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Great White Shark Hoax
Last
month was a bit thin in terms of shark stories in the press —as some of
you will remember our August seafood section only ran to a couple of
goldfish rescues and a giant lobster. Well, as it so happened, just as
we were about to go to print at the end of July, we did see a piece that
we thought was potentially of interest—the news that a great white shark
had been spotted near Newquay, off the coast of Cornwall, UK. However,
there was something about the story that seemed a bit fishy (sorry!), so
we held off publication until we found out more.
Kevin Keeble, a nightclub bouncer in Newquay sent in a photo of a great
white shark to the Newquay Guardian. He claimed that he had spotted the
man-eater whilst out fishing for mackerel in a locally hired boat. The
photo was snapped up (sorry, again!) by the international media and the
UK national tabloids were soon engaged in a feeding frenzy (sorry yet
again!). The Sun (that exemplar of fine news reporting) ran a Shark
special, offering free ‘Jaws’ mobile ring tones, debate raged in the
press about the safety of UK waters, and the Internet became awash (!)
with reported sightings of fearsome fins. |
Sharks are no strangers to Cornish waters in the summer, but not the
terrifying types of horror movie fame. The more recent sightings were
likely to have been basking sharks, or perhaps porbeagle sharks which
can be mistaken for the Great White. Still, Kevin’s photo managed to
perplex the experts as it seemed to be the genuine article. It didn’t
take long for some locals to smell a rat (?!), though and eventually
Kevin came clean. The photo was of a Great White, but had been taken
when he was on a fishing trip in South Africa. He’d sent the photo in as
a joke, and didn’t expect anyone to be daft enough to take it seriously.
“I didn’t even make any money out of it”, he wailed. “If I’d made a few
quid, I could have gone back to South Africa for another fishing trip”.
Reaction to the hoax has been mixed. The Cornish Tourist Board put a
positive spin on things, saying the ‘Great White Wheeze’ had brought the
area good publicity. The Newquay Chamber of Commerce were less
impressed—”The bad weather has been enough to contend with, without
people spreading this kind of malicious stuff” a spokesperson said. On a
more serious note, marine conservationists have expressed concern about
the latest publicity stunt, as it has led to a number of people hiring
out boats and disturbing basking sharks, which are protected species.
Whatever your take, it probably is safe to go back in the water right
now. |
Buses…. |
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You know how it is when you are waiting for a bus—you
wait for half an hour then three come along all at once. So it is with
shark tales in the media. Last month, as we said, was pretty dry; this
month, you can’t get away from sharks when surfing the net. Here is a
mini round-up of some of the toothy tit bits doing the rounds. A
follow-up to the Great Newquay Nibbler Panic comes in the form of a
Cornish Conspiracy Contribution, from local paper ‘West Briton’. In
1956, a bizarre incident resulted in the death of two naval divers and
the serious injury of two others. Apparently, whilst conducting
‘operations’ in a dinghy, naval personnel spotted a ‘Great White’. They
launched two explosive charges to straddle the shark, which then swam
under the dinghy and, er, exploded. Local people have been suspicious of
the official explanation ever since: “It was the height of the Cold War,
and the feeling around here was that they were testing top secret
explosives, and the shark story was used as a cover up”, said one..
Fast-forwarding to the 21st Century, across the pond in Chatham, New
England, US (not that far from Cape Cod), a recent sighting has been met
with sang-froid—well, they’re used to the terror of the deep over there,
and we don’t just mean George W. One tourist was quoted as saying:
“Guess they’ll just go for the seals first” and, according to The Boston
Globe, Great whites rarely attack humans (which as regular readers will
know is more than can be said for vending machines and sandcastles) and
the last fatal shark attack in New England was in 1936 — perhaps
Cornwall isn’t that safe, after all. A note of caution was sounded by
one holiday maker however: Rachael Bradley, an insurance agent said
“We’re not going in the water though, we don’t get insurance for shark
bites”. And finally, researchers seem to have got a handle on why sharks
don’t have fingers and toes—briefly, they’ve got the gene, but as yet
they don’t activate it for long enough. Watch this space, recipes for
finger-food always welcome. |
Fish Saving Lives: Malaria |
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 An
encouraging breakthrough has been reported in the battle against
malaria. Unlike some other illnesses, malaria doesn’t always make front
page news, but even with modern medical advances, cited mortality rates
give one pause for thought. Each year as many as 300 million people
become ill, resulting in over a million deaths, and it is estimated that
a child dies of malaria every 30 seconds At least 90% of cases occur in
sub-Saharan Africa. The parasite responsible is passed on to humans via
the mosquito, which is becoming increasingly resistant to pesticides.
Clearly there is a real need to find alternative methods of pest
control.
 The
Nile tilapia—a fish commonly eaten in Kenya has recently been introduced
into abandoned fishponds by researchers. Field data indicates that the
fish, feeding on mosquito larvae managed to reduce the numbers of
malarial mosquitoes by 94%. This is encouraging news, and authors of the
published study in BMC public health have suggested that breeding the
fish on a large scale could have several benefits for Kenyans—for
example as a source of food and revenue. However, as WHO point out, this
method won’t work everywhere, as mosquitoes can be found in very small
bodies of water, such as puddles. Still it’s a step in the right
direction. |
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