Friday 17 February 2012

Huge Great White caught in Morocco


It's not a great picture, I know, but this was sent to me by Debora Morrison at Palma Aquarium and was passed to her by a friend of hers in the Moroccan port of Kenitra.

Debora also sent the photo to Brad knowing that we both share a passion for Mediterranean Great White Sharks but, this is the Atlantic and Morocco is in Africa right? Well, yeah but hear me out...

This 4 metre plus female was caught last week by what looks like a Tuna fishing boat and its docking was witnessed by someone described as a "reliable source," and passed on to Debora's friend,  a Guardia Civil with the Servicio Maritimo. The reason this capture is of particular interest is the time of the year, and the proximity to the passage between Africa and Spain, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean.

Xisco Perez's 2nd Great White, Mallorca 1976

The Mediterranean is known for numerous notable White Shark captures with Italy and Malta usually at the forefront of discussions on the subject but the Spanish coast, around the Balearics and the stretch of coast taking in the Ligurian Sea, around the South of France and Northern Italy have all contributed heavily to the Med's White Shark pedigree, albeit with less publicity.

I have long held a theory that the Mediterranean supports a small population of resident Great White Sharks, primarily based around the central Mediterranean and Adriatic but that it also sees a yearly influx of large, adult sharks, primarily females, from the Eastern Atlantic, which pass through the straits of Gibraltar, possibly to give birth or following particular prey items. There is scant information available about this Moroccan shark and myself, Brad and Gabriel Morey are trying to find out more, if we get it, you will of course be updated.

Sightings of large White Sharks off the cost of Eastern Spain, even captures and beachings, whilst not common place, still happen with enough regularity for it to be a geographical feature of significance. You might not hear about them, but they happen, several large Great Whites have been spotted off the coast of Barcelona and Valencia, captain's of cruise ships have told me directly that they see one or two Great White Sharks at the surface, every year, on the crossing from Ibiza to Nice, a friend of Brad's saw one from her yacht around September/October last year and Xisco Perez, the man who caught the last Great White on record in Mallorca (also the second largest White Shark ever caught) told me he had found a large Tuna floating at the surface with an enormous, characteristic bite taken from it, a bite he is certain came from a Great White and that would have been around September 2010.

A six metre plus Great White, Mallorca 1976

I believe that these Eastern Atlantic Great Whites pass through the Strait of Gibraltar in the winter, the majority of which bisect the stretch of water between Spain's east coast and Mallorca's west, making their way around the north eastern point of the island, before moving in to the region of the Ligurian Sea and down the coastline of Italy. Of course there have been captures and sightings in areas outside of this route but when looking at confirmed captures of Mediterranean Great Whites, the majority fall in to this locale.


Let's look at some facts surrounding the data I have from the Balearics. There have been twenty-seven confirmed captures of adult White Sharks between the 1920's and 1976. Their captures provide a major clue as to what these sharks were doing there as every single one was caught in nets designed to catch Bluefin Tuna. Of those captures, eleven  ( 41%) were caught in the months January to March. Of the ten individuals which were gender confirmed, nine were females, none of the twenty-seven were less than three metres in length and eleven were confirmed or estimated to be larger than five metres. 79% of these Balearic Great Whites were caught off the North East coast and in 1969, three five metre long specimens were captured in the space of only five days, from the same place.

One of those 5 metre White Sharks from 1969

What has all this got to do with our Moroccan friend? 

Could she have been on her way into the Med, maybe even to travel the route mentioned above, traversing southern Spain, Mallorca, France and Italy before making her way back out of the Strait of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic? Possibly. I for one would like to think so and hope she has friends luckier than her who manage to avoid the various man made hazards on the way to make it.

