0:00:00.253,0:00:02.430
Basking sharks are awesome creatures.

0:00:02.454,0:00:03.777
They are just magnificent.

0:00:03.801,0:00:06.976
They grow 10 meters long; some say bigger.

0:00:07.373,0:00:09.388
They might weigh up to two tons.

0:00:09.412,0:00:10.976
Some say up to five tons.

0:00:11.000,0:00:13.253
They're the second-largest[br]fish in the world.

0:00:13.277,0:00:15.889
They're also harmless[br]plankton-feeding animals.

0:00:15.913,0:00:21.349
And they are thought to be able to filter[br]a cubic kilometer of water every hour

0:00:21.373,0:00:26.110
and can feed on 30 kilos[br]of zoo plankton a day to survive.

0:00:26.134,0:00:27.499
They're fantastic creatures.

0:00:27.523,0:00:28.880
We're very lucky in Ireland,

0:00:28.904,0:00:32.484
we have plenty of basking sharks[br]and plenty of opportunities to study them.

0:00:32.508,0:00:34.806
They were very important[br]to coastal communities,

0:00:34.830,0:00:36.266
going back hundreds of years,

0:00:36.290,0:00:39.042
especially around[br]the Claddaghduff, Connemara region

0:00:39.066,0:00:42.664
where subsistence farmers used to sail[br]out on their hookers and open boats,

0:00:42.688,0:00:45.415
sometimes way offshore[br]to a place called the Sunfish Bank,

0:00:45.439,0:00:47.216
about 30 miles west of Achill Island,

0:00:47.240,0:00:48.533
to kill the basking sharks.

0:00:48.557,0:00:50.729
This is a woodcut from about the 1800s.

0:00:50.753,0:00:53.504
They were very important,[br]for the oil out of their liver.

0:00:53.528,0:00:55.990
A third of the basking[br]shark's size is their liver,

0:00:56.014,0:00:57.797
and it's full of oil, gallons of oil.

0:00:57.821,0:00:59.910
That oil was used especially for lighting,

0:00:59.934,0:01:02.107
but also for dressing wounds[br]and other things.

0:01:02.131,0:01:04.017
In fact, the streetlights in 1742,

0:01:04.041,0:01:05.565
of Galway, Dublin and Waterford,

0:01:05.589,0:01:06.976
were lit with sunfish oil.

0:01:07.000,0:01:09.390
"Sunfish" is one of the words[br]for basking sharks.

0:01:09.414,0:01:11.430
So they were incredibly important animals.

0:01:11.454,0:01:14.823
They've been around a long time,[br]very important to coastal communities.

0:01:14.847,0:01:18.141
Probably the best-documented[br]basking shark fishery in the world

0:01:18.165,0:01:19.677
is that from Achill Island.

0:01:19.701,0:01:22.076
This is Keem Bay up in Achill Island.

0:01:22.100,0:01:24.253
Sharks used to come into the bay,

0:01:24.277,0:01:27.278
and the fishermen[br]would tie a net off the headland,

0:01:27.302,0:01:28.934
string it out, an old Manila net,

0:01:28.958,0:01:31.307
and as the shark came round,[br]it would hit the net,

0:01:31.331,0:01:32.727
the net would collapse on it.

0:01:32.751,0:01:34.446
It would often drown and suffocate.

0:01:34.470,0:01:37.325
Or at times, they would row out[br]in their small curraghs

0:01:37.349,0:01:39.883
and kill it with a lance[br]through the back of the neck.

0:01:39.907,0:01:42.651
And then they'd tow the sharks[br]back to Purteen Harbour,

0:01:42.675,0:01:44.399
boil them up, use the oil.

0:01:44.423,0:01:48.347
They also used the flesh[br]as well, for fertilizer

0:01:48.371,0:01:51.267
and also would fin the sharks.

0:01:51.291,0:01:54.132
This is probably the biggest threat[br]to sharks worldwide --

0:01:54.156,0:01:56.195
the finning of sharks.

0:01:56.219,0:01:58.708
We're often frightened[br]of sharks, thanks to "Jaws."

