New image for cage-diving with sharks in South Africa

Blessed with clear waters and a high concentration of great white sharks, this sleepy fishing town has become the self-proclaimed capital of cage-diving - plunging underwater in a sturdy cage for a close-up look at one of nature's greatest predators.

But the multimillion dollar industry is increasingly the target of critics who say it is teaching sharks to associate people with food by luring them to boats with hunks of bait.

So local shark tour operators hosted a Great White weekend festival to persuade locals that there is no link between attacks on humans and the industry that has transformed their town into a draw for adrenaline junkies.

Suspended in underwater cages and gasping with amazement from boats, locals were treated at cut-rate prices to the spectacle of lithe creatures gliding elegantly through the lucid waters of Shark Alley, named for its unusual density of great white sharks attracted to a nearby colony of 40,000 seals.

On shore, children donned cardboard shark hats and watched a local theater company perform a shark-related play, while conservationists sought to educate visitors about the mighty predator.
Gansbaai - or Goose Bay - is an unassuming town of a few hundred people about two hours from Cape Town. It lacks the chic stores and smart hotels of nearby Hermanus, famed for its whale watching.

But Gansbaai claims that its great whites - the only type to survive in the frigid waters here - are more accessible than those at resort areas in California and Australia, which also have thriving shark tourism industries, because they are so close to the shore.

But the industry has a bad image. One person is killed by a shark every two years in South Africa. Experts say the number of shark-related incidents will probably increase because more people are surfing, kayaking and swimming than before, but many locals say that the cage-diving industry is to blame.

A report last year from experts at the World Wildlife Fund South Africa and government conservationists said there was no evidence linking attacks on humans and the industry. But it did warn tour operators to stick to the rules and not to provoke sharks into aggressive behavior.

Operators attract sharks - which have a powerful sense of smell - with a mixture of blood and fish remains, a practice known as "chumming" and encourage it to stay near the boat by dangling a large fish in the water. In Gansbaai, eight companies have government permits to operate shark cage diving and spotting tours. A code of conduct states the animal must not be harmed or rewarded with food if it comes to the boat.

Operators acknowledge this does sometimes happen through a mixture of the shark's speed and stealth and the crew's carelessness.

"Watch the bait! watch the bait!" skipper Johannes van der Merwe yelled repeatedly to passengers and his crew on a trip Saturday, when sharks around 10 feet long came within touching distance of the boat in search of a tasty bit of fish.

It was an awe-inspiring sight, and a far cry from the terror invoked by "Jaws," the 1975 film that portrayed the great white as an indiscriminate killing machine. Even so, the close encounter proved too much for a cage occupant who was copiously sick after he emerged from just under the water's surface.

There are few precise figures on the number of great whites left in the world. Estimates talk of around 1,200 off the South African coast, although these are unreliable because of the vast distances the sharks swim.

South Africa was the first country in the world to declare the great white a protected species in 1991 - 13 years before international conservation bodies declared it to be endangered.
Alison Kock, with the University of Cape Town's shark research unit, says there should be independent monitors on all the cage-diving vessels to ensure they don't feed the sharks or tease them into coming too close.

"The problem is with high expectations that tourists have," Kock said in an interview. "They are not happy with just seeing the sharks but they want them to leap out of the water or go right against the cage."

Kock says the shark tour operators help dispel myths that have plagued the great white since "Jaws" and are helping to educate the public that sharks are far more at risk from humans - pollution and fishing nets - than the other way round.

Although naturally aggressive, great white sharks are intelligent and don't regard swimmers and surfers as natural prey, she said. And she said most attacks were probably the result of a chance encounter rather than the desire to kill.

"They are very confident, curious animals," Kock said. "If they don't know what something is, they give an exploratory bite or nudge."

Kock said there is much room for improvement. But she is generally supportive because the industry encourages environmental awareness among visitors and helps promote research into a creature about which relatively little is known.

"South Africa is one of the best places in the world to see great white sharks so why shouldn't people be allowed to see them," she said.

The 10 most popular beaches...for sharks!

