A fisherman poses with a legally protected great white shark at South Africa's Mossel Bay.
(photo courtesy of Oceans Research)

Man Illegally Catches a great white shark in Mossel Bay
Press release – 16th October, 2011: Mossel Bay

On Friday 14th October 2011, Oceans Research received a phone call from local members of the community regarding an incident that was taking place at Beacon Point in Mossel Bay. A fisherman was in the process of catching a great white shark and was hauling it onto the rocks. In South Africa, the white shark is a protected species, and if one is inadvertently hooked then it must be immediately released.

Ryan Johnson, a scientist from Oceans Research rushed down to the location to discover the fisherman still had the shark out of the water; was making no effort to return it to the water and was instead posing for photographs being taken by his two companions. Simultaneously, Oceans Research scientist, Enrico Gennari, telephoned the local fisheries inspector from the Department of Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), who assured Gennari that he was going to make his way to the location to investigate (the DAFF offices are situated less than 1 kilometer from the fishing location).

A white shark is hauled onto the rocks at Beacon Point in South Africa's Mossel Bay.
(photo courtesy of Oceans Research)

On arrival, Ryan Johnson confronted the fisherman and informed him that he was breaking the law, that the great white is a protected species, and asked the fisherman to move away from the shark to enable Johnson to return it to the Ocean. Assisted by a member of the community, Johnson returned the shark to the water by waiting for large enough swells to arrive and take some of the shark’s weight. Following release into the water, the shark rolled onto its side, righted itself, bumped into a rock and swam out of sight. It is impossible to know whether the shark will survive this ordeal.

Following the incidence, Johnson and the fisherman, believed to be from George argued passionately. When asked whether he knew that fishing great whites was illegal, the fisherman responded “so what, you (Johnson) drink and drive, everyone does things illegal so what is the big deal?”

The fisherman then started to pack up his equipment and move it to his car with the aid of the two young men. This equipment included a kayak, which presumably was used to paddle out and place the massive baits and tackle, as they were too large to cast. The entire fishing set up was designed to catch very large sharks, and it was clear that the fisherman’s intent was to target and catch white sharks, a protected species.

Johnson waited at the site for 20 minutes whilst the fishers packed up and left. Unfortunately no compliance officer arrived by the time that the fishers left. When Oceans Research attempted to telephone the inspector again, his cell phone was off and as far as is known, he never arrived at the scene of the offence.

In the past four years Oceans Research has routinely identified fishermen targeting and catching white sharks in Mossel Bay. During almost every public holiday, fishermen from Cape Town and other major metros appear in the small Mossel Bay community armed with the latest shark fishing kit and place massive hooks and bait in areas known to be congregation sites for white sharks. Whilst fishing used to occur in the evenings and early morning when detection would be unlikely, in recent years the lack of any enforcement has resulted in fishing becoming increasingly brazen. According to the Mossel Bay community, people like this fisherman bring shame to the recreational angling sport as they act in a non-professional manner, and isolate themselves from the majority of the angling community which recognise the importance of these apex predators in the marine ecosystem.

South Africa has a proud history of conserving and responsibly managing white sharks. However, in recent years, the increase in sport fishing for sharks has resulted in an increase in the targeting for this protected species. Whilst many sport fishing clubs are dedicated to fishing responsibly and within the laws, rogue fisherman routinely target and catch great whites in South Africa. To date not one reported incident has ever led to a prosecution. Why is that? Ryan Johnson believes that it is related to legislation. “The difficulty in prosecuting and investigating such cases, is that fisherman officially claim that they are not targeting white sharks (when questioned) despite unofficially admitting they are targeting white sharks in social media sites such as Facebook. Despite being equipped with tackle designed to capture sharks as large as white sharks, fishing in locations that are known great white aggregation sites, the authorities claim that ‘intent’ cannot be sufficiently established to lead to a successful prosecution”. He also notes that “Despite law stating that fishermen inadvertently hooking white sharks must cut them free as soon as they are identified, the fishermen in question refuse to do this as they claim it is more responsible to land the shark, take the hook out and then release it (after taking a bunch of snap shots) – It is a very convenient loop-hole for rogue fishermen”.

What occurs in an environment where there are no consequences for breaking environmental laws? People believe they have a free reign and thus ignore legislation. So, are white sharks protected in South Africa? If protection extends only to the signing of legislation, then yes. If protection means actually keeping white sharks safe in South Africa, then the answer is no, they are not adequately protected. Without immediate action against this practise, South Africa’s reputation for responsible environmental policy is in danger of being eroded. We are the ambassadors of one of the oceans most iconic yet vulnerable species; it is time for us to seize this responsibility.

Oceans Research would like to thank the concerned members of the Mossel Bay community who reported this incident to Oceans Research and assisted in the release of the shark. White sharks are a unique natural asset that adds significant value to Mossel Bay, it is up to residents to ensure that our environmental integrity is protected. We would urge for anyone who witnesses this behaviour in the future to contact Oceans Research and local authorities immediately. Oceans Research can be reached by phoning 044 690 5799 or contacting the local DAFF inspectors.

Great white shark in the back of this Oceans Research vessel after breaching into the boat.
(photo courtesy of Oceans Research)

3m Great White Shark breaches into Research Boat Oceans Research Team gets a little too close for comfort

Mossel Bay, 18 July, 2011: The Oceans Research team, a marine research organisation working in Mossel Bay, got the surprise of a lifetime today when a 3 meter great white shark breached into their research vessel, shocking a field specialist and her crew.

