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Worries about shark-cage diving
07/06/2006 13:24 - (SA)
Theuns van der Westhuizen, Die Burger
Cape Town - The use of ''chumming'' and bait to get great white sharks to leap out of the water ought to be prohibited.
The number of permits for offering cage diving to see great white sharks should under no circumstances be increased, said the Cape city council.
These recommendations are part of a technical report containing the council's comments on the policy of the national department of environmental affairs and tourism concerning the cage-diving industry.
The policy document, which wants to achieve a balance between protecting great white sharks and recreation, was published about a month ago for comment.
Could influence shark ecology
The report on the council's technical comments, which was submitted on Tuesday to the council's portfolio committee on planning and the environment, said the granting of cage-diving permits in False Bay and Mossel Bay must be reviewed.
The council also recommended that growth in the shark cage-diving industry should be restricted until there was scientific proof that cage diving did not contribute to the danger of shark attacks and had no influence on the ecology of great white sharks.
There is evidence that the appearance of great white sharks near beaches is increasing and in some areas this poses an ever greater danger for visitors to the beaches. Since 2000 there have been nine shark attacks on the Cape coast, three of them fatal.
Shark cage diving had increased greatly over the past ten years and was now an industry with an estimated turnover of about R200m a year, the report stated.
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