In search of Basking Sharks

Colin Munro · Issue 144, May/Jun 2025 · pp. 58–63

Products mentioned: Nikonos camera system, Fuji Finepix S2 Pro, Subal housing

Basking sharks are the second largest fish on the planet. I’d been fascinated with them ever since reading Gavin Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water trilogy as a kid; although primarily a story about the pet otters he kept and rural life in a remote area of Northwest Scotland, the book also mentioned these giant fish that arrive each summer off Scotland’s west coast, and his earlier adventures operating a harpooning ship to catch them. Later I read Harpoon at a Venture, the story of Maxwell’s attempt to establish a basking shark fishery on the island of Soay shortly after the end of WW2. The operation was a financial disaster, but even in the bloody business of harpooning and butchering sharks, Maxwell’s fine eye for detail and his innate love of nature shone through. Although autobiographical in style, Harpoon at a Venture probably contained more detail about the behaviour and appearance of …