A beach in Jersey was closed to the public on Saturday after a large shark was spotted in the water, the first time this has happened on the island. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) closed St Ouen's Bay for 45 minutes after lifeguards spotted a large, grey animal around 40 metres from the water's edge.
Tom Rolls, a lifeguard with the RNLI, said the animal was estimated to be between 10ft and 12ft long and was spotted at around 10:40am after entering the bay from the west. He told the Bailiwick Express that the call came through from one of the guards at Watersplash, who said a shark had been spotted in the lineup. "Initially, we were like, 'that's a joke, you're having us on here'," Rolls said. "But then he was persistent. He said multiple sightings had been seen by members of the public."
Lifeguards could not immediately identify the species, so they raised the red flag across the whole bay. The shark soon left the bay heading south, and no beachgoers were harmed.
Shark swam beneath surfer's board
Rolls said the shark swam directly beneath the board of his colleague, Nick. "He said it looked definitely more like a shark than anything else," Rolls said. "He even said he kind of punched it as he was paddling, so it must have been really close to the surface. It was darkish grey, about 10 to 12 feet long, and then it swam away really quickly from under his board."
Lifeguards asked people to leave the sea and were met with a few surprised looks, Rolls said. "Everyone was super calm about it," he said. "There were lots of surprised looks, obviously, us included, as it's never happened before. It's the first time in history that Jersey has closed the beach for a shark sighting."
Surf instructor describes the scene
Jesse Heddercott, a 16-year-old surf instructor, was teaching people to surf when lifeguards told everyone to get out of the water. "Nothing like this has ever happened in Jersey before, so it's pretty crazy," Heddercott told the BBC. "We thought it was just a tuna, or something, but then another lifeguard spotted it and it was confirmed to be, probably, a shark. They red-flagged the beach and we all had to get out."
Earlier shark stranding at Grève d'Azette
The sighting came shortly after an endangered shark was stranded at another Jersey beach, Grève d'Azette. Marine Mammal Medics attended the scene and found a 600kg, four-metre-long shark stranded in a tidal pool. The shark died shortly after their arrival.
British Divers Marine Life Rescue said the animal was identified as a smalltooth sand tiger shark, an elusive, deep-water species typically found in warm and tropical oceans globally. The organisation said the species is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is considered naturally uncommon, with minimal research carried out on it to date.
British Divers Marine Life Rescue said the first confirmed records of the species in UK and Irish waters were only published in 2023, when three individual sharks were recorded in the English Channel and Celtic Sea. It said the sightings may be linked to warmer than average sea temperatures contributing to a northward shift in the species' range.
