Different shark , same story
The appearance of a Greenland shark on a Cornish beach raised many questions , including how we allow these ancient creatures to be fished in our waters , says Paul Cox
Sometime at the end of last year , I was contacted by a group looking for a talk on sharks . It happens a lot . And we ’ re always happy to oblige – especially as Zoom now means we can ‘ visit ’ groups anywhere without worrying about travel expenses . We booked it in for mid- March and ( as also happens a lot ) I forgot all about it until a couple of weeks before . When pushed for a subject for my talk , I opted – almost at random – for Greenland Sharks .
Then , two days before the talk , slightly weirdly , a Greenland Shark appeared on a beach near Newlyn . Only the second ever recording of a stranded Greenland Shark in the UK . It was quite a big deal , as well as impeccable timing . The dead shark was recovered and made its way to a lab for post-mortem . And here it got more interesting still . After a thorough autopsy , it was discovered that the shark had died from meningitis . The first ever record of the disease in this species . We still have so much to learn about marine life .
If you ’ re ever on the receiving end of my Greenland Shark talk then you ’ ll know that it centres on the age of these incredible and slightly strange sharks . Just eight years ago , scientists came up with the first accurate estimate of the longevity of these extraordinarily slow growing sharks , coming up with an estimate of at least 272 years and possibly up to 512 . So , just to be a clear , large Greenland Sharks alive today could have been around in the times of
Shakespeare , swum beneath the Mayflower as the Pilgrim Fathers made their way to America and been but young adults when the Titanic sank into the icy water that they call home .
It is mind blowing and asks a lot of questions . How do they live so long ? How do they avoid disease ? How does a heart keep going for four centuries when our own lose their power after just one ( at best !)? And now , how does a relatively young shark ( at just 100 years or so ) fall prey to meningitis ?
But when you learn a bit more about the Greenland Shark , the biggest question is how can it be that these sharks can still be fished ? Without getting lost in the complexity of international fisheries management , we ’ re still at a point where loopholes allow these ancient sharks to be killed and retained by fishers in the North Atlantic . This is just one of many species for whom fisheries remain the primary threat to their survival . With our Shark League partners , we ’ ll be going back to the table later this year to continue putting pressure on decision-makers to do the right thing . But , for now , despite the many unique and fascinating aspects of this shark , I ’ m afraid it ’ s a case of different shark , same story .
See www . sharkleague . org for more information or contact enquiries @ sharktrust . org if you ’ d like to book a talk for your club on this or any other aspect of sharks . www . sharktrust . org
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