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Expert Claims There Is A Great White Shark 'Hunting' Off British Shores

Expert Claims There Is A Great White Shark 'Hunting' Off British Shores

(Cue: 'Jaws' theme music)

Michael Minay

Michael Minay

It was bad enough knowing that there was a shark lurking around the shores of Majorca this week but it now appears those fears are a little closer to home.

Graeme Pullen, a shark expert, has claimed that there is a Great White that's hunting in the region of some very popular British beaches.

The fishing journalist said he's been chasing the killer beast off the south coast for almost two years, hoping he could catch it. If it is anything like this bad boy filmed in Mexico, it will be a serious hunt.

"Make no mistake, this is the big one," he said. "This is surely Britain's first Great White - and it'll be coming back this summer.

"The danger is this shark will eventually stumble across someone in a wetsuit and mistake them for a seal."

Credit: PA

Pullen believes the shark has been sighted on numerous occasions just off Hampshire's Hayling Island for the last couple of years.

Similar to the monster in the 1975 Steven Spielberg classic movie, Jaws, Mr Pullen said that the shark is not like the normal ones that lie off the British coast.

"This is no Basking shark," he added. "No Porbeagle, Blue or Mako. Others have also given details of their sighting and this is not miles out to sea but close to shore, mostly hunting in the estuaries."

And you'd think Pullen would know. He's caught hundreds of sharks off the British coast over a 40-year career. In doing so, he tags them for the US National Marine Fisheries Service.

Credit: PA

Pete Williams, a local commercial skipper, said he came face-to-face with the shark in August 2015.

He remembered: "It was huge, the biggest shark I have seen, and it looked like a Great White. It literally wrenched the net out of my arms and ripped through it like it was tissue paper.

"I saw it within a few feet. It had huge teeth, piercing eyes. It was at least 12 feet."

Others report having seen a very large dorsal fin, while birdwatchers have seen seals fling themselves onto the mudflats and looking like they are in a panic.

Although there have been no confirmed sightings to date, the Cornwall Wildlife Trust has said that there's been a spike in the number of dead dolphins and seals on beaches.

From January to March 2016, there were 61 dolphins, porpoises and whales found dead on the Cornish coastline. That is the steepest increase since 2006.

via GIPHY

While some post-mortems explained natural causes, others left experts baffled.

Mr Williams added: "Over the years, with warmer temperatures, we've seen different species. There is no reason why a species like that can't be kicking around, especially now I have seen what I did."

With plenty of food around, in the form of seals and their pups, he said it is easy to understand why the sharks would return year-on-year.

The possible British Great White is much larger in size than the eight-foot shark that was found in Magaluf earlier this week.

The shark that terrified tourists was put down due to the nature of the injuries that it had sustained.

Experts were called in to inspect the creature, with Palma Aquarium employees stating that it had suffered 'irreversible damage'.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Great White Shark, Britain, shark