The surprising thing for me has always been that we don't actually see them more than we currently do. Ask any tourist about Great White Sharks off the coasts of Mallorca, Ibiza, Spain and France and most would recoil in horror but when speaking to fishermen in these areas, most will have a story to tell and the vast majority will barely flinch because for them, Great White Sharks are simply an occasional part of the scenery, usually destroying their nets and stealing their fish. Anybody who knows, who wants to see sharks, knows the first people to ask are fishermen as it is they who spend more time on the water than anyone. Ask any Mediterranean fishermen about Great White Sharks and they will almost certainly tell you their own story and that yes, they are still there and they are big.

There is precious little research into Mediterranean Great White Sharks and whether they spend all year in the Med or not but I would love to know more. The Mediterranean brings with it cultural politics in the different countries and it must be said that, for an area of the world where tourism is so vital, particularly with visitors from the UK, I dare say a good majority of people would certainly not want the subject of enormous Great White Sharks prowling just offshore to be discussed in public with any vigour.

However, we are coming up to Med White Shark season so if you're visiting, keep your eyes peeled and cameras ready because well, you never know...

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33 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have any theories of White Sharks entering UK waters? And if so how far north do you think they go? My theory is that they occasionally do and if they do go north it will be along the Atlantic coast of the UK, not the North Sea.

OfficetoOcean said...

It's something I have actually spoken at length about for over 20 years, I believe that GWs are seasonal visitors to UK shores and always have been. Not in any great numbers and most likely as passing visitors but given the relative lack of ocean users compared to other GW territories (SA, Australia, California, The Med...) they are less likely to come into contact with humans.

There are many fishermen with stories of GWs off our coast but no concrete evidence and that can only come in the form of an actual specimen (most likely dead) or photo or video evidence. Given the availability of multi-media nowadays on devices like mobile phones, I think it's only a matter of time until we get that proof.

The question we ask shouldn't be "Would Great White Sharks visit the UK?" It should be "Why wouldn't they!?"

Thanks for your comment!

Anonymous said...

I agree and hope in time more will be known. Documentary makers etc, concentrate on the known GWS hot spots, e.g Cape Town etc. But I think that there are also other local "hot spots" with permanent populations and migratory ranges, But in these areas they are rarely seen because their main prey consists of mostly oceanic prey, as opposed to seals where they have to come close to shore to feed. Around the South of Japan to Taiwan is probably a focal hotspot and from that the seasonal range expands to Vietnam and also, very rarely Malaysia, while in the north it goes up the northern part of Japan, and possibly very rarely as far as Russia's sub artic coast, e.g like they do in Alaska, USA.
Also, in West and North West African coast I think that they are probably more common then people realize. But the further south you go from Morocco the less likely catches are likely to make the news/internet. E.g, Saw this video about over fishing of sharks in Senegal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_kpiOs-GHc and at 0:20 the shark being killed looks like a juvenile GWS. If it is a juvenile GWS, and not mako, then provides new info

OfficetoOcean said...

Thanks for the link to the video, interesting stuff, that shark is a Mako though as opposed to a juvenile GW.

I agree with pretty much everything you say, most people didn't think GWs were found off Hawaii until Jimmy Brendl filmed a huge female there...

Stingray Survey update!!

http://officetoocean.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/mallorca-stingray-survey-update.html

It's also fair to say that not everyone around the world, particularly fishermen, feels the need to put their entire lives on the internet, a traditional village fisherman in Western Africa catching a GW might be wholly unremarkable to them and therefore, why would it become known to anybody outside of that village?

GWs have been found in the tropics and the antarctic and everywhere inbetween, you could say it would be far more difficult to find a place guaranteed to have never had a GW than one which has. Norway, Russia, Canada, Fiji, Madagascar, The Bahamas, none of these are traditional GW hotspots but all have had multiple instances of GWs being present.

The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned!

Anonymous said...

