Here we go again. Another shadowy image of something big swimming off the coast of the UK, another round of misguided man-eating shark speculation. When it comes to sharks, everyone thinks they are an expert. Unfortunately, although not unexpectedly, this results in a great deal of misinformation.
Over and over again, blurry photos are published along with fearmongering claims about what the images show. Those really in the know aren鈥檛 often consulted. Last year, for example, a photo of a shape in the waves behind children playing on a beach in California was covered globally as a near shark attack. But a simple analysis of the creature鈥檚 outline made it clear that .
And now comes the story of a video captured by a fisherman off the UK coast, a still of which is shown above, widely covered by news media. The Daily Mail newspaper ran it under the headline 鈥溾��. It isn鈥檛, but you wouldn鈥檛 necessarily have guessed that from the coverage. The shape of the fins suggests it is a basking shark, and an expert would have known that. But the Daily Mail drew on various sources claiming that it was a great white.
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These included anonymous comments left on the fisherman鈥檚 Facebook page. The newspaper writes: 鈥淐ommon consensus on his Cornish Fishing Facebook page, where he posted the footage, was that it was either a great white or an oceanic great.鈥� (An oceanic great doesn鈥檛 exist, by the way.)
Nonsense claims
A British shark angler is also quoted: 鈥淚f the fish was 14ft long, it probably was a great white.鈥� But other large species, such as basking sharks, are much, much, much more common in UK waters, so claiming that a big fish must be a great white is nonsense 鈥� if you hear hoof beats on Cornwall鈥檚 Bodmin moor, think horses, not zebras.
Finally there is a self-described 鈥渟hark aficionado鈥�, who said: 鈥淭he more I look at it, the more it looks like a great white.鈥�
Why quote a shark aficionado, a non-expert who thinks sharks are cool, for a story like this? Can you imagine if journalists did this for other types of story? The White House announced intentions to bomb Islamic State targets in Syria, but counter-terrorism aficionado Steve said that he鈥檚 pretty sure the organisation is actually hiding in Peru. Markets cheered the move to reduce interest rates, but finance aficionado John said that everyone should just buy gold and bury it in their backyards. It would never happen, because it鈥檚 ridiculous.
Stories about sharks touch on important issues such as human safety, coastal economies, global food security and the conservation of threatened species. It isn鈥檛 that hard to find qualified experts to comment, and these stories are certainly important enough to warrant making the effort. They certainly shouldn鈥檛 be open season for ill-informed speculation.
