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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
Chapter 2: What predictions does Steve Backshall make about Great Whites in Irish waters?
willing to put my reputation on the line and say that i think a great white is going to get seen in british or more likely irish seas in the next couple of years and here are my reasons i think that we have changed the way we use the seas there are far more people out there now you know using the sea for surfing for fishing for wildlife watching and for shark diving as well people going out looking for basking charts using drones to do so off the west coast of ireland finding them in
Well, that was Steve Baxall there, a UK wildlife expert, predicting great white sharks in our waters. Well, we're joined now by Ken O'Sullivan, documentary maker and ocean conservationist.
Chapter 3: Does Ken O'Sullivan agree that Great Whites could be in our waters?
And he joins me now. Thanks so much, Ken. So first of all, do you agree with Steve that they are on their way to our waters or indeed perhaps here already?
Look, I don't know what I can tell you. I think there's a very good chance they could be here. They live in subtropical and temperate waters, which is what we have in Ireland, temperate seas. There's every chance they could be here.
Chapter 4: What factors contribute to the likelihood of Great Whites appearing in Irish seas?
And Steve is right that there are more people going into the sea, there are more people using drones, more people diving. Every chance we might see them, this is their habitat. And I have spent years and years trying to see, among others, great whites, poor beagle, they're in the same family, mako sharks, and it takes forever. But I haven't seen one yet. I hope I do. I hope I do.
And I hope, Ciara, that we can... Create education and awareness and dispel this misnomer that these are just man killers, that are human killers, that are just out to get us and lurking beneath the surface.
Chapter 5: What misconceptions exist about sharks and their danger to humans?
Well, I know people are going to be listening, thinking you might hope to see them, Ken, but I don't want to see one as I'm walking along into Dunny Beach or in for my swim in the Five Fingers in Donegal any time soon.
Why not, Ciara? Because... Tell me what your fear is based on.
Death?
Okay, so let's look at statistics and I'm not, sorry, I'm just being an antagonist here.
Chapter 6: How many shark attacks occur globally, and what are the statistics?
There are between probably seven or eight people globally killed by sharks every year. 400 species of sharks, four or five that are known to be aggressive, and we'll say that in quotes. That's because they're territorial animals. Almost all of the attacks happen in Australia, Florida and more recently in Cape Cod. People are killing up to 270 million sharks every year, every year.
So who's the dangerous species?
Why are the sharks being killed, Ken?
Yeah, probably the largest thing is shark fin soup. So in certain countries in Asia and China, they have this myth, a bit like the rhino horn, that if you make a soup from shark fin, that it cures cancer, it cures male impotence, yada yada, it wouldn't depend on it. It's, you know, it goes back to probably medieval times, the Dark Ages, and it's rubbish, it's absolute rubbish.
There's nothing, shark fins are made from cartilage, but they're worth more than their weight in gold because nouveau riche in China and the East would pay $100 a bowl for shark fin soup. So, look, if you're a very poor person in Indonesia or somewhere like that, you know, and you can get big money for a shark, then people are going out to kill sharks. But, look, we had a Spanish boat arrested by
uh our authorities in cork about 10 years ago for illegally fishing sharks they came in they had the fins of 5 000 blue sharks on board rested brought into castleton bear um you know it's chronic it's illegal to be doing this in european waters but it is happening but the point to go back to the original thing is i can find no credible record of anybody being attacked by a shark in Ireland.
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Chapter 7: Why are sharks being killed, and what is the significance of shark fin soup?
And even in the UK waters, there's about two or three incidents. And I'm very aware of one of them because I spoke to the people involved and it was a complete poor behaviour by somebody, accidental poor behaviour.
Steve did say there, Steve Baxall, in that clip that he thought they were likely to be in UK waters, but actually more likely to be in Irish waters or indeed spotted in Irish waters first. Why is that? What is the environment in our waters that makes them attracted to coming here?
Oh, the word is out. Everybody from the UK now is coming to Ireland because they realise our waters are more fertile, our Atlantic waters in particular. So, you know, Baskin sharks in particular, we get way more sightings than they do in the UK. So they belong to a family known as mackerel sharks, which also contains poor beagles, which we once had abundantly in Ireland.
They still have a few and mako sharks and also salmon sharks, which are up in Ireland.
Chapter 8: What is the current state of shark populations and conservation efforts in Ireland?
i think greenland but you know so they would eat they would feed on salmon as juveniles and then they'd feed on seals as they get older and probably um we'll just forage and anything they can come across so this is the kind of habitat that they would be in um traditionally we would have had lots of fish and lots of food for them in the waters now i think they're classed as um endangered in eastern atlantic waters that would be our side of the atlantic
You know, one of the reasons would be that there aren't enough food for them. But this is the habitat that they would live in. And if we go across to something like, say, for example, Cape Cod or South Africa, which would be parts of South Africa, it's a similar latitudes to us. You know, they traditionally had huge numbers of great whites in the water.
But then their coastlines are different and people were probably more looking for them than they have been in Ireland.
Well, are they actively looking for them in Ireland or is it likely that it'll be somebody out fishing or somebody out surfing or somebody out with a drone or an underwater camera that'll just find themselves lucky someday to spot one?
Well, I don't know, but it seems like everyone has a drone these days. So yeah, that's possibly what will happen. There are some research projects ongoing in Ireland where people have been looking for sharks like that. But yeah, I suspect something like that.
But just to give you kind of an insight, like I spent nine years trying to film a poor beagle shark underwater in Ireland and then eventually we found one. off the north coast. And this large female did circle us three times and left. That's what I got from nine years effort. And we're currently making a new marine natural history series for RTE.
Today is day 22 that I've been searching for smaller sharks off the Kerry coast. And all I've had so far is yesterday we had one lesser spotted dogfish, which are sharks, the smallest species of shark in Ireland. So that's because they are very rare. A lot have been fished out. Their habitats have been destructed. But also they're so incredibly shy.
My biggest problem, if I try to film blue sharks or poor beagles, once I get in the water, they're vamoose. as any wild animal would do.
So they're not going to be coming up to shoreline. They're not going to be going in where you go for your paddle or your sea swim.
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