0:01:58.732,0:02:01.786
Maybe five or six people[br]get killed by sharks every year.

0:02:01.810,0:02:04.985
There was someone recently, wasn't there?[br]Just a couple weeks ago.

0:02:05.009,0:02:06.976
We kill about 100 million sharks a year.

0:02:07.000,0:02:08.976
So I don't know what the balance is,

0:02:09.000,0:02:12.994
but I think sharks have more right[br]to be fearful of us than we have of them.

0:02:13.018,0:02:14.647
It was a well-documented fishery.

0:02:14.671,0:02:16.874
As you can see here,[br]it peaked in the '50s,

0:02:16.898,0:02:18.995
where they were killing[br]1,500 sharks a year.

0:02:19.019,0:02:21.953
And it declined very fast --[br]a classic boom-and-bust fishery,

0:02:21.977,0:02:24.649
which suggests that a stock[br]has been depleted

0:02:24.673,0:02:26.611
or there's low reproductive rates.

0:02:26.635,0:02:29.105
They killed about 12,000 sharks[br]within this period,

0:02:29.129,0:02:32.059
literally just by stringing a Manila rope

0:02:32.083,0:02:34.661
off the tip of Keem Bay[br]up in Achill Island.

0:02:35.177,0:02:37.590
Sharks were still killed[br]up into the mid-80s,

0:02:37.614,0:02:40.627
especially out of places[br]like Dunmore East in County Waterford.

0:02:40.651,0:02:43.480
About two and a half, 3,000[br]sharks were killed up till '85,

0:02:43.504,0:02:45.198
mainly by Norwegian vessels.

0:02:45.222,0:02:46.376
You can't really see,

0:02:46.400,0:02:48.939
but these are Norwegian[br]basking shark hunting vessels.

0:02:48.963,0:02:52.518
The black line in the crow's nest[br]signifies this is a shark vessel,

0:02:52.542,0:02:54.614
rather than a whaling vessel.

0:02:54.638,0:02:57.483
The importance of basking sharks[br]to the coast communities

0:02:57.507,0:02:59.185
is recognized through the language.

0:02:59.209,0:03:01.494
I don't pretend[br]to [know many Irish words],

0:03:01.518,0:03:05.076
but in Kerry they were often[br]known as "ainmhide Na seolta,"

0:03:05.100,0:03:06.675
"the monster with the sails."

0:03:07.101,0:03:10.105
Another title would be "liop an dá lapa,"

0:03:10.129,0:03:12.039
"the unwieldy beast with two fins."

0:03:12.820,0:03:15.835
"Liabhán mór," suggesting a big animal.

0:03:15.859,0:03:19.362
Or my favorite, "liabhán chor gréine,"[br]"the great fish of the sun."

0:03:19.386,0:03:20.922
That's a lovely, evocative name.

0:03:20.946,0:03:24.476
On Tory Island -- a strange place[br]anyway -- they were known as "muldoons."

0:03:24.500,0:03:25.521
(Laughter)

0:03:25.545,0:03:26.740
No one seems to know why.

0:03:26.764,0:03:29.099
Hope there's no one[br]from Tory here. Lovely place.

0:03:29.123,0:03:33.146
But more commonly all around the island,[br]they were known as the sunfish.

0:03:33.170,0:03:35.879
And this represents their habit[br]of basking on the surface

0:03:35.903,0:03:37.061
when the sun is out.

0:03:37.085,0:03:39.648
There's great concern[br]that basking sharks are depleted

0:03:39.672,0:03:41.185
all throughout the world.

0:03:41.209,0:03:43.202
Some say it's not population decline,

0:03:43.226,0:03:45.715
it might be a change[br]in the distribution of plankton.

0:03:45.739,0:03:46.896
It's been suggested

0:03:46.920,0:03:50.144
that these sharks would make[br]fantastic indicators of climate change,

0:03:50.168,0:03:52.579
as they're basically[br]continuous plankton recorders,

0:03:52.603,0:03:54.423
swimming around with their mouth open.

0:03:54.447,0:03:56.732
They're now listed[br]as vulnerable under the IUCN.

