{"id":424198,"date":"2026-04-29T23:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T23:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/424198\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T23:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T23:14:18","slug":"basking-sharks-return-to-galway-waters-as-video-shows-majestic-creature-swim-along-coastline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/424198\/","title":{"rendered":"Basking sharks return to Galway waters as video shows majestic creature swim along coastline"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777504458_270_video.jpg\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"100%\" data-testid=\"article-image\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">Video shows basking sharks swim along Galway coastline<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Basking sharks have returned to Galway this week as locals reported sightings in the sea during the sudden rise in temperatures across Ireland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">As the country enjoys warmer climes, so too have the basking sharks as they swam over to the Wild Atlantic Way over the past few days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The sharks are well known for venturing towards the Emerald Isle around this time of year when the ocean waters warm up along the west coast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">A video of the sharks returning to County Galway was captured in bird\u2019s eye view by Roundstone Bay and Island Boat and Food Tours, who spotted one feeding along the coast in Connemara.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">They said: \u201cI got a shout from my cousins to let me know the sharks are back by Murvey moving towards Dog\u2019s Bay, so hopefully we will get them along the coast for tours today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">\u201cI had a run back to chance spotting them with the drone and sure enough, I got a large one feeding along the coast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Basking sharks are huge, harmless filter-feeders that gather in Irish waters from April to August. As a result of over-fishing, basking sharks became a globally threatened species with a high risk of extinction. In 2019, the International Union for Conservation of Nature classified the species as \u2018endangered\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Irish waters constitute one of the most internationally important coastal regions for the species. They are officially protected in Irish waters under the Wildlife Act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Video shows basking sharks swim along Galway coastline Basking sharks have returned to Galway this week as locals&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[185632,61,60,13131,82,263],"class_list":["post-424198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-galway-life","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jessica-mercer","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}