Basking sharks stay in Irish waters year-round, scientists discover

Basking sharks swim along side Kayaker, Peter Cleary at Red Strand, West Cork, in April 2021. Photo Dan Lettice.

Irish scientists have discovered that many basking sharks, thought to leave our coastal waters each winter, actually remain below the surface all year round.

Hundreds of the huge docile creatures visit Irish coastal waters each year and survive on a diet of plankton and other microscopic life.