0:03:56.756,0:03:59.716
There's movements in Europe[br]to try and stop catching them.

0:03:59.740,0:04:02.196
There's now a ban on catching[br]and even landing them,

0:04:02.220,0:04:04.285
even landing ones caught accidentally.

0:04:04.309,0:04:05.897
They're not protected in Ireland;

0:04:05.921,0:04:08.906
in fact, they have no legislative[br]status in Ireland whatsoever,

0:04:08.930,0:04:10.860
despite our importance for the species

0:04:10.884,0:04:14.438
and also the historical context[br]within which basking sharks reside.

0:04:14.462,0:04:15.976
We know very little about them.

0:04:16.700,0:04:18.101
And most of what we do know

0:04:18.125,0:04:20.911
is based on their habit[br]of coming to the surface --

0:04:20.935,0:04:24.337
we try and guess what they're doing[br]from their behavior on the surface.

0:04:24.361,0:04:27.429
I only found out last year,[br]at a conference on the Isle of Man,

0:04:27.453,0:04:30.167
just how unusual it is to live somewhere

0:04:30.191,0:04:33.738
where basking sharks regularly,[br]frequently and predictably

0:04:33.762,0:04:36.306
come to the surface to "bask."

0:04:36.726,0:04:38.821
It's a fantastic opportunity[br]for a scientist

0:04:38.845,0:04:40.646
to see and experience basking sharks.

0:04:40.670,0:04:42.019
They are awesome creatures.

0:04:42.043,0:04:45.499
It gives us a fantastic opportunity[br]to study them, to get access to them.

0:04:45.523,0:04:48.921
What we've been doing for a couple[br]years -- last year was a big year --

0:04:48.945,0:04:50.799
is we started tagging sharks,

0:04:50.823,0:04:53.869
so we could try to get some idea[br]of sight fidelity and movement

0:04:53.893,0:04:55.051
and things like that.

0:04:55.075,0:04:58.376
So we concentrated mainly[br]in North Donegal and West Kerry

0:04:58.400,0:05:01.111
as the two areas[br]where I was mainly active.

0:05:01.135,0:05:05.292
And we tagged them[br]very simply, not very high-tech,

0:05:05.316,0:05:06.492
with a big, long pole.

0:05:06.516,0:05:09.142
This is a beachcaster rod[br]with a tag on the end.

0:05:09.166,0:05:11.837
You go up in your boat and tag the shark.

0:05:12.599,0:05:14.147
And we were very effective.

0:05:14.171,0:05:17.009
We tagged 105 sharks last summer.

0:05:17.033,0:05:20.684
We got 50 in three days[br]off Inishowen Peninsula.

0:05:20.708,0:05:22.265
Half the challenge to get access

0:05:22.289,0:05:24.503
is to be in the right place[br]at the right time.

0:05:24.527,0:05:27.996
But it's a very simple, easy technique;[br]I'll show you what it looks like.

0:05:28.020,0:05:30.871
We use a pole camera on the boat[br]to actually film the shark.

0:05:30.895,0:05:33.432
One, it's to try and work out[br]the gender of the shark.

0:05:33.456,0:05:37.119
We also deployed some satellite tags,[br]so we did use high-tech stuff as well.

0:05:37.143,0:05:38.452
These are archival tags.

0:05:38.476,0:05:40.415
What they do is store the data.

0:05:40.439,0:05:43.325
A satellite tag only works[br]when the air is clear of the water

0:05:43.349,0:05:45.246
and can send a signal to the satellite.

0:05:45.270,0:05:47.725
And sharks and fish[br]are underwater most of the time,

0:05:47.749,0:05:50.678
so this tag actually works out[br]the locations of shark,

0:05:50.702,0:05:54.064
depending on the timing[br]and the setting of the sun,

0:05:54.088,0:05:56.039
plus water temperature and depth.

0:05:56.063,0:05:58.231
And you have to kind of[br]reconstruct the path.

