Ireland: Legal protection for endangered "sharks"

    Photograph: Youen

Historic legal protection for thousands of endangered basking sharks which comes into effect on Monday is a “game-changer” for the globally significant population in Irish waters, campaigners have said.

From midnight on Sunday, the second-largest living fish on the planet will for the first time become a “protected wild animal” under Ireland’s Wildlife Act after years of lobbying ministers to bring them under the legislation.

Sharks were treasured by farmers and hunters off the west coast for centuries because of their valuable liver oil, which was once used to power street lamps. It is thought that this practise reduced shark populations in the north Atlantic to less than 10,000.

Hunting, harming, or purposefully interfering with their breeding or resting areas will henceforth be illegal, according to Minister of State for Heritage Malcolm Noonan and Minister for the Marine Charlie McConalogue.

The adoption of the legislative reform, according to Dr. Simon Berrow, chief science officer and CEO of Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG), is "hugely significant" on several levels.

He stated, "We have been requesting legal protection for basking sharks since 2008."

"Protection has existed in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, but not in the Republic. About three government ministers attempted to formally propose this and provide justifications for why it should be done, but each time they were unsuccessful.

"So it's fantastic that this is proceeding. It is right and appropriate because Ireland is obviously significant for basking sharks on a worldwide scale. We have a responsibility to safeguard them and their environment on a global scale.

It is also the first time a fish has been covered by the Wildlife Act, which "changes our relationship with them," according to Dr. Berrow, who also serves as the director of the Irish Basking Shark Group.

Courting and breeding

"With fish, it used to be either we ate it or we didn't. There is a quota on them if we eat them; if we don't, we just ignore them. As a result, we can regard sharks as animals and subject them to the full range of wildlife legislation.

“It is a game-changer. Other fish species, including some varieties of skate and ray, are far more endangered, so perhaps this will pave the path for us to extend that legal protection.

Although sharks are no longer allowed to be hunted legally under the current EU safeguards, marine traffic, including ferry service, offshore wind farms, undersea cable laying, and becoming caught in fishing nets or ropes can all disrupt sharks' habitats, courtship, and reproduction.

According to Dr. Berrow, who argued that "everyone should see a basking shark before they die because they are such magnificent creatures," there had never been a duty to protect their habitat.

However, he continued, "we need to do that carefully and make sure we don't disrupt them.

The second-largest fish in the world after whale sharks, basking sharks can reach lengths of about 8 metres. From March to July, they can be seen in Ireland for brief periods of time feeding and courting off Donegal, Clare, Kerry, and Cork.

The majority of their activity is concealed underwater, making Ireland and the Canadian province of Nova Scotia two of the rare places where sightings are frequently reported.

Although it is difficult to estimate population sizes, it is thought that there may be no more than 5,000 breeding basking sharks left in existence. Inshore waters off the coast of Ireland have seen hundreds, if not thousands.

Dr. Berrow emphasised the nation's tight relationship with sharks and claimed that for many years, coastal residents relied on them for "subsistence and survival." Inver, Co. Donegal, was home to Ireland's first whaling station, and as recently as the 1960s, up to 1,500 whales were killed annually off Achill Head, Co. Mayo.

Morally right

As per Dr. Berrow, "Ireland is more closely related with basking sharks than any country globally."

We should do this for conservation, but it is also morally right to do so.

"This is only the beginning. Establishing maritime protected areas is necessary, particularly for areas used for breeding and feeding. They shouldn't be disturbed at such crucial junctures in their life cycles, it's not proper.

Basking sharks, which eat on plankton, are "long-lived, really slow-reproducing" fish that give birth to six young, meaning they "can't take much over-exploitation," according to Dr. Berrow.

The basking shark is considered to be highly vulnerable to extinction on a global scale.

On its "red list" of globally threatened species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature categorises the species as endangered, with its vulnerability status moving to endangered in 2019.

According to Mr. Noonan, it is "essential for all of us to do everything we can to stop that trend."

He declared, "We are in an era of mass extinction."

Ireland will contribute to better protection for an endangered species that depends on our territorial waters to survive and thrive by enforcing basking shark protections.