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The basking shark Cetorhinus maximus is listed as Vulnerable (A1a,d, + 2d) worldwide, and Endangered (EN A1a,d) in the north-east Atlantic in the IUCN Red List. However, protection for this species is limited in European waters and varies spatially. Without information on the amount of time individuals spend in different areas, any potential risks to population levels from incidental capture, possible future exploitation and climate change will be difficult to assess. To quantify the annual space-use patterns within political–economic zones in the north-east Atlantic we used geolocation data from seven transmitter-tagged basking sharks tracked for 964 days (16,754 km). Basking sharks tagged within the UK protection zone off south-west England and north-west Scotland spent subsequently only about 22% (range, 2.4–47.7%) of time at liberty within this zone, and a further 30% in the UK fishing zone. Although only about 6% of time was spent in the territorial waters of Ireland and France, basking sharks remained in UK, Irish and French fishing and EEZ zones for over 71% of track time (range, 51.4–89.2%). Sharks did not occupy International waters away from the European shelf at any time. These results indicate basking sharks move between different economic zones and were not afforded statutory protection for the major part of the time (78%) they spent within preferred habitat on the European shelf. This demonstrates the limited capacity of the British protection zone for encompassing the greater part of shark space utilisation. Tracked basking sharks regularly crossed national zone boundaries suggesting that conservation measures for this species need to be framed on a European, rather than national, basis. This study highlights the need for better information about the movements and habitat use by marine animals if conservation strategies are to be truly effective.