0:05:58.255,0:05:59.428
What happens is,

0:05:59.452,0:06:02.542
you set the tag to detach[br]from the shark after a fixed period --

0:06:02.566,0:06:03.964
in this case, eight months --

0:06:03.988,0:06:06.096
and literally to the day,[br]the tag popped off,

0:06:06.120,0:06:07.999
drifted up, said hello to the satellite

0:06:08.023,0:06:10.892
and sent, not all the data,[br]but enough data for us to use.

0:06:10.916,0:06:14.160
This is the only way to really work out[br]their behavior and movements

0:06:14.184,0:06:15.375
when they're underwater.

0:06:16.277,0:06:18.376
And here's a couple[br]of maps that we've done.

0:06:18.400,0:06:21.556
In that one, you can see[br]that we tagged both off Kerry.

0:06:21.580,0:06:25.065
Basically, it spent all its time,[br]the last eight months, in Irish waters.

0:06:25.089,0:06:27.098
On Christmas, it was out[br]on the shelf edge.

0:06:27.122,0:06:29.066
Here's one we haven't ground-truthed yet

0:06:29.090,0:06:31.215
with sea-surface temperature[br]and water depth,

0:06:31.239,0:06:33.592
but again, the second shark[br]spent most of its time

0:06:33.616,0:06:34.965
in and around the Irish Sea.

0:06:34.989,0:06:38.167
Colleagues from the Isle of Man[br]last year actually tagged one shark

0:06:38.191,0:06:41.375
that went from the Isle of Man[br]to Nova Scotia in about 90 days.

0:06:41.399,0:06:44.722
Nine and a half thousand kilometers --[br]we never thought that happened.

0:06:44.746,0:06:48.670
Another colleague in the States[br]tagged about 20 sharks off Massachusetts.

0:06:48.694,0:06:50.134
His tags didn't really work.

0:06:50.158,0:06:51.991
All he knows is where he tagged them,

0:06:52.015,0:06:53.483
and where they popped off.

0:06:53.507,0:06:55.825
His tags popped off in the Caribbean,

0:06:55.849,0:06:57.376
and even in Brazil.

0:06:57.400,0:06:59.715
We thought basking sharks[br]were temperate animals

0:06:59.739,0:07:01.231
and lived in our latitudes,

0:07:01.255,0:07:04.447
but in actual fact, they're obviously[br]crossing the equator as well.

0:07:04.471,0:07:06.233
So very simple things like that,

0:07:06.257,0:07:08.305
we're trying to learn[br]about basking sharks.

0:07:09.088,0:07:13.661
One thing that I think[br]is a very surprising and strange thing

0:07:13.685,0:07:16.650
is just how low the genetic[br]diversity of sharks is.

0:07:16.674,0:07:20.135
I'm not a geneticist, so I won't pretend[br]to understand the genetics.

0:07:20.159,0:07:22.516
And that's why it's great[br]to have collaboration.

0:07:22.540,0:07:23.852
Whereas I'm a field person,

0:07:23.876,0:07:25.400
I get panic attacks

0:07:25.424,0:07:28.572
if I have to spend too many hours[br]in a lab with a white coat on.

0:07:28.596,0:07:29.827
Take me away.

0:07:29.851,0:07:32.431
So we can work with geneticists[br]who understand that.

0:07:32.455,0:07:35.035
So when they looked at[br]the genetics of basking sharks,

0:07:35.059,0:07:38.068
they found that the diversity[br]was incredibly low.

0:07:38.092,0:07:39.951
If you look at the first line, really,

0:07:39.975,0:07:43.431
you can see that all these different[br]shark species are all quite similar.

0:07:43.455,0:07:45.233
I think this means they're all sharks

0:07:45.257,0:07:47.187
and they've come from a common ancestry.

0:07:47.211,0:07:49.281
But if you look at nucleotide diversity,

0:07:49.305,0:07:52.525
which is more genetics[br]that are passed on through the parents,

0:07:52.549,0:07:55.382
you see that basking sharks,[br]if you look at the first study,

0:07:55.406,0:07:59.376
was order of magnitude less diverse[br]even than other shark species.