Kosi Bay, South Africa: Zambezi sharks

“Shark Alley,” Gansbaai, South Africa: Great white sharks

Brisbane, Australia: Great whites, bulls, et al

Bolinas Beach, Northern California: Great whites

New Smyrna Beach, Florida: Blacktip and spinner sharks

Umhlanga Rocks, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa: Great white and bull sharks

North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii: Galapagos sharks, sandbar sharks, tigers

Recife, Brazil

Kahana, West Maui, Hawaii

West End, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas: Tiger Sharks

Great White shark sightings in Russian waters

Employee of Sakhalin’s fishing enterprises has recently noticed a great white shark near shores of the Anivsky bay, reports head of laboratory of marine food fish of Sakhalin science and research institute.

The man saw shark’s fin, when he was sailing along the shore in his boat. The predator was chasing a seal, which finally fell into a net and was eaten by the shark. During its meal the shark made a 3x3 meter hole in the net. Size of the hole and shark’s fin allow suggesting that the predator was a giant fish.

Last month another great white shark has been caught by means of fixed net in the same place. Marine predator was 4 m 70 cm long and weighed nearly a ton.

Juvenile Great White sharks love Australian salmon

A GREAT white shark surfs off a New South Wales beach - one of many attracted by record numbers of salmon in the area.

While claimed sightings off the coast of Cornwall now appear to be hoaxes, the killers of the deep are a familiar sight in the waters north of Sydney.

The shark pictured is a juvenile great white, a tiddler compared with the adult of the species made famous by the film Jaws.

Salmon is a primary food source for juvenile great white sharks, which travel more than 600 miles to feeding locations.

Fisherman say the numbers of Australian salmon, a native fish not known for its culinary value, have soared.

Shark expert Andrew Fox explained: "It's like stopping in a cafe where there is good food and then going on your way.

"It's the same for the sharks.

"Great white sharks at Port Stephens have been a phenomenon for the past couple of years because of the salmon.

"But it's not in plague proportions - thousands travel up and down the coast at any one time."

Great White shark gnaws on kayak but but not owner

A man fishing off an isolated Northern California beach was tossed out of his kayak when a great white shark attacked the tiny boat.

Dan Prather scrambled back onto the kayak and paddled furiously to shore with the help of another boater. The attack left deep gnaw marks on the boat.

The attack occurred July 21 off Bean Hollow State Beach, some 20 miles south of Half Moon Bay, where about 18 kayakers launched around 7 a.m. before splitting into two groups.

"Everyone had been fishing for a while - for a good two, three hours," said John Dale of Foster City, a member of the kayak fishermen's club. "From what he told me, basically he was fishing and was adjusting a lure, and all of a sudden he was thrown from his kayak into the water.

"When he came up, he thought he had been hit by a boat - but when he looked, the shark was still on the front of his kayak, latched on, gnawing on the kayak," Dale said. "He thought about it for a second and decided he better get back onto the kayak, even though it was still on the nose."

Prather scrambled back into his kayak, but the force of the attack had knocked his seat loose and he fell out two more times. The shark swam away, leaving Prather's kayak with multiple scratches and punctures in its bottom.

While Prather's friends said he's not ready to talk publicly about the attack, they said the San Leandro resident never lost his cool or his sense of humor during the ordeal.
"He told me, I caught a couple fish ... and a shark," Dale recalled.

Can New England be home to a Great White shark?

The animal that was spotted eating a seal last weekend off North Beach in Chatham was probably a great white shark, state officials said yesterday. Lisa Capone, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, said that a shark specialist for the state had examined photos of the seal's carcass and interviewed witnesses and that the case "has the look of great white shark predation."

She said great whites are lone animals that travel 30 to 50 miles a day and have a slow metabolism, so that they can go several weeks or even up to a couple of months between feedings.

"It's likely far away, not going to eat again, and it was alone," she said.

A mammoth, bloodthirsty great white was featured in the movie "Jaws," which made many people think twice before going into the water. In 2004, a 1,700-pound great white made news in the state when it was trapped in a lagoon on Naushon Island off Falmouth for two weeks.

Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium, said great whites tend to stay offshore.

Large sharks are potential threats to people, he said, but "we're not part of their normal prey base. . . . We're not on their menu." The last shark-related death in New England was in 1936.

Still, he said, "if you see sharks in the water, you need to tear out of the water and listen to local officials."

John Mandelman, an associate research scientist at the aquarium, said sightings of great whites are "very, very rare."

He said the Chatham sighting didn't necessarily mean there were more sharks on the prowl. But, he said, people should always be cautious, always swimming with a partner and avoiding swimming at night or dusk or dawn, times when sharks are more active.

"It's sort of basic intuition," he said. "It behooves people to be aware of the fact that when they go swimming, they're entering a nonnative environment and there are wild animals."

Greg Skomal, a shark specialist for the Division of Marine Fisheries, said he determined that the animal was a great white based on photos of the seal carcass, interviews with two witnesses, and his 23 years of experience in the field.

Skomal said what witnesses described was a textbook attack, with a sudden violent "commotion in the water that resulted in a cloud of blood spray," followed by a period in which the shark circled before returning to eat its prey. Only the head and the fins of the seal washed ashore, which, Skomal said, was also indicative of an attack by a great white.

Bouncer's Great White joke caused a lot of trouble!

A great white shark allegedly seen off the coast of Britain has turned out to be a great white lie.
Nightclub bouncer Kevin Keeble this week admitted that frightening photos he claimed were taken near Cornwall were snapped on a fishing trip off the coast of South Africa.

"I sent (the photos) in as a joke. I didn't expect anyone to be daft enough to take it seriously," he said.

The photos, which made headlines around the world, have been blamed for potentially damaging Cornwall's economy.

Newquay Chamber of Commerce chairwoman Lorraine Harrison said there were people gullible enough to be scared away from the region by the hoax.

Albino shark, a rare sight!

PERHAPS this is the English shark that had our northern cousins in a cold sweat last week - after all, it's white, bloated and sports a set of decidedly dodgy teeth.

This rare albino grey nurse has been spotted at Australian's best known diving and fishing spot Fish Rock.

The photo of the 2.2m male was taken by Fish Rock Dive Centre owner Jon Cragg 2km off South West Rocks.

Mr Cragg was speechless when the amazing creature swam past him.

"I saw the big white shadow in the water with two other sharks then when I saw it I couldn't believe it, it was like a ghost coming out of the darkness," Mr Cragg said.

"No one has ever seen one like this before - it was pretty exciting."

Despite albinos having a lower chance of survival because they are visible to prey, Mr Cragg said this shark was "fighting fit".

"It looks like an active male and it was hanging out with the other sharks quite peacefully," he said.
The albino shark discovery comes a week after claims a "great white shark" was photographed off the English seaside last week.

Despite hysterical headlines in UK papers, experts said the creature was most likely a harmless basking shark.

Larry Anderson, who was diving with Mr Cragg, said the albino was a little more cautious than the others.

"I guess to survive standing out the way it did it needed a bit more survival instinct in him," Mr Anderson said.

"Nothing I've seen in my many years of diving could compare to the sight of this beautiful animal as it slowly cruised by."

Since the photograph was taken, the rare shark has been sighted swimming between Fish Rock and nearby Green Island.

Marine expert Julian Pepperell said it was the first albino shark he had heard of: "Where has it been?"

The sighting comes as South West Rocks residents wait to hear if Fish Rock will become a "no-fishing" zone.

The Nature Conservation Council (NCC) is pushing for more exclusion zones in NSW such as Fish Rock on the grounds the grey nurse shark species is nearly extinct, with fewer than 500 on the east coast. However, there is anecdotal evidence to suggest up to 6000 grey nurses are out there.
The NCC has taken their campaign to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in a bid to force the Government to set up sanctuaries.

If they are successful, Fish Rock will go from being a habitat zone where some fishing is allowed to a sanctuary zone with a 1.5km radius of protection. A decision is expected this month.

