Bloody Tabloids !!

[Bubble Junky]

Take with a pinch of salt, but this is the story that I was faced with on the front page of English tabloid newspaper 'The Sun' this morning !!

Great White Shark Off UK
SHOCKED tourists told of their terror last night over the Great White shark sighting off Cornwall.

And one holidaymaker said: “This has got to be every swimmer’s worst nightmare.”

The Jaws alert was raised after stunned dad Nick Fletcher filmed the fearsome fish just 200 yards from a beach in St Ives.

He was videoing dolphins and only realised the killer shark was hunting among them when he watched the footage at home.

Last night Britain’s leading shark expert Richard Peirce confirmed the 12ft creature was definitely a predatory shark and there was every chance it was a Great White — immortalised in the 1975 Steven Spielberg movie Jaws.

Excited Richard, chairman of the Shark Trust, spoke out after studying Nick’s astonishing film.

He said: “It clearly has a white belly like a Great White. And something about the way it breaches — twisting as it leaps out of the water — also suggests it is. I’m very excited at the prospect.”

But Richard, 58, warned tourists to brace themselves for mass evacuations if the shark reappears. He said: “If a Great White is in the sea close to bathers, lifeguards have orders to clear the beaches.”

Oliver Crimmen, fish curator of the Natural History Museum, said after studying the video: “It’s definitely predatory and definitely big. I can’t rule out a Great White.”

Nick, a local government officer in Rotherham, South Yorks, was holidaying with wife Michelle, 38, son James, four, and baby Laura when he shot the film last month.

He was standing with his kids above Porthmeor Beach when he first saw the dolphins playing.

He said: “I got my camcorder and started filming. It was really lovely as dolphins are so graceful.

“You can see them at first loping out of the water. Then this shark with what seems a huge mouth, leaps out, crashes down and disappears. It’s incredible.”

Basking sharks, which can grow to 36ft, have become a common sight off Cornwall in recent years. But they are totally harmless.

By contrast Great Whites, which can reach 20ft, have been responsible for a string of attacks on man.

In 2004 a Great White ripped apart a surfer off the Australian coast. A year earlier, a woman swimmer was killed in California.

Tourist Nick Martell, 57, from Newcastle upon Tyne, said after the sighting: “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.”

Londoner Louise Tilbury, 32, said: “I’m terrified of sharks. I’m not sure I’ll be swimming.”

John Stewart, 33, from Bristol, said: “Everyone knows how ferocious Great Whites are. It’s the last thing I want to find in Cornwall.”

j.coles@the-sun.co.uk

In full with 'scary' pictures ??

 

[The Chairman]

Too funny. The comments after are priceless too! How about the dolphin's instinct to protect humans in the water! Shades of flipper! Bwahahahahaha!

 

[stu_in_fl]

you've got to love "The Sun" ...shame there's not an equivalent newspaper available here in the US

 

[The Kraken]

How about "The Enquirer" ? ? ? ?

the K

 

[docmartin]

so the nurse shark and the sand tiger made it on the list of the "worlds deadliest sharks". maybe there is some hope then that at least Sun readers will stop poking them when they are sleeping.

 

[Tanked]

I like the list of "Worlds deadliest sharks" we have sand tigers& nurse sharks at the aquarium I volunter at. I swim along side of two of the most deadliest sharks? I'm gonna use that line at the bar!

 

[SnakeRiverPirate]

The article indicated that the sighting took place last month. Seems to me that their closing the barn long after the stock is gone.

 

[DivingsInMyBlood]

you've got to love "The Sun" ...shame there's not an equivalent newspaper available here in the US

dont forget the page 3's i remember about 6 years ago they said (sun) had a great white around the same waters.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

I love the Do's and Don'ts.





Print and cut out and put in your shorts!


HERE are some tips on avoiding shark attacks — and fighting off the beasts if they strike.

DON’T surf or swim at dawn or dusk, when sharks like to feed.
NEVER urinate in your wetsuit or the ocean — sharks can detect it from five miles away and will think you’re a fish in distress, a ready-made meal.
AVOID areas where fishermen gut their catch and chuck the unwanted bits back into the sea.
STAY out of the water if you have a bleeding wound.
USE a beacon that disrupts the shark’s electro-magnetic receptors, or an Aussie Shark Shield, which emits an electric pulse that makes sharks flee.
DON’T clap your hands and bark like a seal. Great Whites often attack humans after mistaking them for their favourite meal.
FIGHT back if attacked. Poke the shark’s eyes, or kick and punch its sensitive snout. Sharks don’t expect meals to hit back.
SHOVE a gas canister in its mouth and watch it explode (see Jaws on ITV1 tonight for tips).
GRAB a power cable and fry it (Jaws II), THROW a grenade into its mouth (Jaws 3D), or SPEAR it with a weapon handily placed on your boat (Jaws: The Revenge).

 

[SnakeRiverPirate]

I have never seen 3D or revenge. THanks for those tips. Does SSI offer a class that I can use towards my specialty diver?