Warming ocean waters could bring 10 new shark species to UK by 2050

Copied

Rising ocean temperatures could drive new shark species into the waters surrounding the United Kingdom by 2050, according to a British researcher.

Dr. Ken Collins, a senior research fellow from the University of Southampton’s National Oceanography Center, predicts that 10 varieties of sharks currently found in warmer parts of the Earth will head to U.K. seas within 30 years due to climate change.

Shark species anticipated to migrate to the U.K. during the next few decades include:

"It's likely we will be seeing more sharks spread from warmer regions such as the Mediterranean Sea towards our waters in the U.K. over the next 30 years,” Collins said in a press release."These include the likes of blacktips, sand tigers and hammerheads, which are currently found swimming off the coasts of Spain and Portugal."

Some of the species are also anticipated to arrive from the coast of Africa, according to the research.

These species would join the existing 10 million small sharks and 100,000 larger sharks from 40 different species that currently swim in the waters surrounding the U.K., according to the University of Southampton. Cornwall is considered the shark capital of the U.K. with at least 20 species found off the coast.

“If [these new species arrive], it’s not so much that the shark species will change the ecosystem around the U.K. waters, it’s that the U.K. ecosystems would have changed and the sharks would be part of that change,” said Richard Peirce, a shark, elephant and wildlife conservationist.

The two main factors that would bring these species to the U.K. are warmer waters and the rising water temperature’s effect on other species that sharks eat, according to Peirce.

Peirce also noted that three related sharks of the 10 listed species are already present in British waters.

“There have been reports, although not confirmed, of bigeye threshers here for many years,” Peirce told AccuWeather. “The common thresher is a very well-known British species and has been here for hundreds of years.”

The shortfin mako, which is one of only two remaining types of mako sharks, is also another well-recorded British species that typically arrives during summer, Peirce said.

“Makos and threshers have already been here, and the great hammerhead is similar,” Peirce said. “We haven’t had great hammerheads, but we’ve had smooth hammerheads recorded in British waters for many years.”

Some of the sharks currently present in U.K. waters, including thresher, nursehound and basking sharks, need protection from threats including overfishing, according to Collins.

"While the potential number of shark species around the U.K. may increase in the next few decades, the overall number of sharks, especially the larger ones, will fall as a result of overfishing, plastic waste and climate change," Collins said. "It's really important that we work together to prevent a premature extinction of these wonderful creatures."

Many of the 10 shark varieties that could migrate to the U.K. by 2050 are oceanic species that aren’t commonly found close to shore, which would minimize any potential threat to humans, Peirce said.

“A lot of those animals are found way off shore; swimmers and people wouldn’t encounter them anyway,” he said.

A recent Nat Geo WILD poll of 2,000 British adults found that four in 10 people admitted to having an irrational fear of sharks while swimming in the ocean. More than eight out of 10 believed sharks have been given a bad reputation by their portrayal in Hollywood films including “Jaws.”

There have been no unprovoked shark bites in British waters since record-keeping began in 1847, according to The Shark Trust.

In the United States, there is an average of 19 shark attacks annually, with one shark attack death happening every two years, according to National Geographic.