Field Specialist Dorien Schroder of Mossel Bay, and six crew members had been chumming since 7:30 this morning with sardines off of Seal Island, conducting research for a population dynamics study that has been ongoing for the past three years. They had been chumming for over an hour and had a fair amount of activity around the boat, taking data on at least 4 sharks, including a shark named Pasella, which has been frequently seen in the bay since 2008.

Activity around the boat had ceased for about five minutes and all was pretty quiet at the stern. Schroder describes the incident; Next thing I know I hear a splash, and see a white shark breach out of the water from side of the boat hovering, literally, over the crewmember who was chumming on the boats portside. Schroder automatically sprang into action and pulled the crewmember quickly away towards the stern of the boat’s platform into safety. The crewmembers all jumped towards the stern of the boat as the 3m, 500kg, shark landed on the top of the fuel and bait storage containers. The shark had landed with only half of its body onto the boat and Schroder and her team hoped that as it thrashed it would make its way back into the water. But instead the panicked shark worked itself into the boat getting stuck in between the 1.5x2m area behind the container and boats stern. The shark began thrashing around, destroying equipment and cutting the fuel lines as it twisted and turned on the boats deck.

In the meantime, Schroder was able to calm her stressed crew and direct them to walk along the railing towards the bow of the boat to safety. Schroder immediately radioed Enrico Gennari, and Ryan Johnson, both Directors of Oceans and world renowned shark scientists about the incident. Gennari and Johnson quickly assembled a team as they raced to assist Schroder and her crew. Schroder then began pouring water over the shark’s gills consistently until Johnson, Gennari, and their crew of field specialists Riley Elliott and Rob Lewis arrived 15 minutes later. They immediately pulled their boat Lamnidae, alongside the vessel Cheetah, and climbed aboard. Once aboard they made sure that no one was injured, all crew members were safe, and the environment was secure before working their best to figure out how to get the shark back into the water quickly and safely. Johnson and Gennari secured a rope around the tail of the shark and tied the other side of the rope to the vessel Lamindae and attempted to use the side of the boat as leverage to tow the shark out of the boat into the water but were unsuccessful. They then tried this method again using Lamnidae to tow the shark off the platform through the opening in between the motors, but both methods failed. Port authority was then contacted regarding the incident and was requested to assist in getting a crane so that the 500kg shark could be safely lifted off of the boat and released. Since the fuel lines in the vessel had been cut by the shark, Lamnidae had to tow Cheetah back from the island into the harbour with the shark still onboard.

Scientists work to help rescue the trapped white shark.
(photo courtesy of Oceans Research)

Once back in the harbour, Cheetah moored next to a fishing boat and they assisted giving the crew a water hose which was immediately placed inside the mouth of the shark so that water could further ventilate the gills. The Smit Lombok then moored alongside Cheetah and they connected one of their large lifting hooks to the rope which was secured to the shark’s tail and began to lift the shark off of the boat and into the water. The shark immediately began thrashing as soon as it hit the water and Johnson and Gennari quickly cut the ropes as the shark swam away from the stern, and underneath the Smit Lombok. The shark was then seen swimming towards the harbor mouth.

The Oceans team had hoped that the shark would be able to orient itself out of the harbour however about 30 minutes later the shark had beached itself onto a small beach inside the harbour. Enrico Gennari and Ryan Johnson returned to aid the shark in its orientation by physically trying to walk it however the shark was unable to orient itself and again veered towards the beach. The team of scientists then decided to fasten the shark to Lamnidae using two ropes attached to both the tail and behind the pectoral fins with the sharks head tilted upwards in order to ventilate the gills properly and slowly made their way out of the harbor. About one kilometer from the harbor the shark began to regain its orientation and strength and as the ropes were cut the shark powerfully swam away.

When working with animals this large you have to take every precaution possible to ensure the safety of the scientists and sharks. However, it is impossible to predict everything that can happen. What is important is how you respond to such situation. No one was injured and the shark survived, this is a credit to our team, the port authorities and members of the community who assisted.

Discovery’s new promotional video for “Ultimate Air Jaws” follows Chris Fallows as he attempts to understand why white sharks are coming in close to shore of the coast of Mossel Bay.

If this video is an indication of what we can expect from the network this year as far as promotional material for Shark Week 2010 goes, then I’d say they’ve made leaps and bounds in the right direction compared to last year’s marketing campaign. The promo video features some amazing slow-motion breach footage and seems to be more focused on information and education versus trying to drum up fear. Hopefully, we’ll see more of these types of promotional videos from Discovery leading up to this year’s Shark Week.

A non-monster great white shark smiles for the camera.

A Daily Telegraph article titled, Monster great white shark caught in South Africa not yet fully grown, reports about another supposed “monster.” This time the “monster” is unfortunately a white shark that died as a result of being entangled in a shark net on August 31, 2009 near Mossel Bay (Western Cape, South Africa). According to the report, the shark was an adolescent female measuring 4.3m (14′) in length. Those familiar with white sharks would hardly consider this to be an exceptionally large white shark, but for some reason some in the media have deemed it a “monster shark.” For some reason, The Daily Telegraph is reporting that the news that this is an adolescent shark is “frightening,” despite the fact that white sharks are known to grow considerably larger than the shark involved in this story. In fact, a much larger white shark was caught in the same area in 2002, according to the report. No word on whether or not that white shark met the requirements to be classified as a “monster.” Then again, “monster shark” might not have been a cool buzzword in the media back in 2002.

Some of the media outlets out there need to come back to Earth, because they are clearly way over the top, when it comes to these “monster shark” stories.

In related news, IOL News, is reporting that the dissection of the shark caught in Mossel Bay has been filmed by Windfall Films for the UK documentary series, Inside Nature’s Giants.