Scary encounter with a Great White shark

MILLIONS of Britons heading for the Mediterranean were warned to be on their guard last night after a Great White shark was spotted near the Spanish coast.

The 12ft monster shocked a fisherman off the Costa Blanca – sparking fears that others could be prowling around busy holiday beaches.The fisherman, Luis Sanchez, 46, said it was the first time he had seen a shark in over two decades of fishing off the Costa Blanca in his small boat.He said: “I jumped out of my skin when I first saw the fin about 30 metres away. Not being an expert, you just don’t know what it is or just how much danger you are in.

“You see films about sharks attacking boats, but you just don’t know if it can happen. After the initial shock I went over to that side of the boat to get a better look and it moved around the back of the boat.“I had a pretty good view of its outline because the water was clear. It hovered around for about three minutes before I lost sight of it, but my heart was pounding like never before. I thought staying put was the best idea for a while.”Luis, from Valencia, added: “When I got ashore I described what I’d seen and looked at books and I’m convinced it was a Great White from its size and the cone shape of its snout.

I don’t think I’ll be going to that spot again in a hurry even if the shark has moved on.“Looking back it was an amazing experience, but at the time I was terrified even though I was on a boat.”There have been 60 verified attacks by Great Whites in the Med in recent years and global warming has been blamed for their visits becoming more frequent.Several years ago a Great White female washed up on a beach in Sicily was found to have three corpses inside it.

In another attack, like a scene from the film Jaws, a Great White bit a chunk off a cruiser 12 miles off the Italian coast .A Spanish windsurfer had to have a leg amputated after a shark ripped into him and a Costa Blanca swimmer was injured just 200 yards from the beach.

Scuba diver Luciano Costanzo was mauled to death off the Toscana coast in Italy. But while these terrifying encounters have been rare, the recent blistering Med heatwave and yesterday’s sighting have increased holidaymakers’ fears.So far British waters have remained too cold for the Great White and there have been no confirmed sightings...yet.

Australian shark experts states that UK Coast has Great White shark visitor

AN Australian shark expert has fuelled speculation that a man-eating great white shark is circling in waters off England's Cornish coast.

Local shark experts have played down fears that a shark fin spotted by holidaymakers at the popular seaside resort town of St Ives belongs to a great white.

They have insisted the animal is a smaller basking shark, and not the killer fish.

But Australian marine biologist Dave Baxter said he believed the shark was a great white, usually only found in waters off Australia and South Africa.

"That's definitely a great white, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind," he said to The Sun newspaper after reviewing video footage of the shark fin filmed by the holidaymakers.

"The dorsal fin, its dark colouration and the way the tail moves – plus its speed through the water – prove to me that it is not a basking shark.

"We are certainly looking at great white – probably an adult female, about 12-foot (3.66m) long."
Mr Baxter has studied great white sharks for three decades and was a former host of the Discovery Channel's Shark Week programs.

He said there was a chance the shark had travelled from South Africa.

"I think it is very exciting that a man-eating shark has been spotted off the coast of Cornwall," Mr Baxter said.

"There's no reason why great whites would not be in the ocean off Cornwall, especially when we know there is a seal colony around there.

"Sharks love seals. They are their favourite food – it all fits."

But local coastguards are not convinced and have dismissed fears about a great white lurking beneath the waters as "utter rubbish" and "scaremongering".

Great White shark spotted near Chinese beach

Panic has swept through the crowded beach in North Eastern China when 78,000 Chinese bathers spotted a Great White Shark prowling the waters.

UK Footage of Great White shark, a case of mistaken identity!

This amazing photograph of a basking shark leaping clear of the water shows what could have been mistaken for a Great White shark, according to an expert. Colin Speedie, who took this picture, is a respected authority on sharks and documents the movements of basking sharks for the Wildlife Trust.He told the Western Morning News that he had been following the news that a holidaymaker claimed to have spotted a Great White off the coast of St Ives in June.

