The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) is calling for better protection for basking sharks in Scottish waters as survey results show that even greater numbers are being found in Scotland’s seas.
Using fin-recognition, the Wildlife Trusts’ survey spotted a massive 292 basking sharks from April to September.
Leading marine conservationist Colin Speedie, who has carried out an annual survey of basking sharks around the UK coastline since 2002 said: “Two Scottish basking shark ‘hotspots’ have come to light as a result of our survey work. These are in the Gunna Sound, between the islands of Coll and Tiree, and around the rocky island of Hyskeir, five miles southwest of the island of Canna.
“For the first time we are seeing a high proportion of large sharks, some over nine metres in length, and what are probably baby sharks in the same area.”
The past three years have seen an intriguing and dramatic shift in sightings from the south of England to Scotland, a phenomenon which Speedie believes to be linked to climatic cycles, and the movement of the sharks’ food source plankton, to more northerly waters.
Basking sharks are extremely slow to mature and breed, so they are vulnerable to exploitation and disturbance. While fishing of these creatures has stopped they are still accidentally caught in fishing nets and injured or killed by collisions with boats.
Basking sharks are legally protected in UK waters to 12 nautical miles. However, tagging shows that they are very mobile, spending 80 per cent of their time beyond this zone, where they are unprotected.
Marine wildlife tourism in Scotland is growing, directly supporting over 2,500 jobs and earning £57 m revenue a year.
Speedie has been instrumental in promoting the UK’s first ever marine ecotourism training and accreditation programme, the WiSe Scheme, aimed at minimising disturbance to marine wildlife.
SWT’s call for better marine wildlife protection is part of parallel Scottish and UK-wide campaigns for overarching marine legislation, “Marine Acts” at both UK and Scottish levels.
In particular, SWT is calling for new legislation in Scotland to create a network of well-managed marine protected areas for important Scottish habitats and species, many of which are currently unprotected.
