Nature

Voluntary Marine Officer for the Manx Wildlife Trust and Coordinator of Manx Basking Shark watch, Jackie Hall says experts from all over the world will be coming together on the Isle of Man this summer to pool their knowledge.  All in the name of basking shark conservation.

A feeding shark by Will Postlethwaite

“There has been a lot of research going on into basking sharks for many years; all over the world. For the first time, this knowledge will be pulled together here on the Isle of Man.

“Experts are travelling here from all corners of the earth.  Among them will be specialists in genetics, satellite tagging and conservation management.  This is the first time all these people will be sitting under the same roof.

“They are coming from New Zealand, America, South Africa and of course Britain. 

“With all of these people in the same place for 4 days we will hopefully be able to cook up some really good ideas  to find out more about these wonderful animals so we can explain to Government’s all over the world why they should look after them a bit better.

“There are a lot of places in Britain where you can see basking sharks but around the Isle of Man the animals come in really close to shore so that is the reason the conference is being held here.

“The sharks are protected in some waters but elsewhere in the world they are not.  We now know that the sharks sometimes cross the Atlantic so they are in unprotected waters for most of their migration.  It’s a big worry for us.

“The sharks are still hunted by people who still think it is perfectly OK to use the fins for shark fin soup so it’s really important that the sharks are now protected worldwide. Hopefully if we get this extremely eminent group of scientists together we can work out how to manage their conservation.

“According to one of the experts, there might only be just over 8 thousand basking sharks left in the world. They are very slow breeders and their pregnancies could last as long as 3 years.  They only have a few pups at a time and we just cannot afford to have a few hundred taken out every year by hunters.

Basking shark by Will Postlethwaite

“The meeting in August is being held between August 2 and August 5 at the Erin Arts Centre in Port Erin. The conference organisers are the Save Our Seas Foundation and the Isle of Man Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Manx Wildlife Trust.

“The first couple of days is open to the public and will take the form of a conference where different speakers will take the stage. There will be lots of talks and presentations as well as social events.

Basking Sharks are hunted for their fins

"There will also be a 1 ½ day workshop where scientists will discuss how best to collaborate on issues such as conservation.  Right at the very end there will be a meeting held by the UK Wildlife Trust.  It is the Basking Shark Biodiversity Action Plan. This is held every year but we are pleased to be able to host it here this year.

“In a nutshell we are really excited to be hosting this event.  It could move conservation efforts forward and it puts the Isle of Man on the map as one the most important places in the world to view basking sharks."

More details about the conference can be found on The Manx Basking Shark Website.