0:07:59.400,0:08:01.472
You can see this work[br]was only done in 2006.

0:08:01.496,0:08:05.133
Before 2006, we had no idea of the genetic[br]variability of basking sharks.

0:08:05.157,0:08:08.270
We had no idea: Did they distinguish[br]into different populations?

0:08:08.294,0:08:09.569
Were there subpopulations?

0:08:09.593,0:08:11.744
And that's very important[br]if you want to know

0:08:11.768,0:08:14.545
what the population size is,[br]and the status of the animals.

0:08:14.569,0:08:18.180
So, Les Noble in Aberdeen kind of found[br]this a bit unbelievable, really.

0:08:18.204,0:08:24.789
So he did another study[br]using microsatellites,

0:08:24.813,0:08:27.424
which is much more expensive,[br]much more time-consuming,

0:08:27.448,0:08:30.709
and to his surprise,[br]came up with almost identical results.

0:08:30.733,0:08:33.645
So it does seem to be[br]that basking sharks, for some reason,

0:08:33.669,0:08:35.439
have incredibly low diversity.

0:08:35.463,0:08:37.957
And it's thought maybe[br]it was a genetic bottleneck,

0:08:37.981,0:08:40.052
thought to have been 12,000 years ago,

0:08:40.076,0:08:42.600
and this has caused a very low diversity.

0:08:42.624,0:08:44.584
And yet, if you look at the whale shark,

0:08:44.608,0:08:47.323
which is the other[br]plankton-eating large shark,

0:08:47.347,0:08:48.818
its diversity is much greater.

0:08:48.842,0:08:51.277
So it doesn't really make sense at all.

0:08:51.301,0:08:53.735
They found that there was[br]no genetic differentiation

0:08:53.759,0:08:56.220
between any of the world's oceans[br]of basking sharks:

0:08:56.244,0:08:58.482
even though they're found[br]throughout the world,

0:08:58.506,0:09:00.664
you couldn't tell[br]the difference, genetically,

0:09:00.688,0:09:04.121
from one from the Pacific, Atlantic,[br]New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa.

0:09:04.145,0:09:05.724
They all basically seem the same.

0:09:05.748,0:09:08.653
Which, again, is kind of surprising;[br]you wouldn't expect that.

0:09:08.677,0:09:11.024
I don't understand or pretend[br]to understand this;

0:09:11.048,0:09:12.958
I suspect most geneticists don't either,

0:09:12.982,0:09:14.376
but they produce the numbers.

0:09:14.400,0:09:16.727
So you can actually estimate[br]the population size

0:09:16.751,0:09:18.921
based on the diversity of the genetics.

0:09:18.945,0:09:22.497
And Rus Hoelzel came up with[br]an effective population size:

0:09:22.521,0:09:24.354
8,200 animals.

0:09:24.378,0:09:27.282
That's it -- 8,000 animals in the world.

0:09:27.306,0:09:29.528
You're thinking,[br]"That's ridiculous. No way."

0:09:29.552,0:09:31.376
So Les did a finer study,

0:09:31.400,0:09:34.178
and he found out it came out about 9,000.

0:09:34.202,0:09:37.083
Using different microsatellites[br]gave the different results,

0:09:37.107,0:09:41.748
but the mean of all these[br]studies is about 5,000,

0:09:41.772,0:09:43.376
which I personally don't believe.

0:09:43.400,0:09:45.030
But then, I am a skeptic.

0:09:45.054,0:09:47.483
But even if you toss a few numbers around,

0:09:47.507,0:09:50.924
you're probably talking an effective[br]population of about 20,000 animals.

0:09:50.948,0:09:55.463
Do you remember how many they killed[br]off Achill in the 70s and the 50s?

0:09:55.487,0:09:57.183
So what it tells us, actually,

0:09:57.207,0:10:00.459
is that there's actually a risk[br]of extinction of this species

0:10:00.483,0:10:02.376
because its population is so small.

0:10:02.400,0:10:03.931
In fact, of those 20,000,

0:10:03.955,0:10:06.123
8,000 were thought to be females.