While he was reluctant to say the grainy mobile phone footage was definitely not a Great White, he said he would be extremely surprised."Never say never, but I think it is a basking shark," said Mr Speedie. "Everything I have heard leads me to think this man has probably seen a basking shark."The footage, which was reported in the WMN on Saturday, appears to show a shark leaping out of the water - or breaching - among a pod of dolphins.

Mr Speedie said this was not uncommon behaviour for basking sharks and may be a courtship ritual.According to Falmouth Coastguard, there has never been a sighting of a Great White in the South West.They grow to an average of about 6m, a couple of metres less than the largest basking sharks. Both sharks have a white belly, although the Great White has a distinctive conical snout.However, basking sharks are harmless, whereas Great Whites are carnivorous, devouring dolphins, seals and even smaller sharks.

Before believing a Great White shark was on the loose in St Ives Bay, Mr Speedie said he would want to see supporting evidence, such as parts of seal carcasses left behind after a feeding frenzy."The nearest a Great White has been spotted is in the Bay of Biscay. If it was a Great White, it is a long way out of its normal route. This is a bit of silly season stuff."

UK: Another Great White shark sighting!

A terrified tourist has described how she videoed what she believed was a Great White Shark hunting off the coast of Cornwall.

Catherine Price was on a boat trip with son Callum, seven, when they spotted a '12ft fin' in the water.

Fellow tourists on the boat dismissed the animal as a harmless basking shark but Catherine was shocked to find out it could have been a deadly Great White circling off St Ives.

"It was horrifying. If I'd have known it was a Great White at the time I would have panicked," she told The Sun.

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Could Great White Sharks be hunting off the Cornwall coastline?

Coastguards have dismissed the second claim of a great white shark sighting in three days as "utter rubbish" and "scare mongering".

But Curator of the National Sea Life Centre in Birmingham Graham Burrows told The Sun: "I would not rule out the possibility of this being a Great White — the tail is identical. There are other sharks off the coast of Britain that have similar features.

"But I would be amazed if there are not Great Whites in the sea off Cornwall. There is a plentiful supply of food and I cannot see why they could not thrive in the conditions."

Holidaymaker Nick Fletcher filmed what he thought was the fearsome man eater 200 yards from a beach in St Ives, Cornwall, last month.

It was only when he returned home to Rotherham, South Yorkshire, that he spotted the shark hunting among the dolphins he was videoing.

Richard Peirce, chairman of the Shark Trust, watched the footage and said it was impossible to make a conclusive identification or say if it was a great white - immortalised in the 1975 Steven Spielberg movie Jaws.

A statement on the Shark Trust website read: "Richard's opinion was that it was impossible to make a conclusive identification, and that the shark could either have been a mako, a porbeagle, or, if one accepts that white sharks are occasional vagrant visitors in UK waters, these animals could not be ruled out."

But Marc Thomas, duty watch manager at Falmouth Coastguard, said: "The poor tourist industry this year is having a really hard time. The last thing we need is scare mongering over some footage.

"There has never been a confirmed sighting of a great white off the Cornish coast.
"We get basking sharks and the odd sighting of a porbeagle shark which looks similar fin wise to a great white but they are a lot smaller and completely different.

"They are not the man-eating Jaws."

He said rare sightings of mako or porbeagles were hundreds of miles offshore and added: "It's not like there are swarms of them around the Cornish coast."

He said "harmless" basking sharks were more often spotted around Cornwall. They feed from plankton and people have been reported to swim with them, although Mr Thomas did not recommend this. Mr Fletcher, a local government officer, was on holiday with his wife Michelle, 38, son James, four, and baby Laura at the time.

He was filming dolphins playing from above Porthmeor Beach.

Tourist Nick Martell, 57, from Newcastle upon Tyne, told The Sun newspaper: "Coming face to face with a great white is every swimmer's worst nightmare.

"It's not the sort of thing you expect in Cornwall, but now I know it's possible I'll definitely be on the lookout."

But Mr Thomas said: "It's utter rubbish. We have never had a shark attack down here and we would urge people to take this with a pinch of salt.

"The beaches around Cornwall are safe, nearly all of them are lifeguarded by the RNLI or councils.
"They are well guarded beaches making them safe for holidaymakers and swimmers."

