Basking sharks now protected off coast of where Jaws Quint actor called home

Robert Shaw may have brought the shark hunter Quint to life in the big screen shark classic Jaws (1975), but the legendary actor would escape the world of film at his home in Ireland: FROM IRELAND WITH LOVE: JAWS STAR ROBERT SHAW'S DEVOTION TO THE EMERALD ISLE — The Daily Jaws

Now the coast of Ireland has given protected status to the Basking Shark, the second largest species of shark after the Whale Shark. Not that Quint would need to hunt either of these species on the Orca as they are plankton eaters.

Protected species status means that it is is now illegal to hunt, injure or interfere with the globally threatened species, which can grow to almost 30 feet long.

This announcement is also significant as it is the first marine animal to be protected under Irish law.

Quoted by BBC News, Minister of State for Heritage Malcolm Noonan said that the strengthening of the protections show that Ireland will "play its part in offering improved protection to an endangered species that depends on our territorial waters to survive and flourish."

He added: "We are living in an age of mass extinction. There is an urgent responsibility on all of us to do everything we can to reverse that trend."

All of which means this species with its magnificent mouth can swim around Ireland, safe to marvel at it being only an island when they look at it from the protected waters.

Words by Dean Newman.

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