Historically, basking sharks were caught as bycatch in New Zealand fisheries and seen in their hundreds in some inshore areas. They have disappeared and we don’t know why.
Mako sharks look fearsome, but they eat fish not people.
Alessandro De Maddalena / shutterstock
Each summer, for several years in a row, a tabloid would send me a picture of a shark fin photographed off Cornwall and ask if it was a Great White. “No,” I would patiently explain, “it is a harmless basking…