Richard Peirce, chairman of the Shark Trust, watched the footage and said it was impossible to make a conclusive identification or say if it was a great white - immortalised in the 1975 Steven Spielberg movie Jaws.

A statement on the Shark Trust website read: "Richard's opinion was that it was impossible to make a conclusive identification, and that the shark could either have been a mako, a porbeagle, or, if one accepts that white sharks are occasional vagrant visitors in UK waters, these animals could not be ruled out."

But Marc Thomas, duty watch manager at Falmouth Coastguard, said: "The poor tourist industry this year is having a really hard time. The last thing we need is scare mongering over some footage.

"There has never been a confirmed sighting of a great white off the Cornish coast.

"We get basking sharks and the odd sighting of a porbeagle shark which looks similar fin wise to a great white but they are a lot smaller and completely different.

"They are not the man-eating Jaws."

He said rare sightings of mako or porbeagles were hundreds of miles offshore and added: "It's not like there are swarms of them around the Cornish coast."

He said "harmless" basking sharks were more often spotted around Cornwall. They feed from plankton and people have been reported to swim with them, although Mr Thomas did not recommend this.

Mr Fletcher, a local government officer, was on holiday with his wife Michelle, 38, son James, four, and baby Laura at the time.

He was filming dolphins playing from above Porthmeor Beach.

Tourist Nick Martell, 57, from Newcastle upon Tyne, told The Sun newspaper: "Coming face to face with a great white is every swimmer's worst nightmare.

"It's not the sort of thing you expect in Cornwall, but now I know it's possible I'll definitely be on the lookout."

But Mr Thomas said: "It's utter rubbish. We have never had a shark attack down here and we would urge people to take this with a pinch of salt.

"The beaches around Cornwall are safe, nearly all of them are lifeguarded by the RNLI or councils. "They are well guarded beaches making them safe for holidaymakers and swimmers."

UK: All bets are on Great White shark!

YOU may think this column offers some strange bets, and you'd be right. But last December I drew your attention to what appeared to be a completely off-the-wall bet.

This is what I wrote in our Hogmanay edition: "Totesport bookmakers are offering 25-1 that a great white shark will be caught off Britain next year. With global warming making this almost inevitable - great whites are sighted further north each year - all it will take is for one specimen of Jaws to make a wrong turn and to end up on this side of the Atlantic, so the bet is worth snapping up."

On Friday came an alleged sighting on video of a great white off Cornwall. And if you can see 'em, you can catch 'em. And funnily enough, when I contacted Totesport yesterday they told me they had closed the book on a "British" Jaws being caught.

A princely plan is hatched

CALLING Prince Harry! Sir, I know your family is not short of a shilling, but a lad in the services can always do with some extra pocket money. Can I therefore draw your attention to the market created by Irish bookmaker Paddy Power on the Harry Potter books.

The Dublin dafties are offering 16-1 on you dressing up as Harry Potter at Hallowe'en. All you have to do is get a couple of Irish mates to place a few bets over there before October 31, then pop down to the local costume shop and get yourself a wizard's hat, a big pair of specs, a wand and a fake lightning scar.

A couple of paparazzi shots later, and hey presto, you'll be quids in and all perfectly legal.
You could also get your dad to tell his friend the Pope that Paddy Power are offering 33-1 on His Holiness declaring the Harry Potter books to be blasphemous.

Think of the killing Buckingham Palace and the Vatican could make at those odds.

At www.paddypower.com you'll also see they are offering 12-1 that JK Rowling will win the Man Booker prize this year. Avoid that one, sir, as the literary set can't stand Harry Potter.

Stick to dressing up as a wizard - it's a sure thing.

Ladbrokes do the running

SCEPTICAL about betting-in-running?

A lot of sports betting fans think the whole thing is a big con, and that the odds rarely vary, but Ladbrokes have just provided me with extensive proof that, on some occasions, betting-in-running can provide some very big changes in the odds, which in turn gives shrewd punters a real chance to make money.

