If you're surprised to hear that the 2nd largest fish on the planet used to be abundant in the shared waters of British Columbia and Washington, you're not alone! Now almost forgotten, the Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) - which reaches sizes of up to 12 m (40 ft) - used to be abundant from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico. Although these giant filter-feeders are harmless to humans, they were hunted and persecuted throughout much of the 20th century, first for their oil-rich livers and then because they were impeding profitable salmon fisheries by getting tangled in gillnets. In British Columbia in 1949, they were put on the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans list of 'destructive pests', and from 1955 to 1969 a Federal eradication program was directed at them. Today, only a handful of sightings are reported from throughout British Columbia and Washington each year. Can this enigmatic wonder of our ocean world that has survived as a species for at least 30 million years recover here in the Northeast Pacific? How has our treatment of them shifted and what might we do to better understand them and their habitat, and 'turn the tide' for them, and for us?
