We will bite them on the beaches!
ELEVEN new shark species heading to British shores
gREAT whites are among a host of shark species that could be hunting in British waters in the next 30 years, a leading researcher warns.
The fearsome predator, made famous by the film Jaws, is most likely to surface off the Cornish coast.
The great white, which could also head to Devon and the Isle of Wight, is currently found in the Mediterranean sea and Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.
A study, commissioned for Nat geo WIlD’s Sharkfest, has revealed 11 species of sharks found in warmer parts of the world, such as hammerheads and blacktips, may be swim- ming in British seas within 30 years as the climate changes.
As a new ‘shark map’ claims there are more than 10 million small sharks in British waters and 100,000 larger ones, expert Dr Ken Collins, of the University of Southampton, said that by 2050 British waters could become an ideal hunting ground for the great white.
He said: ‘great whites will wander hundreds, if not thousands of miles and are already in the Mediterranean. ‘It would not take much of a change in water temperature, maybe less than one degree, for them to come here. And they have their favourite food source, seals, in areas such as the Cornish coast.’
Cornwall is Britain’s shark capital with at least 20 different species found off its coast.
Dr Collins, who also predicts the likes of the whitetip, copper and dusky shark arriving, reassured holidaymakers that it should still be safe to swim in the sea.