Posted online: Jun 6th, 2008

Visitors and locals enjoying the magnificent holiday weekend weather thought they were taking part in a remake of the film, Jaws, and reported several sightings of sharks off the south Donegal coast.
At least eight basking sharks were spotted off Rossnowlagh and nearby Creevy between Saturday and Monday. Others were reported along the Donegal coast from Mullaghmore in Sligo to Glencolmcille.
Brothers John and Andrew Fenton from Ballyshannon and pals Roy Redpath from Kilbarron and local solicitor Niall Quinn got close up to a number of the species while out boating.
Businessman John said: “We saw a couple off Rossnowlagh and another couple about a mile out from Creevy Pier.
“We got so close you could actually touch them from the boat.”
He reckoned the sharks, which are harmless to humans – feeding on plankton as they glide just below the surface with huge mouths wide open as whales do – were up to 15 feet long.
John had evidence that sharks were in Donegal waters more than two weeks ago when he spotted one near Rathlin O’Beirne Island off Glencolmcille.
A Kilcar resident also contacted the paper after seeing sharks near Gortalia.
Donegal Post photographer Jason McGarrigle captured these pictures on Monday when he spotted three sharks in the waters between Creevy and Rossnowlagh. He said: “I would say they were more than 20 feet long, maybe even 25 ft. Their wide-open mouths were at least two feet across.”
The sightings were welcomed by visitor Ciaran Clancy whose insistence that a shark passed within feet of him as he surfed off Rossnowlagh Beach on Saturday were originally dismissed as a fanciful claim by locals.
Ciaran, from Harold’s Cross, Dublin, who was on a weekend visit with daughters Ciara(11) and Georgia(10), said: “I’d say it was no more than 10 feet away when I saw the fin.
“There was another surfer near me in the water and we both made for shore as fast as we could. I didn’t know at the time that the shark was harmless. I was shouting to others to get ashore quick. I didn’t say why because I didn’t want to cause a panic.
“It’s quite something when you see a shark that close for the first time.”
Experts say that, contrary to a perception that sharks are rare around Ireland, the waters here are home to at least 13 shark species, of which the basking shark is by far the largest.
A spokesperson for the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said: “In fact the basking shark is very much at home in Irish waters.
“This is a species that can turn up anywhere, so keep your eyes peeled, especially on those calm early summer days, when you have the best chance of having an encounter with one of the least understood of our gentle giants.”

(Reporter: Paddy Clancy)