{"id":996137,"date":"2026-05-31T10:03:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T10:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/996137\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T10:03:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T10:03:25","slug":"experts-explain-how-mountain-of-trapped-sharks-may-have-washed-up-on-welsh-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/996137\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts explain how mountain of trapped sharks may have washed up on Welsh beach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>People were horrified to see so many dead sharks on a popular beach in Carmarthenshire. Now there might be an answer as to how they got there<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sharks and fish trapped in net on beach\" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1_EGR_260526_SharksNetPembrey.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Dead sharks washed up on Pembrey Beach \" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Dead sharks washed up on Pembrey Beach (Image: Pauline Morris)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Around 200 dead sharks that washed up on a Welsh beach may have been caught by accident by a fisherman who didn&#8217;t know what to do with such a large catch, experts believe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Last Sunday (May 24) people reported seeing a <a aria-label=\"mountain of dead sharksLink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/news\/wales-news\/beachgoers-horrified-mountain-trapped-sharks-34010211\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">mountain of dead sharks<\/a> tangled in netting on the sand at Pembrey Beach in <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/carmarthenshire\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Carmarthenshire<\/a>. People described the sight on the beach, which is also known as Cefn Sidan, as &#8220;sad and shocking&#8221;. Stay informed on Carms news by signing up to <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/newsletter-preference-centre\/?view=Solus&amp;mailingListId=f74ba28c-c60d-4b2a-8e4c-d5bc37be7138&amp;utm_source=solusarticle\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">our newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">It was unknown how the sharks ended up on the beach, with some suggesting that a net on a trawling boat might have broken and been lost at sea, while others thought it might be an abandoned catch that was washed up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Marine Environmental Monitoring, a conservation organisation, has now provided an update. Members of the organisation have attended the beach in the past week and carried out an investigation. They confirmed that the net contained around 200 sharks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;The net was a gill type fishing net that would have been set at sea,&#8221; a spokesperson for the group said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;The net was full of around 200 adult female and male Tope and Smooth-hound sharks. There was also a small handful of small cat sharks within the net. All the sharks had recently died, unfortunately most likely within the net.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;We collected several of each species and sex for further investigation. Pembrey country park then arranged disposal of the rest of the animals and net.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mountain of fish and sharks trapped in a net wash up on Pembrey beach,\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1_EGR_260526_SharksNetPembrey_02.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"The incredible sight which met locals in Pembrey last weekend \" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">The incredible sight which met locals in Pembrey last weekend (Image: Pauline Morris)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">It remains unclear who is responsible for the dead sharks, but the conservation group believe it could have been a fisherman who caught more than they could handle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The spokesperson added: &#8220;It currently isn\u2019t possible to work out who the net belonged to but it is possible that it was a hobby &#8216;fisherman&#8217; who didn\u2019t know how to deal with it, or was maybe hand hauling from a small boat and couldn\u2019t get it aboard due to the weight and cut it loose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;We will be working with the <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/welsh-government\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Welsh government<\/a>, NRW and the local authority to better understand what happened and find ways to prevent it in future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining <a aria-label=\"[object Object]Link opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/FhCH5HyTE7c59DPUcRMUXk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">our WhatsApp community here<\/a>. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our <a aria-label=\"[object Object]Link opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reachplc.com\/site-services\/privacy-policy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Notice<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People were horrified to see so many dead sharks on a popular beach in Carmarthenshire. Now there might&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":996138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3847],"tags":[21470,1146,137044,70,16,15,1717],"class_list":["post-996137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-beaches","tag-carmarthenshire","tag-pembrey","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116668622926014206","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=996137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/996138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}