A hunt is getting underway for great white sharks off the coast of Britain, in a scenario reminiscent of the film Jaws.

An expedition involving explorer Ben Fogle aims to prove the terrifying predator prowls the sea close to British beaches.

Scientists will drag a whale carcass behind a boat rigged with cameras with the aim of capturing a shark feeding on camera in the Irish Sea.

A hunt is getting underway for great white sharks (stock image) off the coast of Britain, in a scenario reminiscent of the film Jaws. Experts are divided about whether the feared predator sometimes swims in British waters and no proof has ever been found that they do

Footage will form the basis of an ITV documentary expected to air in autumn, The Sun reported.

While marine experts think it’s possible the large predator may swim off the British coast, there has never been any proof.

But ITV hopes its voyage, which is due to begin today from the north coast of Devon, will change that.

Preparations are said to have been going on for months.

A whale carcass that washed up on the north coast of Scotland earlier this year will be used as bait (pictured). It has been kept in storage in a Shropshire facility before being dropped in an area called the Celtic Deep

Shark lure: Scientists will drag a whale carcass (pictured in preparation) behind a boat rigged with cameras with the aim of capturing a shark feeding on camera in the Irish Sea

A whale carcass that washed up on the north coast of Scotland earlier this year will be used as bait.

It has been kept in storage in a Shropshire facility before being dropped in an areas 35 miles (56km) off the coast called the Celtic Deep.

Experts will endeavour to keep the corpse floating at the surface, before lowering it 100 feet feet (30 metres) below the waves in the hope of enticing the shark.

It’s the first time a dead whale has been used to monitor marine life outside of tropical waters.

Ben Fogle told The Sun’s Alex West and Laura Armstrong: ‘It’s a top secret mission so I can’t talk too much about it but it could be the most exciting and ambitious thing I’ve ever done.

‘We might change what we know about the British Atlantic waters and what’s in them.’

The team expects to see hammerhead as well as blue sharks, but the great white would be the ultimate prize.

John Richardson, Conservation Officer at The Shark Trust told MailOnline: ‘This is certainly an exciting project – possibly unprecedented in British waters – however the likelihood of encountering a White Shark is incredibly low.

‘Former Shark Trust Chairman, Richard Peirce, has investigated over 100 claimed White Shark “sightings” from around the British Isles.

‘While a handful of sightings remain credible – and habitat and prey availability, i.e. seals, are well-suited to the species, there is currently no documented proof that White Sharks are present in British waters.

The dead whale that will be used as bait has been kept in storage in a Shropshire facility before being dropped in an areas 35 miles (56km) off the coast called the Celtic Deep (marked on the map)

An expedition involving explorer Ben Fogle (stock image) aims to prove the terrifying predator prowls the Irish Sea. A whale carcass that washed up on the north coast of Scotland earlier this year will be used as bait

‘Nevertheless a decomposing whale may prove impossible to ignore for a number of other magnificent oceanic sharks that are found in British waters, including the Blue Shark, Porbeagle, Shortfin Mako, Thresher – possibly even a Greenland Shark.”

Experts are divided about whether great whites really do swim close to UK shores.

Peirce told MailOnline that there’s a small chance great whites could be in British waters.

A famous great white named after the actress Nicole Kidman was tracked 13,670 miles (22,000km) between Cape Town and Australia and back in a matter of months.

However, the nearest sighting of a great white to Land’s End in Cornwall is 168 nautical miles – ‘just a morning’s stroll’ according to Dr Peirce who thinks there’s a good chance they come closer.

The team expects to see hammerhead as well as blue sharks, but the great white would be the ultimate prize. A file image of a school of hammerhead sharks is pictured

‘We almost certainly get “vagrant visitors”,’ he said, which means sharks not living in the area or that are regular visitors.

He believes around 10 per cent of recorded and claimed sightings of great whites are credible, making three or four true sightings very possible.

‘The big mystery is not whether we get the occasional great white visitor, but why not,’ he said.

‘Conditions in our waters are very similar to California, South Africa and parts of Australia where they live, so we don’t know why we don’t have our own population here’.