Norway ? Never knew that, I heard of n oceanic white tip turning up somewhere in scandanavia once. I been to morocco several times n now regret not trying to find our about sharks when was in agadir n essaouira . Sorry to nag on, One other question I remember seeing a discovery channel animal wars where they piited top predators against similar rivals. I think it was all bull crap , but they had GWS vs Salt Water Croc, my arguments is that GWS is not a fighting animal like crocs
or lions n has no need to be because its not territorial or part of a pride that it needs to protect so it bites only to eat, avoids larger predatory animals n if attacked or under threat its instinct will always be flight not fight. Do u agree with this or am I off track?

OfficetoOcean said...

It's a moot point really so I don't think anyone would know what would definitely happen although if I was pushed I would say the GW would win but that also the croc would be less inclined to get into it with a GW.

GWs don't really need to fight much, they will use their size and aggression against other sharks to gain advantage in feeding and possibly mating situations occassionally but not being a territorial animal, these clashes are far less frequent.

Anonymous said...

I know now I am really going on and on. But wiki have recently changed their range distribution of GWS and done a you turn and now they are much more accurate but I do wonder if they have gone a bit overboard. Before they had range down as coastal and localized across various regions, now they changed it to pretty much everywhere in the world apart from North Atlantic. I do wonder if they gone a bit over the top especially in extreme north of the indian ocean and the Persian gulf.

OfficetoOcean said...

That's a range of where GWs have been confirmed, notice the UK isn't involved in that range, nor is Scandinavia but there have been reliable reports of GWs in Scandinavia and they also probably visit the UK so I would say that distribution map is still short of the GWs full range, including occasional or sporadic passes of course. Remember, the GW is generally a temperate and cold water species and in those areas, the food web needs its apex predators which tend to be GWs and Orcas so no surprise the range is so wide :)

Anonymous said...

Hi
I stumbled upon your blog, and being very interested in sharks I wondered if you had more information on GW sightings in Scandinavia(Norway). I live in Norway, and I have never heard of this. Of course you are aware of that there are many big sharks in the North Sea - Basking shark, Porbeagle... - that can be mistaken for a GW...

OfficetoOcean said...

Hi, thanks for reading and taking time to comment :)

It was a story I heard years ago about a GW being washed ashore on one of the small Norwegian islands and also of a white shark being found in a trawler net which managed to escape before they pulled it aboard. I'm also sure I remember hearding a story of a GW finding its way into a fjord but I may well be mistaken on that and be getting mixed up with something else.

I know that's not hugely helpful I'm afraid! Let me see if I can dig out the story I read about the one that washed ashore at the island...

Anonymous said...

Hi again. I am pretty sure there have been no sightings in Norway. If so, it would definitely have been all over the news. I have never heard of such a hing, it would really have been a huge sensation. Not the least as an input in the debates about whether GWs enter British waters. If spotted in Norway, it would end the deabte of whether the frequent British waters. A few years ago - 2009 - there was this sensational news about how further climate change could make 'new' species enter our coastal waters. In that regard, the GW was mentioned as a potentially new guest. If any GWs had been spotted or washed ashore, that would have came up. Norway is a small country. A GW could never have escaped the news (or my awareness)...

OfficetoOcean said...

I may be mistaken and be getting mixed up with somewhere else but this was, if I remember correctly, some time ago and therefore information wouldn't be as widely available. Like I said, I'll try and dig out the details if I can remember where they were.

The only thing though which would end the debate about GWs in UK water is a video or photo of a GW in UK waters, the nearest confirmed specimen was from La Rochelle in the 70s which is very close to the south of England but that is no guarantee they ever come here. I am certain they do, but it would have to be a record, 100% confirmed as being in British waters.

Anonymous said...

hi i want to know are there white shark in france and has there ever be reports of a white shark in albania

Anonymous said...

hi i want to know are there white shark in france and has there ever be reports of a white shark in albania? thanks

OfficetoOcean said...

Hello anonymous! Yes there have been several French Great Whites. There was the famous incident of a captured sub adult GWS, around 7 feet in length, found in fishing nets in La Rochelle in 1977.

