We are impressed the camera man refrained from dropping the “You’re going to need a bigger boat” line, as that was the opportune moment.
The footage was captured a mere mile away from the North Devon coast, one of the most popular surf areas in the UK. Fisherman Graeme and his friend Wayne were coasting through a standard day at sea when they bumped into the 450lbs shark. They were on the hunt for pollock, so it’s safe to say they got more than they bargained for. A scuffle between the seaman and the sea creature commenced which concluded in Graeme successfully tagging, and not harming, the porbeagle shark.
You’re probably thinking that this throws a spanner into the works for us British surfers. When we shoot the surf against the likes of the Aussies & the Yanks, we do usually lose on the weather and wave consistency side of things. But when it comes to little nippers in the ocean, at least we can enjoy a dawny sesh without “Duuun dun” in the back of our heads. But now it looks like we may not have a leg to stand on (no pun intended).
But before you go and eBay your boards & wetsuits, we assure you these porbeagle sharks are pretty cool with surfers and have very, very rarely had a nibble, so it’s all good. Another positive to take from this is that fishman Graeme says our Atlantic waters are currently warm enough for sharks, which is a good sign for a hot summer! If you’re still not convinced, you can also invest in one of these shark proof wetsuits…
At the end of the day, as scary as sharks are, they are incredible creatures and we should feel blessed to have a wide variety of wildlife in our waters. As apex predators they keep fish stocks healthy by taking out the weaker fish. They are integral to the ocean’s eco-system, without them things would be very bleak. So we’d like give Mr Sharky Shark a warm welcome to our waters and hope he has a killer time in the UK (no pun intended again).
