staple of fisheries because of its slow swimming speed, placid nature, and previously abundant numbers. Commercially, it was put to many uses: the flesh for food and fishmeal, the hide for leather, and its large liver (which has a high squalene content) for oil. It is currently fished mainly for its fins (for shark fin soup). Parts (such as cartilage) are also used in traditional Chinese medicine and as an aphrodisiac in Japan, further adding to demand. As a result of rapidly declining numbers, the basking shark has been protected in some territorial waters and trade in its products is restricted in many countries under CITES. Among others, it is fully protected in the United Kingdom and the Atlantic and Mexican Gulf regions of the United States. Since 2008, it has been illegal to fish for, or retain if accidentally caught, basking sharks in waters of the European Union. It is partially protected in Norway and New Zealand, as targeted commercial fishing is illegal, but accidental bycatch can be used (in Norway any basking shark caught as bycatch and still alive must be released). As of March 2010, it was also listed under Annex I of the CMS Migratory Sharks Memorandum of Understanding. Once considered a nuisance along the Canadian Pacific coast, basking sharks were the target of a government eradication programme from 1945 to 1970. , efforts were under way to determine whether any sharks still lived in the area and monitor their potential recovery. It is tolerant of boats and divers approaching it, and may even circle divers, making it an important draw for dive tourism in areas where it is common. Carcass misidentification On several occasions, "globster" corpses initially identified by non-scientists as a sea serpent's or plesiosaur's have later been identified as likely to be the decomposing carcasses of basking sharks, as in the Stronsay Beast and the Zuiyo-maru cases. See also List of prehistoric cartilaginous fish List of threatened sharks Shark liver oil References General references David A Ebert, Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras of California, Marine Conservation Society Basking shark page FAO Figis Species Fact Sheet for basking shark External links Irish Basking Shark Project BBC Wildlife Finder – video news and news from the BBC archive ARKive entry on the Basking Shark Fisheries & Oceans Canada – Basking sharks on the west coast of Canada Basking Sharks in the Isle of Man Basking sharks