0:10:06.147,0:10:08.834
There's only 8,000 basking shark[br]females in the world?

0:10:08.858,0:10:10.704
I don't know. I don't believe it.

0:10:11.125,0:10:14.768
The problem with this[br]is they were constrained with samples.

0:10:14.792,0:10:16.375
They didn't get enough samples

0:10:16.399,0:10:20.119
to really explore the genetics[br]in enough detail.

0:10:20.714,0:10:25.201
So, where do you get samples from[br]for your genetic analysis?

0:10:25.670,0:10:28.458
Well, one obvious source is dead sharks --

0:10:28.482,0:10:29.734
dead sharks, washed up.

0:10:29.758,0:10:33.014
We might get two or three dead sharks[br]washed up in Ireland a year,

0:10:33.038,0:10:34.560
if we're kind of lucky.

0:10:34.584,0:10:36.934
Another source would be[br]fisheries' bycatch.

0:10:36.958,0:10:39.947
We were getting quite a few caught[br]in surface drift nets.

0:10:39.971,0:10:42.757
That's banned now, and that'll be[br]good news for the sharks.

0:10:42.781,0:10:44.698
And some are caught in nets, in trawls.

0:10:44.722,0:10:48.340
This is a shark that was actually[br]landed in Howth just before Christmas --

0:10:48.364,0:10:51.391
illegally, because you're not allowed[br]to do that under EU law --

0:10:51.415,0:10:54.253
and was actually sold[br]for eight euros a kilo as shark steak.

0:10:54.277,0:10:56.101
They even put a recipe up on the wall,

0:10:56.125,0:10:57.903
until they were told it was illegal.

0:10:57.927,0:10:59.806
They actually did get a fine for that.

0:10:59.830,0:11:02.156
So if you look at[br]all those studies I showed you,

0:11:02.180,0:11:04.836
the total number of samples worldwide

0:11:04.860,0:11:06.384
is 86, at present.

0:11:06.858,0:11:08.950
So it's very important work,

0:11:08.974,0:11:11.069
and they can ask[br]some really good questions,

0:11:11.093,0:11:15.376
and tell us about population size[br]and subpopulations and structure,

0:11:15.400,0:11:18.053
but they're constrained[br]by lack of samples.

0:11:18.744,0:11:20.593
When we were out tagging our sharks --

0:11:20.617,0:11:23.927
this is how we tagged them on the front[br]of a RIB, get in there fast --

0:11:23.951,0:11:26.117
occasionally, the sharks do react.

0:11:26.141,0:11:28.892
On one occasion, when we were[br]up in Malin Head in Donegal,

0:11:28.916,0:11:31.414
the shark smacked the side[br]of the boat with his tail,

0:11:31.438,0:11:34.582
more, I think, in startle to the fact[br]that a boat came near it,

0:11:34.606,0:11:36.592
rather than the tag going in.

0:11:36.957,0:11:39.353
And that was fine. We got wet. No problem.

0:11:39.876,0:11:43.866
And then when myself and Emmett[br]got back to Malin Head, to the pier,

0:11:43.890,0:11:46.332
I noticed some black slime[br]on the front of the boat.

0:11:46.356,0:11:49.085
I used to spend a lot of time[br]on commercial fishing boats,

0:11:49.109,0:11:50.588
and I remember fishermen saying

0:11:50.612,0:11:53.435
they can tell when a basking shark[br]has been caught in a net,

0:11:53.459,0:11:55.339
because it leaves a black slime behind.

0:11:55.363,0:11:57.194
So that must have come from the shark.

0:11:57.218,0:12:00.612
Now, we had an interest[br]in getting tissue samples for genetics

0:12:00.636,0:12:02.622
because we knew they were very valuable.

0:12:02.646,0:12:04.303
We would use conventional methods;

0:12:04.327,0:12:06.644
I have a crossbow --[br]you see it in my hand there,

0:12:06.668,0:12:10.154
which we use to sample whales[br]and dolphins for genetic studies as well.

0:12:10.178,0:12:12.153
So I tried that, I tried many techniques.

