The
INSIDE Letters
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Sheriff’s Log
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School board Q&A
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VOLUME 38, NUMBER 43 • OCTOBER 27, 2015
Basking shark - monster or friendly giant? By Cali Bagby Weekly editor
With a massive body and a mouth that emerges from the deep blue like a manmade dungeon cell, the basking shark resembles a great and terrible monster. But this is an animal whose terror resides only in its appearance. This harmless creature floats through the Contributed photo / Florian Graner
A basking shark from the book “The Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest” by Joe Gaydos and Audrey Benedict.
water with its mouth agape under a bulbous nose feeding mainly on plankton. It is only its size and the industry of man that has brought the basking shark from an abundant population to the brink of extinction. Twenty years ago kayakers and boaters in the Salish Sea would have had a chance to see a fairly common dorsal fin that did not belong to a whale. The basking shark, who is named for “sunning” itself on the surface of the water, is called “sunfish” or “sailfish” in some parts of the world.
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To donate food or money to help buy the “fix-ins” for Thanksgiving Baskets for local families, please call the LIFRC at 468-4117. If you would like a meal basket provided, call the LIFRC for more details.
Basking sharks in this region are often referred to as the gentle giant slaughtered almost into oblivion. “It’s absurd. They weren’t a threat,” said resident shark expert and author Gene Helfman. The shark’s sharp decline started in the 1990s because high numbers were getting caught in fishing nets and the Canadian government authorized ramming to keep them from being a nuisance. For shark lovers like Helfman, driving these marine animals into near extinction is a travesty. He is a Lopez resident and the author of “Sharks: The Animal Answer Guide.” By the time Helfman was 13, he had read almost every book ever published about sharks. That passion still drives him today as he easily ticks off facts about the basking shark, an animal most islanders these days know little about. This species is known to enter bays and estuaries as well as venturing offshore. Basking sharks are often seen traveling in pairs and in larger schools of up to a 100 or more. Unlike the great white shark or hammerheads, basking sharks are known
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for being tolerant of nearby divers or boaters. Although there are reports of these sharks ramming boats while being harpooned. These fish are further described by Helfman as large, innocuous and slowmoving like the shark version of the manatee. In the British Isles basking sharks are an eco-tourism highlight and there is an extensive online database to alert visitors of potential sighting areas. “A diver could get in the water with them,” said Helfman. “But you wouldn’t want to ride on them – they are sharp with scales.” People have reported brushing up against a shark and receiving bad scrapes. Recovery? The basking shark is currently listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, basking sharks are listed as a species of concern dealing with the Eastern North Pacific population. Like many sharks, basking sharks are very slow to reproduce with up to a 14-month gestation period. According to Helfman, a lot of sharks take a year off to reproduce. “So you’ve got an excess of two years in a animal that doesn’t mature until it is 20 years,” he said. “They were never super numerous so they were easy to wipe out and will be slow to come back.” According to the Vancouver Sun, eight basking sharks were spotted in 2014 off the west coast of SEE SHARK, PAGE 4
Carol Steckler
Candidate Lopez School Board Position #5
Experienced Dedicated Involved
Paid for by Committee to Elect Carol Steckler to School Board Treasurer, Bob Sundquist, 37 Cabozon Lane, Lopez Island, WA. 468-3161