Surfers in shark 'supermarket'

2004-04-13 09:12

Cape Town - 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.

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" tourists most like to see, namely 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 Muizenberg.

Shallows

"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 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 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.

Wetsuits

"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."

Beachgoers, surfers and shark tour operators in Cape Town have been at each other's throats since young surfer JP Andrew was attacked by a Great White shark at Muizenberg last week.

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 into 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.

"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," said Gary Kleynhans, who operates a surf school in Muizenberg.

While chumming has been banned at various beaches around the world, Malcolm Smale, a marine biologist at the Bayworld Aquarium in Port Elizabeth, said there was no evidence that pouring fish blood into the water was contributing to shark attacks.

"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."

- AFP