The Nature of Scotland

2
Basking sharks were once
hunted widely around
Scotland, but since 1998
they’ve been a protected
species. Now, researchers have
found two ‘hotspots’ off Scotland’s
west coast that are highly important
for the sharks, as Colin Speedie
reports
2
Hunting basking shark
around Arran, 1770.
3
Basking sharks are
active all year round. In
winter, they move to
depths of up to 900m
to feed on deep water
plankton.
The waters of the west coast of Scotland have
long been home to the basking shark, the world’s
second largest fish. Shoals of them usually arrive
early in the summer, when they can often be seen
swimming at the surface, feeding on the rich
supply of tiny plankton that bloom then. This habit
of ‘basking’ at the surface not only makes the
sharks highly visible, but was also responsible
over the centuries for making them vulnerable
to hunting.
The first written accounts of the basking shark in Scottish
waters come from the 1760s, when the country’s first
recorded shark fishery operated from the island of Canna
in the Inner Hebrides. Locals hunted the sharks from small
boats using hand-held harpoons. Although this fishery
proved unprofitable, it was soon followed by others, all the
way from Shetland to Arran in the Firth of Clyde. The hunters
were after oil from the shark’s liver, which can form up to a
quarter of its body weight. This was highly valued at the time,
being used mainly as lamp oil, but also serving as a balm for
aching limbs.
Shark hunting continued on and off over the following
two centuries, before increasing greatly in the period
between the 1930s and 1950s. Large numbers of shark
were present, and hunters from the Firth of Clyde and the
Sea of the Hebrides set sail in pursuit of the liver oil. It was
now much in demand as an oil for fine-grade machines and
aircrafts, being sold for high prices on the world market.
However, this hunting bonanza ultimately ended in
failure. The scarcity of sharks, the changeable weather
and falling oil prices all played a part, although some fairly
terrible business decisions also contributed. Many of the
hunters – most notably the celebrated nature writer Gavin
Maxwell – left highly readable accounts of their adventures,
including valuable information on the key hunting grounds
that they revisited many times.
52 The Nature of Scotland