Basking in the hotspots

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has named the areas as Gunna Sound, between the islands of Coll and Tiree, and waters surrounding Canna and Hyskeir islands. 

Interpolating data collected from 2002 to 2006 by The Wildlife Trusts Basking Shark Project, SNH has deduced that four times as many basking sharks were recorded in these areas than in any other part of the UK, over comparable survey time spans.

Further, regularly seen displays of courtship-orientated breaching suggest that the areas played an important role as breeding grounds.  Gratifyingly, no significant threats to the sharks have been identified in either of the hotspots. 

Other sites may hold similar attraction to the creatures. "More remote areas of Scotland have not been surveyed in great detail, so other important sites may yet lie undiscovered," says Suzanne Henderson, SNH Marine Advisory Officer. 

The new report is, says SNH, "particularly timely" given the pending Scottish Marine Bill under whose auspice plans are being developed for the management of Scottish waters. 

The report will help in considering "what action could be taken to look after basking sharks in the waters of the West of Scotland in the future, if climate change, offshore developments, fisheries or marine tourism became an issue".