'Great White' Numbers Dwindling
The sleepy seaside village of Gansbaai is known for being a 'Great White
Capital'. Reports of low shark sightings prompted me to go investigate and find out what this means for Western Cape tourism.
It's a common nightmare, shared by anyone with a healthy fear or fascination with the ocean. You're surrounded by salty black water in the middle of the night. It's quiet. A little too quiet.
And then you feel it: a gentle swell lifts from below, a movement of water that indicates you're not alone and that something big is near. You wake up in a cold sweat. It's just a dream. Thanks a lot Spielberg!
This primal fear (and films like Jaws) has helped propagate the image of Great White Sharks as mindless man-eaters. But is this nightmare accurate?
A 2013 report published in the journal Marine Policy revealed that an estimated 100 million sharks are killed by humans every year. In stark contrast, only 12 humans succumb to shark attacks worldwide, according to National Geographic.
Reports over the past 30 years show no increase in shark attacks, yet shark numbers are dwindling quicker than you can hum the Jaws theme.
A Stellenbosch University research team conducting a three-year project led by Conservation International found that it's the Great White shark - and not humans - that are in dangerous waters.
The team's pioneering research in 2016 revealed that there are only between 350 and 520 individual Great White sharks left in South African seas. The result? A collection of human activity like shark nets, baiting, pollution, poaching, coastal tourism and changes in weather patterns and ocean currents.
Scientists fear that ocean acidification could pose further problems for sharks. Sharks - an ancient species - have managed to adapt to ocean acidification conditions in the past. But, according to the scientists, they’ve never had to adapt so quickly as they are adapting today.
Diving with the Apex
One morning, I pull my friend Wehan from bed. I hand him a camera and appoint him as my official photographer for the day. His reward? A trip to Gansbaai for a swim in the sea with man's most feared ocean predator.
He mutters some concern, but before we knew it, we were overlooking the Kleinbaai harbour near Gansbaai - a boiler room of Great White tour operators that powers the tourism sector of this town.
We report to the front desk of Great White Shark Cage Diving Company who, I'm happy to report, is not just another diving operator, but a company that's truly committed to conservation.
As founding members of the Great White Protection Foundation GWSCDC has been a leading voice in the call for operators to collaborate in protecting the dwindling number of sharks and other marine species off the coastline of South Africa.
A crucial part of their initiative is to educate local and international visitors about the conservation plight of the Great White shark.
We sit down for a coffee and a safety briefing led by marine biologist and tour leader Mary Rowlinson. She has been documenting and studying shark sightings in the bay for the past 10 years.
Mary's clearly passionate about sharks and knows how to play her crowd. To get them listening, she shoots off some entertaining facts about Great Whites (enticing the ooms & aahs) before closing off with the inspiring conservation speech.
“This is one of several misconceptions that have been created about Great Whites. People think that because sharks are one of the world's oldest prehistoric creatures, they'll keep on surviving," she says.
Streams of fish blood and oil trailing in the water behind our cage-diving boat (a sea-cabin cruiser cat made everyone onboard a little queasy. We've been bobbing in the ocean for hours before Rowlinson phones one of the spotters: “Nothing here, let’s move on,” comes the call over the radio.
“Great white shark sightings on the South African coast has been very low of late," Rowlinson says.
“That has massive implications for the ocean’s ecology. Great White sharks are top predators. They are much like lions. If you take top predators out of the environment, the rest of the environment will collapse.”
Shark cage diving has grown into a lucrative tourism industry along these south coast towns that prides itself on almost guaranteed interactions with Great Whites.
But while it once was not unusual to see 15 to 20 great white sharks per trip, Rowlinson says she now counts herself lucky if she sees one or two.
Local reports estimate that less than 340 breeding Great White are left in the area. For a healthy, growing population there needs to be at least 500.
With fewer great whites as predators in the local waters, the population of Cape fur seals has grown rapidly, which has a negative effect on fish populations and the rest of the ecosystem.
“We are polluting the oceans, and as top predators they tend to accumulate heavy metals in their bodies and that can be very detrimental for their survival,” Rowlinson says.
Poaching is another problem. “People want the jaws of a Great White shark hanging in their pub,” she says.
After several hours out at sea and a few copper shark sightings, Rawlinson and her team pull up the anchors. “We've never had such a problem, it's quite worrying,” she says.
The Orca Threat
An orca whale killing spree of Great White sharks that has gripped the Western Cape coast since May 2017 is not only threatening the already endangered shark species, but also the shark cage diving industry.
Orca predation of Great White sharks – resulting in four sharks experiencing the same attack in which the sharks’ livers were neatly removed with the rest of the animal still intact – is a first of this kind of attack in South African waters.
The series of attacks which took place on SA’s Western Cape coast – three in May and one in June last year - also resulted in the first ever dissection of a great white shark following an attack of this nature.
As scientifically fascinating, and ecologically alarming and mysterious as these attacks may be, it also poses a threat to the country’s coastal tourism sector.
Rawlinson, explains that orca predation has resulted in the great white sharks moving to safer territory.
“The shark cage diving industry has a limited permitted area and sightings in the bay were affected as the white sharks, sensing a threat, temporarily left the area for a couple of weeks.”
“However, the sharks slowly started returning and sightings continued as usual” the report adds, but then a fourth attack happened and the sharks were scarce again for a few weeks before sightings resumed," she says.
"Many clients are not giving up on seeing a Great White and we know that the sharks will return to the bay as they always have, so we don’t want to miss out by not being on sea when they do.
Rowlinson adds that during her last trip they saw a beautiful three-metre Great White. "Some of our clients are choosing to do the whale watching or eco-trip with sister companies," says Rawlinson.
She says that while the low sightings have impacted business in the Gansbaai area, tourists continue to visit the town and shark sighting tour businesses continue to operate. "We still get tourists."
While tour operators continue with business, Rawlinson says there are fewer shark cage dives booked resulting in operators buying less fuel to go out into the ocean – this being an example of how there has been a “ripple effect on other businesses”.
When asked how Gansbaai tourism is dealing with the impact of the low sightings on the tourism industry, Rawlinson says that the tourism bureau is yet to meet with the affected parties. “We want to get shark cage diving tour operators together to see what can be done."
