Whenever Scott Wallace heads out on the Pacific Ocean off the coast of British Columbia, he hopes it will be the time when he finally sees a Basking shark, an endangered species which once cruised in large numbers in plankton-rich waters.
“It’s like a mythical animal for me because I’ve never seen one here … when I do hear about them I get a sense of optimism,” said the scientist about the second-largest fish in the world next to the whale shark.
It’s been a decade since the Canadian government deemed Basking sharks endangered, which created legal protections to help them recover, but it could take a lot more time for the fish to return to its former prominence here.
Wallace, a senior research scientist with David Suzuki Foundation, became fascinated with Basking sharks while living on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island to study historical ecosystems. He heard stories about the giant, harmless sharks that once gathered in large numbers in the area.
The animals, which can grow up to 10 metres in length, have a huge gaping mouth they open as they swim to consume tiny plankton and are considered an important part of B.C.’s biodiversity.
Basking sharks are named for their practice of ‘basking’ near the surface of the water, mouth open to capture zooplankton for food. (Greg Skomal/NOAA)
Wallace has seen the shark in the water while on a dive off the Isle of Man in the UK where they still gather in numbers.
“You can see their fins coming at the surface and eventually right in front of you there’s this huge like 5-foot gap, wide mouth just kind of comes streaking by you,” he said. “It worries you, but it’s pretty amazing to see them feeding like that.”
Basking sharks were once so common in B.C.’s waters that they were deemed a nuisance for fishers and boaters. An eradication program was devised, which involved a special blade on the bows of vessels that would slice through the sharks to kill them.
An illustration from Popular Mechanics in 1956 shows the equipment used in the federal government’s program to eradicate basking sharks on the B.C. coast: a special blade on the bow of a boat, to slice them in half. (Popular Mechanics via The Marine Detective)
‘What did we squander?’
Wallace ended up publishing a book about their history in B.C. in 2006 called Basking Sharks: The Slaughter of BC’s Gentle Giants.
“What did we squander here with our ignorance?” he said.
Scientists estimate that the eradication program from 1955 to 1969 destroyed up to 90 per cent of the Basking sharks that would swim into B.C. during summer, coming up from Mexico, along the California coast.
It’s been Jackie King’s job to try and get a sense just how many Basking sharks may come and go now. She’s a scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and has spent considerable time in the water and flying in airplanes searching for the shark.
Despite all the effort, she’s never seen one.
“I think that is one of life’s ironies is that I have never seen a Basking shark,” she said.
King is not pessimistic though about the shark’s future in B.C.
It’s estimated that there are between 300 and 550 of the sharks living and feeding between Mexico and B.C. and even though there have been only two to three sightings in B.C. each year for the past decade, those sightings have not decreased.
“I would be happier if they were going up,” she said. “It makes me happy that they are not going down. Static is at least stable.”
‘Breathtaking’
Florian Graner is someone lucky enough to have seen a Basking shark in the Pacific along the B.C. and Washington border.
It happened in 2009 when the marine biologist, who works on natural history documentaries, was out on the water off Washington State’s west coast.
He had previously filmed the animals off the coast of Cornwall, England, so he knew the fins he was seeing poking above the surface belonged to Basking sharks.
“My encounter was purely by luck,” he reported to King of the incident at the time.
He managed to get in the water and film what he believed were four different sharks. One of them was close to eight metres in length.
“They are breathtaking,” he said. “It was really rare … I have not seen them since myself.”
An image of a confirmed sighting of a basking shark in B.C. in 2016, taken by researchers on CCGS Vector on the Central Coast. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
Two more views of the large dorsal fin of the basking shark spotted by researchers May 29, 2016 on the B.C. Central Coast. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
Graner hopes sightings like this will continue, but admits that it could take several more decades for numbers to increase. The animals have a low birthrate but can live up to 50 years.
The other concern for Wallace is that if the sharks do show up in a group all of a sudden, will fishers know not to drop fishing gear near them, which is part of the rules in place to protect them.
“If they did show up in a group of 20 or 30 in back in an area that they used to be found, Barkley Sound or Clayoquot Sound or Rivers Inlet, somewhere … would we be prepared to suddenly close down all fisheries that may interact with them?” he said.
For now though, he just hopes the next time he’s out on the water he’ll be lucky enough to finally see one.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
