Second Great White Shark sighting shocks holidaymakers in Cornwall

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A terrified tourist has described how she videoed what she believed was a Great White Shark hunting off the coast of Cornwall.

Catherine Price was on a boat trip with son Callum, seven, when they spotted a '12ft fin' in the water.

Fellow tourists on the boat dismissed the animal as a harmless basking shark but Catherine was shocked to find out it could have been a deadly Great White circling off St Ives.

"It was horrifying. If I'd have known it was a Great White at the time I would have panicked," she told The Sun.

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Could Great White Sharks be hunting off the Cornwall coastline? (File photo)

Coastguards have dismissed the second claim of a great white shark sighting in three days as "utter rubbish" and "scare mongering".

But Curator of the National Sea Life Centre in Birmingham Graham Burrows told The Sun: "I would not rule out the possibility of this being a Great White — the tail is identical. There are other sharks off the coast of Britain that have similar features.

"But I would be amazed if there are not Great Whites in the sea off Cornwall. There is a plentiful supply of food and I cannot see why they could not thrive in the conditions."

Holidaymaker Nick Fletcher filmed what he thought was the fearsome man eater 200 yards from a beach in St Ives, Cornwall, last month.

It was only when he returned home to Rotherham, South Yorkshire, that he spotted the shark hunting among the dolphins he was videoing.

Richard Peirce, chairman of the Shark Trust, watched the footage and said it was impossible to make a conclusive identification or say if it was a great white - immortalised in the 1975 Steven Spielberg movie Jaws.

A statement on the Shark Trust website read: "Richard's opinion was that it was impossible to make a conclusive identification, and that the shark could either have been a mako, a porbeagle, or, if one accepts that white sharks are occasional vagrant visitors in UK waters, these animals could not be ruled out."

But Marc Thomas, duty watch manager at Falmouth Coastguard, said: "The poor tourist industry this year is having a really hard time. The last thing we need is scare mongering over some footage.

"There has never been a confirmed sighting of a great white off the Cornish coast.

"We get basking sharks and the odd sighting of a porbeagle shark which looks similar fin wise to a great white but they are a lot smaller and completely different.

"They are not the man-eating Jaws."

He said rare sightings of mako or porbeagles were hundreds of miles offshore and added: "It's not like there are swarms of them around the Cornish coast."

He said "harmless" basking sharks were more often spotted around Cornwall. They feed from plankton and people have been reported to swim with them, although Mr Thomas did not recommend this. Mr Fletcher, a local government officer, was on holiday with his wife Michelle, 38, son James, four, and baby Laura at the time.

He was filming dolphins playing from above Porthmeor Beach.

Tourist Nick Martell, 57, from Newcastle upon Tyne, told The Sun newspaper: "Coming face to face with a great white is every swimmer's worst nightmare.

"It's not the sort of thing you expect in Cornwall, but now I know it's possible I'll definitely be on the lookout."

But Mr Thomas said: "It's utter rubbish. We have never had a shark attack down here and we would urge people to take this with a pinch of salt.

"The beaches around Cornwall are safe, nearly all of them are lifeguarded by the RNLI or councils.

"They are well guarded beaches making them safe for holidaymakers and swimmers."

Richard Peirce, chairman of the Shark Trust, watched the footage and said it was impossible to make a conclusive identification or say if it was a great white - immortalised in the 1975 Steven Spielberg movie Jaws.

A statement on the Shark Trust website read: "Richard's opinion was that it was impossible to make a conclusive identification, and that the shark could either have been a mako, a porbeagle, or, if one accepts that white sharks are occasional vagrant visitors in UK waters, these animals could not be ruled out."

But Marc Thomas, duty watch manager at Falmouth Coastguard, said: "The poor tourist industry this year is having a really hard time. The last thing we need is scare mongering over some footage.

"There has never been a confirmed sighting of a great white off the Cornish coast.

"We get basking sharks and the odd sighting of a porbeagle shark which looks similar fin wise to a great white but they are a lot smaller and completely different.

"They are not the man-eating Jaws."

He said rare sightings of mako or porbeagles were hundreds of miles offshore and added: "It's not like there are swarms of them around the Cornish coast."

He said "harmless" basking sharks were more often spotted around Cornwall. They feed from plankton and people have been reported to swim with them, although Mr Thomas did not recommend this.

Mr Fletcher, a local government officer, was on holiday with his wife Michelle, 38, son James, four, and baby Laura at the time.

He was filming dolphins playing from above Porthmeor Beach.

Tourist Nick Martell, 57, from Newcastle upon Tyne, told The Sun newspaper: "Coming face to face with a great white is every swimmer's worst nightmare.

"It's not the sort of thing you expect in Cornwall, but now I know it's possible I'll definitely be on the lookout."

But Mr Thomas said: "It's utter rubbish. We have never had a shark attack down here and we would urge people to take this with a pinch of salt.

"The beaches around Cornwall are safe, nearly all of them are lifeguarded by the RNLI or councils. "They are well guarded beaches making them safe for holidaymakers and swimmers."

 

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