The price changes on Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia during last Sunday's wonderful finish to the Open Championship are very instructive. The former began the tournament a 25-1 shot, the latter a good each-way bet at 33s. By Sunday morning, the Irishman was still 20s, while then leader Garcia was 1-2.

At 2.59pm Garcia was 1-4, and Harrington still 16s, but an hour later the picture had changed. The Irishman was on a roll and his odds were down to 8-1, while Garcia's early problems had him back to evens.

It is fascinating to see how the odds fluctuated hole-by-hole from then on - those Ladbrokes' layers certainly earn their money. By 5pm Garcia was 5-2, the same odds as Harrington, and as he reached the 18th, the Irishman had moved up in the betting and was 11-10, with Garcia having been as big as 9-2 out on the course.

In the play-off, Harrington went off 4-5 favourite and was soon 1-7 and then 1-50, while Garcia began at evens and went out to 12-1 before the last.

The odds "trail" proves that betting-in-running can be exciting and profitable for some - congratulations to the Ladbrokes' punter who backed the eventual winner each-way to the tune of £5,000 when he was 25-1.

The Magic Sign were also forced to pay out on their Carnoustie specials. One of the offers was the "Van der Velde" bet of 16-1 that a player would lead on 72nd hole and hit the water. Harrington duly obliged by hitting into the Barry Burn twice. And no, he didn't have a bet on himself to do that.

Long range punters might care to know that Harrington is 16-1 with Ladbrokes to retain his Open title, and Sergio Garcia is 25-1 to go one better next year at Royal Birkdale. The Spaniard is also 3-1 not to win a major before he retires from the sport. Sergio is only 27 and could conceivably play until his late forties, so I don't think I'll be investing on something that might take 20 years to happen.

Great White shark visits the UK coast!

Thousands of pairs of binoculars were trained on the inshore waters of Cornwall yesterday as holidaymakers, lifeguards, fishermen and rubber-neckers scanned the waves for signs of great white sharks cruising Britain's most popular holiday coast.

Not a normal summer activity, it had been prompted by lurid tabloid reports that a suspected great white had been seen hunting dolphins off St Ives. By nightfall, no Carcharodon carcharias had been seen, not a surfer had been bitten in half, nor even so much as a lilo punctured. Amity Island, the resort so effectively depopulated by sharks in the film Jaws, this was not.

The great, if fruitless, shark hunt had begun after holidaymaker Nick Fletcher captured images of what he thought was a great white while filming dolphins 200 yards off St Ives. The Sun reported his "find" under the headline "The Cornish Jaws" and quoted several experts who viewed Mr Fletcher's footage and declared that the shark was definitely a predatory species and a great white could not be ruled out.

Scepticism quickly kicked in. Douglas Herdson, marine biologist from the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, said: "The great white is now so rare, that the chance of them turning up along the British coast is slim. It's not impossible, but it's very unlikely. Often people only get a glimpse of the animal and, because they have an expectation that it's a great white, they make assumptions that can't be backed up."

Marc Thomas, duty watch manager at Falmouth Coastguard, said: "The last thing we need is scare-mongering over some footage. There has never been a confirmed sighting of a great white off the Cornish coast. We get basking sharks and the odd sighting of a porbeagle shark which looks similar to a great white, but they are a lot smaller." He said rare sightings of mako or porbeagles were hundreds of miles offshore and added: "It's not like there are swarms of them around the Cornish coast."

The Great St Ives Shark Scare is not the first alleged sighting of a great white in UK waters. There have been nine or 10 in the past decade, mostly from Scottish or Cornish waters. In Continental Europe they are regularly seen in the Mediterranean off Italy, Spain and Malta. The nearest confirmed location to Britain was a great white caught off La Rochelle in 1977.

Meanwhile, one sighting of a large sea creature that was sadly real was of a northern bottlenose whale that swam into the River Orwell near Ipswich and became stranded. Crowds gathered on Friday to watch divers try to coax the 15ft juvenile whale back to the North Sea. When that failed, the whale was humanely destroyed.