0:12:12.177,0:12:14.106
All it was doing was breaking my arrows,

0:12:14.130,0:12:16.155
because the shark's skin[br]is just so strong.

0:12:16.179,0:12:18.955
There was no way we were going[br]to get a sample from that.

0:12:18.979,0:12:20.556
That wasn't going to work.

0:12:20.580,0:12:23.137
So when I saw the black slime[br]on the bow of the boat,

0:12:23.161,0:12:26.138
I thought, "If you take[br]what you're given in this world ..."

0:12:26.162,0:12:27.326
So I scraped it off.

0:12:27.350,0:12:31.745
I had a little tube with alcohol in it[br]to send to the geneticists.

0:12:31.769,0:12:34.824
So I scraped the slime off[br]and sent it to Aberdeen,

0:12:34.848,0:12:36.364
and said, "You might try that."

0:12:36.388,0:12:37.998
And they sat on it for months.

0:12:38.022,0:12:40.834
It was only because we had[br]a conference on the Isle of Man.

0:12:40.858,0:12:42.397
But I kept emailing Les, saying,

0:12:42.421,0:12:44.516
"Have you had a chance[br]to look at my slime?"

0:12:44.540,0:12:46.383
And he was like, "Yeah, yeah. Later."

0:12:46.407,0:12:49.230
He thought he'd better do it[br]because I never met him before;

0:12:49.254,0:12:52.009
he might lose face if he hadn't done[br]the thing I sent him.

0:12:52.033,0:12:54.884
And he was amazed that they actually[br]got DNA from the slime.

0:12:54.908,0:12:56.743
They amplified it and they tested it,

0:12:56.767,0:12:59.565
and they found, yes,[br]this was actually basking shark DNA,

0:12:59.589,0:13:01.526
which was got from the slime.

0:13:02.568,0:13:03.733
So he was very excited.

0:13:03.757,0:13:07.042
It became known as "Simon's shark slime."

0:13:07.066,0:13:09.957
And I thought, "Hey, you know,[br]I can build on this."

0:13:09.981,0:13:13.743
So we thought, OK, we're going to try[br]to get out and get some slime.

0:13:13.767,0:13:17.401
So having spent three-and-a-half[br]thousand on satellite tags ...

0:13:19.987,0:13:23.424
I then thought I'd invest 7.95 --[br]the price is still on it --

0:13:23.448,0:13:25.638
in my local hardware store in Kilrush

0:13:25.662,0:13:27.432
for a mop handle,

0:13:27.456,0:13:30.376
and even less money on some oven cleaners.

0:13:30.400,0:13:33.871
And I wrapped the oven cleaner[br]around the edge of the mop handle

0:13:33.895,0:13:35.376
and ...

0:13:35.400,0:13:36.958
(Laughter)

0:13:36.982,0:13:40.513
I was desperate to have an opportunity[br]to get some sharks.

0:13:40.537,0:13:44.930
And this was into August now,[br]and normally sharks peak in June, July,

0:13:44.954,0:13:47.943
and you rarely see them,[br]or rarely can be in the right place

0:13:47.967,0:13:49.518
to find sharks into August.

0:13:49.542,0:13:51.972
We were desperate,[br]so we rushed out to the Blaskets

0:13:51.996,0:13:54.066
as soon as we heard[br]there were sharks there,

0:13:54.090,0:13:55.617
and managed to find some sharks.

0:13:55.641,0:13:59.105
So by just rubbing[br]the mop handle down the shark

0:13:59.129,0:14:00.697
as it swam under the boat --

0:14:00.721,0:14:03.231
you see a shark[br]running under the boat here --

0:14:03.255,0:14:04.597
we managed to collect slime.

0:14:04.621,0:14:05.869
And here it is.

0:14:05.893,0:14:09.622
Look at that lovely black shark slime.

0:14:09.646,0:14:14.239
And in about half an hour,[br]we got five samples.

0:14:14.263,0:14:16.016
Five individual sharks were sampled

0:14:16.040,0:14:18.872
using Simon's Shark Slime Sampling System.