This White was filmed this year off St Tropez

http://sharkyear.com/2012/great-white-shark-filmed-off-french-riviera.html

There was a video of another sub adult that had been caught near Nice which I saw but can't find and there have also been substantiated attacks off France some of which look to have been the work of White Sharks. There is a legend of a huge GWS being caught and when it was cut open, in its stomach was an entire suit of armour! Dunno how true that is though!

GWS are also spotted pretty much every year by the captains of the ferries which go from Ibiza to Nice and vice versa.

So in conclusion, yes there are GWS around the coast of France but the likelihood of you being lucky enough to ee one is very low I'm afraid.

Thanks for your comment!

OfficetoOcean said...

Oh, I forgot, as for Albania, I recall that yes there have been White Sharks spotted/caught off the coast there and there has been a fatality if I remember right but my memory is a little sketchy where that is concerned. Albania certainly falls into part of the Med where historically, shark sighting have been more common!

Anonymous said...

I am somewhat surprised that great white sharks aren't encountered more often in British waters. Cool, temperate waters with established pinniped colonies? Seems like a typical great white environment.

OfficetoOcean said...

Me too!, they are definitely here as, at least, occasional visitors so I think it's only matter of time until we have a verified sighting with video or photos, given the fact that almost every single phone on the market can do both these days!

Anonymous said...

Hi,
First of all I would like to thank you for your amazing blog. I love sharks and it's great to know that there are people like you out there devoting their lives to them.
I have a question regarding the Great Whites in the Med. I watched a documentary some time ago- "Jaws of the Mediterranean" and as I recall they were doing everything they can, including chumming, to get a sighting of a GW across the Med, yet they couldn't. I would be interested to know why do you think they were unsuccessful? Is the GW population so small in that region? Did it decline so quickly? (You were quoting a lot of sightings around the Balearic region-do you think the population declined since then?).
Once again well done for the blog and keep up the good works!

OfficetoOcean said...

Thank you!

I loved Jaws of the Mediterranean, around that time and for a couple of years prior to that, I was corresponding with Ian Fergusson regularly regarding Mediterranean sharks of all species so I was really excited when he told me he was making that doc.

I think the main reasons they failed to find a GW were ones out of their control. Firstly, the population in the Med is small, not tiny, but definitely small enough to make finding one a real challenge. Secondly, as is usually the case with TV production schedules, they only had a couple of days which just isn't enough, it's something I plan on doing asap and to be honest, I would give myself a month at sea, it's unreasonable for the makers of a TV show to expect results in such a tiny space of time really.

I think the population has definitelt declined, certainly from the start of the 1900's but it's never been a targeted species in the Med, the captures have always been accidental. I know for a fact they're still there, but the numbers are small and the annihilation of the Tuna population is doing them no favours at all...

Anonymous said...

Thank you for a quick reply!
I did not consider the narrow time frame they had for the filming-thanks for pointing that out. I agree with you completely, a few days is nowhere near enough to get a sighting (considering the small population and the size of the Med).

I do hope I get to hear about more sightings in the Med :)
Zuzanna

OfficetoOcean said...

You're welcome!

Any confirmed sightings and you can be sure I will blog about them here :)

Anonymous said...

Hi all, this is a topic I have been following for years, gws in the med/uk and other places where they are known but rarely seen. I went looking for gws in western scotland with the shark conservation society in 2011. Richard peirce heads the society and has done several expeditions to look for gws in the med. The conditions are perfect for gws but the weather was so bad most days that we could not leave the harbour. Also check out ocearch on google. They are satalite tagging atlantic gws off cape cod and cape town. The results of there tracking movements are interesting. I would love for ocearch to look for some med gws so we could track them, one day I hope! A gws will be filmed or photographed off the uk one day, its a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

OfficetoOcean said...

Richard's a nice guy, I watche a pre-release copy of Sharkwater in his little beach hut in Bude sometime in 2007 and I see him every year at the dive show so I was aware of his expedition, it's something I'd like to do myself one day.

Totally agree with your last point, it will happen one day, hopefully it's me who does it! ;)

Anonymous said...

