Petition to stop tagging of Cape Town sharks

2012-04-05 09:25

Cape Town - A group of people is petitioning to stop a US-documentary maker from tagging and tampering with great white sharks in False Bay, Cape Town, it was reported on Thursday.

The Cape Times reported that the petitioners said tagging was not only damaging to sharks, but produced poor data.

In the petition, which was started in California, they said research should not be conducted for the sake of Chris Fischer's television show.

They called on the environmental affairs department to cancel a permit allowing access to False Bay.
Fischer was funding local shark research to the tune of R15.6m.

Last month, he tagged great whites in Mossel Bay using a special vessel which lifted and submerged the creatures with a platform. He planned to do the same in False Bay later this month.

The project was backed by 30 local scientists and 16 universities and research institutions, which said the data gathered was invaluable in protecting the species.

Fischer told the newspaper South Africans did not know where their sharks went.

"If we don't help local scientists, it won't be long before they disappear to the shark fin mafia."

- SAPA