0:14:18.896,0:14:20.711
(Laughter)

0:14:20.735,0:14:26.066
(Applause)

0:14:26.090,0:14:29.344
I've been working on whales and dolphins[br]in Ireland for 20 years now,

0:14:29.368,0:14:30.907
and they're a bit more dramatic.

0:14:30.931,0:14:32.967
You probably saw[br]the humpback whale footage

0:14:32.991,0:14:35.101
we got a month or two ago[br]off County Wexford.

0:14:35.125,0:14:37.375
And you always think[br]you might have some legacy

0:14:37.399,0:14:38.893
you can leave the world behind,

0:14:38.917,0:14:41.852
and I was thinking of humpback[br]whales breaching and dolphins.

0:14:41.876,0:14:44.261
But hey -- sometimes[br]these things are sent to you

0:14:44.285,0:14:46.477
and you just have to take them[br]when they come.

0:14:46.501,0:14:48.598
So this is possibly[br]going to be my legacy --

0:14:48.622,0:14:50.264
Simon's Shark Slime.

0:14:50.288,0:14:51.922
We got more money this year

0:14:51.946,0:14:54.567
to carry on collecting[br]more and more samples.

0:14:54.591,0:14:57.531
One thing that is very useful[br]is that we use a pole camera --

0:14:57.555,0:14:59.968
this is my colleague, Joanne,[br]with a pole camera --

0:14:59.992,0:15:01.931
where you can look underneath the shark.

0:15:01.955,0:15:04.724
What you're trying to look at is,[br]the males have claspers,

0:15:04.748,0:15:07.368
which kind of dangle out[br]behind the back of the shark.

0:15:07.392,0:15:09.989
So you can quite easily tell[br]the gender of the shark.

0:15:10.013,0:15:13.760
If we can tell the gender of the shark[br]before we sample it,

0:15:13.784,0:15:16.891
we can tell the geneticist[br]this was taken from a male or a female.

0:15:16.915,0:15:19.418
Because in the moment,[br]they have no way, genetically,

0:15:19.442,0:15:21.980
of telling the difference[br]between a male and a female,

0:15:22.004,0:15:23.163
which I find staggering,

0:15:23.187,0:15:25.772
because they don't know[br]what primers to look for.

0:15:25.796,0:15:28.110
Being able to tell the gender of a shark

0:15:28.134,0:15:32.376
is very important[br]for things like policing the trade

0:15:32.400,0:15:36.796
in basking shark and other species[br]through the sightings,

0:15:36.820,0:15:39.035
because it is illegal[br]to trade in these sharks.

0:15:39.059,0:15:41.097
And they are caught and are on the market.

0:15:41.121,0:15:42.492
So as a field biologist,

0:15:42.516,0:15:44.962
you just want to get encounters[br]with these animals,

0:15:44.986,0:15:46.376
and learn as much as you can.

0:15:46.400,0:15:49.810
They're often quite brief,[br]they're often very seasonally constrained.

0:15:49.834,0:15:52.739
You just want to learn as much[br]as you can as soon as you can.

0:15:52.763,0:15:54.530
But isn't it fantastic

0:15:54.554,0:15:58.053
that you can then offer[br]these samples and opportunities

0:15:58.077,0:16:00.897
to other disciplines,[br]such as the geneticists,

0:16:00.921,0:16:03.376
who can gain so much more from that.

0:16:03.400,0:16:07.106
So as I said, these things[br]are sent to you in strange ways.

0:16:07.130,0:16:08.376
Grab them while you can.

0:16:08.400,0:16:10.342
I'll take that as my scientific legacy.

0:16:10.366,0:16:13.453
Hopefully, I might get something[br]a bit more dramatic and romantic

0:16:13.477,0:16:14.726
before I die.

0:16:14.750,0:16:17.155
But for the time being,[br]thank you for that.

0:16:17.179,0:16:18.665
And keep an eye out for sharks.

0:16:18.689,0:16:22.435
If you're more interested, we have[br]a basking shark website now set up.

0:16:22.459,0:16:24.429
So thank you and thank you for listening.

0:16:24.453,0:16:26.400
(Applause)