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20 April 2004 Shark attack has beachgoers in a fury [Keyword: ]
Beachgoers and shark tour operators in Cape Town are at each other's throats after a young surfer was attacked by a great white shark last week. Tour operators are accused of making the waters dangerous with the bait they use to attract the Great White to their boats and to the legions of tourists who want to feast their eyes on the king of the shark family.
John Paul Andrew (16) is in a critical condition after a 3.5 metre great white shark bit part of his leg off while he was surfing off Muizenberg beach.
Outrage
After the attack, local newspapers were filled with letters from outraged readers, who accuse shark tour operators of endangering the lives of bathers and surfers by "chumming" the water.
"Chumming" is when tour operators throw a mixture of fish blood and oil in the water which attract sharks to their boats in False Bay — a prime territory for great whites which are attracted to large seal colonies in the area.
"We do not have scientific knowledge about what these chummers are doing, but what we do know is that there have been a lot more sharks in the water recently," Richard Barrett, a member of the False Bay Lifesaving Club told AFP.
"If these chummers are responsible, then they must get out of the water."
Sharks associating humans with food?
Gary Kleynhans, who operates a surf school in Muizenberg, says it was possible that sharks were starting to associate humans with food.
"There has definitely been a lot more shark activity lately. I have friends who are wave-skiers and they were harassed by sharks at Glencairn and Fish Hoek," he said.
"I don't want to put all the blame on tour operators, but it is possible that sharks are starting to associate humans with food."
Shark numbers on the rise
Marine biologists said that although they have no accurate data, the number of Great White sharks off the coast of South Africa seems to be on the rise since they were declared a protected species by marine authorities in 1991. This could be the reason for the increase in shark sightings.
In the past ten years there have been at least seven shark attacks, two of them fatal, on the coastline outside of Cape Town, according to the Natal Sharks Board, based north of Durban on South Africa's east coast.
Countrywide, there are on average between five and seven shark attacks every year, with an average of one fatality.
"No evidence" of chumming's contribution
While chumming has been banned at various beaches around the world, Malcolm Smale, a marine biologist at the Bayworld Aquarium in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth, said there was no evidence that pouring fish blood into the water was contributing to shark attacks.
"There is no evidence that chumming causes shark attacks," he said.
"Every fisherman that is tossing bait into the sea is effectively chumming for sharks. Some commercial fisherman use hundreds of kilograms of bait each day."
Just off Seal Island in False Bay, a shark tour operator tosses a tuna head overboard and ladles pilchard blood into the water, hoping that a Great White shark will pick up the scent and swim towards the vessel.
Popular tourist attraction
The boat's captain, Theo Ferreira, who has been operating a shark touring company for the past two years, says Great Whites have become a popular tourist attraction.
"There is a huge demand to see Great Whites — they have become part of the 'big six' in South Africa," he said, referring to the big five wild animals tourists most like to see — lions, buffalo, elephants, leopard and rhino.
In December last year, Ferreira had his licence suspended after he was found chumming for Great Whites just off Fish Hoek beach, near to Muizenberg."When I heard there was a shark scare in False Bay, I wanted to get the shark out of the shallows into deep water and used the same method all shark researchers use to attract a shark in the right direction," he said.
Chumming draws sharks away from beach
"Chumming actually draws sharks in the area away from bathers and surfers."
Late in the afternoon, Ferreira peers through his binoculars and notices a seal swimming frantically as it is pursued by a large dark silhouette in the green turquoise water.
Tourists on the boast fix their binoculars onto a Great White shark's dorsal fin as it splashes vigorously in the water before disappearing below the surface with the seal.
Ferreira says surfers most probably look just like seals to great whites.
"Surfers wear wetsuits and they probably look just like a seal to a shark," he said.
"On the day of the attack, the water was dirty and there were seals around. The surfers were in the middle of a Great White supermarket."
Source: AFP
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