching speeds of 20mph. been The shortfin mako has been blamed for eight unprovoked attacks and two human fatalities.

It ranks second only to the great white for attacks on boats, notching up 20 in all.

The blacktip prefers hunting in shallow waters of about 10ft, so could pose a serious threat to British surfers and swimmers.

Also on the way to our shores are bigeye threshers and copper sharks, which could become a common sight in UK waters by 2050.