Danger shark species spotted off English coast

The harbour master’s office in St Ives confirmed yesterday that two people on separate boats had reported seeing an oceanic white tip shark a mile offshore from the popular tourist destination.

According to reports, one sighting was made by a fisherman who had fished off St Ives for 30 years, whose wooden boat was rammed by one of the sharks as he fished for mackerel.

A spokesman for the harbour master in St Ives said they were not 100 per cent sure yet if the sharks spotted were oceanic white tips – blamed for many attacks on victims of shipwrecks and plane crashes at sea over the years.

The pelagic – or ocean-going – species is usually found far further south in deeper waters away from the coast, with Portugal being the usual northern-most reach of its habitat.