The Times - UK (2021-11-11)

the times | Thursday November 11 2021 17

News

Just when you thought it was safe to go
wild swimming, a study has revealed
the Thames is a shark-infested river.
Three species, including the tope
shark, which can grow up to six feet
long, have been seen in the outer
Thames estuary.
They pose little danger to people,
preferring to eat fish, crustaceans and
cephalopods. But they do signal an
improvement in water quality since the
river was declared “biologically dead”
64 years ago.
The Greater Thames Shark Project,
run by the Zoological Society of
London (ZSL), has also identified starry
smooth-hound and spurdog sharks.
The tope shark is the largest of the trio
and can live for as long as 50 years. It is
considered a critically endangered
species and faces an extremely high risk
of extinction in the wild. Historically, it
was caught for liver oil. It is found close
to the shore all around the UK.
Thea Cox, a ZSL biologist, said:
“According to the latest IUCN [Inter-
national Union for Conservation of Na-

The tope is one of

three shark species

seen in the estuary

patrick kidd

TMS

[email protected] | @timesdiary

Tommies 3,

Germans nil

On Remembrance Day, Sebastian

Faulks admits there is more to the

First World War than the “poets’

view”. His own perception was

challenged while researching his

novel Birdsong when he

interviewed an old Tommy who

said it really wasn’t that bad. “The

conditions in the trenches must

have been unbearable,” Faulks

said. “No, no, no,” the man replied.

“I’d done a lot of camping so I was

used to it.” Then Faulks suggested

the food and drink must have

tasted awful, with tea and stew

heated in petrol cans. Tommy

replied that since he came from a

very poor family he appreciated

having two meals a day. Finally,

Faulks, below, asked what it was

like going over the top. At this, the

rose-tinted memory wilted a little.

“Ah, well,” the soldier conceded.

“You didn’t want to do that.” Not

without a football anyway.

Recent publicity for parliament’s

Caribbean office reminded Sir

Jeremy Elwes, a reader, of the lady

at a dinner who asked a diplomat

where to find the British Virgin

Isles. To which he replied: “As far as

possible from the Isle of Man.”

raising the bar

While the Commons has been

denied Sir Geoffrey Cox’s basso-

profundo lately, other honourable

and learned members, as QC-MPs

are called, have combined jobs

diligently. Sir Ivan Lawrence, the

former MP for Burton, worked

18-hour days so he could also

practise at the bar, notably

defending Dennis Nilsen. In an

all-night debate on fluoridation

in 1985 he began a speech at

5am that lasted 4hr 23min,

the longest by an MP

since 1828. He only

stopped because he had

to get to the Old Bailey

to defend a bank robber.

send botham in to bat

Paul Keating is Pom-bashing

again. The former Australian

prime minister, once known as

The Lizard of Oz, gave a talk to his

country’s National Press Club on

Tuesday in which he referred to

Boris Johnson as “old coconut

head” and said Britain is “an old

theme park sliding into the

Atlantic”. Perhaps it is time to

weaponise Lord Botham, our trade

envoy to Australia, who in his

cricketing days stormed out of a

reception with Keating after one

insult too many. “I’m very proud of

my heritage,” Botham said. “And

unlike Mr Keating, I do have one.”

An Italian government initiative to

kick-start its economy with La

Dolce Vita backfired when it

proved too popular. People were

offered a €200 voucher to spend on

spa treatments in the hope of

encouraging them to splash out but

the website on which to claim it

crashed after only a couple of hours

on Monday because it couldn’t cope

with demand. I suspect someone will

end up in hot water for this.

morse code of conduct

The 35th anniversary of the first

Inspector Morse episode on TV

was marked with the launch of a

new book, called Morse, Lewis,

Endeavour and Oxford, at the city’s

Randolph Hotel. Morse was

popular with the police, perhaps

because of his approach to solving

crimes — “There’s been a murder,

Lewis. Fancy a pint?” — and the

book reveals that a cardboard

cutout of the detective would

always attend the Oxford CID

annual dinner as guest of honour.

One former detective inspector

told the book’s author, John

Mair, that the spirit of Morse

helped to civilise the force. You

could always tell when there

was a new series, he said,

because “you could hear

classical music being

played in police

stations”.

Six-foot sharks thrive in the ‘biologically dead’ Thames

Rhys Blakely Science Correspondent ture] red list assessments, tope are criti-
cally endangered, and starry smooth-
hound are a near threatened species.
“As slow-growing animals that pro-
duce fewer young, sharks are especially
vulnerable and we’re working to...
ensure their long-term survival.”
The starry smooth-hound grows to
about four and a half feet and almost
exclusively eats crustaceans. The spur-
dog, which eats fish, grows to about
three and a half feet and can live for 70
years.
The ZSL report found other improve-
ments in the Thames, with evidence of
an increase in bird species, marine
mammals and natural habitats such as
carbon-capturing saltmarsh. It said it
had found several “surprising species”
including seahorses, eels and seals.
Water quality had improved, with
dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations
showing a positive long-term increase
from 2007 to 2020. Understanding DO
concentrations is important as low con-
centrations (less than 45 per cent DO)
can kill fish and affect relationships
between key species in the river.
Since the early 1990s, however, the

number of fish species found in the tidal

areas of the river has declined, with

conservationists saying research was

needed to determine the cause.

Climate change also poses a risk with

the temperature of the Thames rising

by 0.2C per year on average. Water

levels have been increasing since

monitoring began in 1911 in the tidal

Thames. The sea level at Silvertown,

east London, has been rising 4.26mm

per year on average since 1990.

Alison Debney, of ZSL, said: “Estuar-

ies are one of our neglected and threat-

ened ecosystems. They provide us with

clean water, protection from flooding,

and are an important nursery for fish

and other wildlife. The Thames estuary

and its associated ‘blue carbon’ habitats

are critically important in our fight to

mitigate climate change and

build a strong and resilient

future for nature and

people.”

The term “blue

carbon” refers to the

carbon stored in

coastal and marine

ecosystems such as

tidal marshes.

Overall, concentrations of phospho-

rus — a pollutant that can lead rivers to

be choked by excessive plant and algal

growth — have decreased since

the 1990s.

However, there has

been a long-term in-

crease in nitrate con-

centrations, which can

damage water quality

and wildlife. The En-

vironment Agency

has identified industri-

al and sewage effluent

as the main source of

nitrate in London’s water

bodies.

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