Are the numbers of Basking Sharks increasing on the West Coast?

Over the past two decades we have been seeing Basking Sharks on our trips. 2005 has seen a huge increase in the number of these sightings, to the extent that we see them more regularly than we do Minke whales this season!

We believe that this is infact not due to overfishing of the shark in previous years (the basking shark was hunted in the Scotland until 1994, and only fully protected from 1998) but part of a large cycle. There seems to have been a huge change this year in the distribution of Minke whales and the Basking shark.

Of the fantastic encounters we have had this summer its hard to beat the sight of these magnificent fish (the largest fish in the uk) breaching, launching themselves clear of the water, wow!

We are off course actively photographing and logging all sightings of the sharks we see. Working closely with both the Sharkwatch Trust and the University of London, Millport.