Thanks to Jaws and the flurry of shark attack movies that followed, great whites are, arguably, the most iconic of all shark species.
Are there great white sharks in UK waters?
The UK is home to several of species of sharks, including basking sharks, blue sharks, angelsharks and small spotted catsharks. But do great whites ever swim into our seas?
Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are usually found in temperate, coastal waters with plenty of potential prey, such as seals and sea lions. With our suitable water temperatures and abundance of seals – the UK is home to around 120,000 grey seals and over 30,000 common seals – the conditions seem right to attract the species.
To date, there has never been a confirmed sighting of a white shark in UK waters but there have been a handful of credible sightings since the 1960s.
Expert Richard Peirce, author of Sharks in British Seas, has investigated nearly 100 claims from people who thought they saw great whites in British waters. Of these, he believes just 12 encounters are credible. As some may be duplicates, where more than one person spotted the same individual, that number is reduced even further to around seven possible sightings.
“My research indicates that there is a high likelihood of the occasional vagrant visitor turning up in UK waters,” says Peirce.
Harley Newton, chief veterinarian at non-profit OCEARCH, agrees that the odd great white probably swims through our seas. “I think that white sharks could be infrequent visitors to the UK,” she says
With white sharks recorded as far north as the Bay of Biscay, it’s not unreasonable to think they could travel to our waters. “There are no fences in the sea and the nearest confirmed great white shark occurrence was in 1997 off La Rochelle which is only 168 nautical miles from Lands’ End,” says Peirce. “168 nautical miles is a walk in the park for this pelagic species which have been recorded travelling thousands of miles.”
Bearing this in mind, Peirce suggests the mystery isn’t whether white sharks are here but why we don’t have more of them.
“It is certainly interesting that a confirmed sighting in the UK has not yet occurred,” says Newton. However, she flags that the population found in the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean is critically endangered.
As sea surface temperatures around the world continue to rise, marine animals including sharks are moving to new areas. “We are already seeing northward shifts in the distribution and migration patterns of juvenile white sharks in the Pacific Ocean (South California Bight and Monterrey Bay) due to warming temperatures,” says Newton.
In recent years, smalltooth sand tiger sharks were recorded in UK waters for the first time. “Warmerthan usual ocean temperatures those years are believed to have contributed to their occurrence,” says Newton.
Could it be a matter of time before we can prove that white sharks sometimes swim in our waters? “With the already suitable prey base and environment, I think a confirmed sighting of a white shark will occur in the UK, though their presence will likely remain rare,” she says.
Should swimmers be worried by the idea of Jaws roaming off our coasts? Simply, no. It’s important to remember that sharks don’t target humans and bites are much rarer than you might think. In 2024, there were just 47 unprovoked bites, according to the International Shark Attack File.
Top predators like sharks play an important part in any ecosystem so the presence of sharks in the ocean means the habitat is healthy.