(I'm a different anonymous person).

I was in the north west of Sardinia with my brother for a week of windsurfing / playing in the sea in July 2003. Him and a friend were on a two man canoe, I was swimming, then saw then and jumped on the nose of the canoe, which submerged it somewhat. A large tuna, possibly a couple days old floated into me, it had a significant "chomp" on of it. Wasn't pleasant; bro and his friend thought it was funny and tried to push me in with it. Then friend of bro's / member of staff at windsurf centre came over on dingie motor boat, reversed engine over the fish and blended it, bits of old tuna when flying everywhere. Was funny but kind of digusting. They said; GW's have been known to breed in between Sardinia and Corsica. I don't know how true that is? I didn't see a GW anyway. Possibly the Tuna was a victim of a shark of some sort. Maybe a GW, I don't know. It had been ravaged, thats for sure.

OfficetoOcean said...

I always enjoy these types of stories!

Yes it's true, Lampedusa off the southern Italian coast is one of only two (if I remember right) places on the planet where a juvenile Great White has been spotted in the same location as a mature adult within a period of only a couple of days, it may even have been 24 hours.

iain hurr said...

hi my name is iain and im currently living in mallorca. i like you are fascinated in great white sharks and would love to become more involved in their conservation. Do you make many trips to mallorca? if so i would love to somehow become involved in your research. i look forward to your reply

OfficetoOcean said...

Hi Iain, I get over once or twice a year, I love it! I would recommend youget in touch with Brad Robertson at Ondine Escape on the island, he's the main man for marine conservation in Mallorca and he always needs people to help out :)

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I live on the West coast of Ireland and there are stories from time to time about sightings of a Great White. Given Mako, Blue, Portbeagle are common here I would not be surprised if Great Whites are in the area. Maybe helped by the Gulf Stream?

Anonymous said...

I remember waterskiing in Corsica in July 1966. I was 6 years old. A big shadow was next to me, but it was not mine. Sharks were not in my mind. I had not seen "Jaws" yet, but I was extremely nervous because of that enormous shade and fell. I remember the people coming back immediately to get me. They never stopped to let me climb up the boat as they were doing usually. They came back, grabbed me by the arm and quickly pulled me out of the sea. They looked very scared and we went back to shore immediately. The next day we couldn't waterski and there was a sign on the waterski hut to be careful because of sharks. I have never known what the shade belonged to, but I know definitely that it wasn't mine. I always thought that there were no big sharks (definitely not GWS) in the Mediterranean sea until I saw a movie called "Men and Sharks" in the 70s. The movie has a part of the fishing of GWS if I remember around Italy where there were big hooks put at the bottom of the sea. You could see line of sharks caught right next to each other. I have to see again the movie. The title in French was "Des hommes et des requins." I need to see again the movie to be sure that it was GWS. Did anybody see that movie? It is very much a 70s movie with outdated music and clothes, but the sharks are not outdated. It is still interesting.

Anonymous said...

I feel like the population of remaining resident GWS in the Med are very very small. I don't think the GWS will survive in the Med unless sharks from the Atlantic enter and populate the region. When sharks are found, they're usually dead in tuna nets or killed by fishermen that don't care about them. I would consider the GWS population in the Mediterranean Sea to be critically endangered.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Came across your website with much interest. My son and I have always had a fascination for sharks and Great Whites in particular. Our favourite! We have often talked of carrying out a scientific study on their existence in the Med and never arranged it. We live in the area of the Straits of Gibraltar. We have a boat in the area which we could use. Would be happy to join a study, shark fact finding project within the Straits of Gib. During summer months we go tuna fishing in the Straits. Busy and windy place all year around. We are convinced that the Great White must at least pass the area. There is little reliable information or proof, it would be fun and nothing to lose!! Javier

OfficetoOcean said...

Hi Javier, I am on a shoot at the moment but could you drop me an email at david@officetoocean.com and I will be in touch when I return home!