CAPE TOWN, South Africa (29 May 2004) -- A spate of shark attacks off South Africa has been blamed on the growing number of shark diving trips by tourists. Following three serious incidents off the Cape in recent months, including one fatality, local people have criticised the use of "chumming" - dropping bait or fish blood into the sea to lure sharks as a spectacle for scuba divers. They believe it is encouraging the animals to come too close to beaches. In September last year, a surfer was killed off Cape Town and a 16-year-old boy lost his leg last month after being bitten by a great white. In the most recent incident, two weeks ago, a local fisherman was bitten by a shark. Since 1994, according to the Natal Sharks Board, there have been at least seven attacks off Cape Town alone. In the early 1990s, the rate was one per year for the whole of South Africa. Some blame the increase in attacks on the growth of shark-diving as a tourist pursuit. Glen Kleynhans, who runs a surf school in Muizenberg, near Cape Town, believes sharks are being conditioned to associate humans with food. "There has definitely been a lot more shark activity lately," he said. "I don't want to put all the blame on dive-tour operators, but it is possible that sharks make that link." Cage-diving, in which sharks are viewed from inside a metal cage suspended just below the surface of the water, has become a popular tourist pursuit in South Africa. While tour operators confirm that the industry is booming, they deny this has any impact on the number of shark-related incidents. "Our business has sky-rocketed over the past few years, from just one or two trips a week to 25 a month," said Paul Hanekom, owner of Unreal Dive Expeditions, a tour company based in South Africa. "However, the sharks we see one day are never the ones we encounter the next, because they migrate along the coastline. It is not possible to condition the animals." Chumming has been banned at various beaches around the world. However, Dr Malcolm Smale, a marine biologist at Bayworld Aquarium in Port Elizabeth, said it is unlikely anyway that the practice was contributing to a rise in shark attacks. "There is no evidence that chumming causes shark attacks. Every fisherman tossing bait into the sea is effectively chumming for sharks. Some commercial fishermen use hundreds of pounds of bait each day." However, fishing trawlers usually operate at a much greater distance from beaches than the dive boat. | | Theo Ferreira, who operates a shark-diving company, White Sharkaholic Adventures, had his licence suspended in December after he was found chumming for sharks off Fish Hoek beach in Muizenberg. In his view, chumming will continue regardless because of the high demand for viewing great whites, which have become part of the "Big Six" in South Africa (the others are lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino). Marine biologists believe there may be another explanation for the rising number of shark-related incidents off the Cape - an increase in the number of great white sharks, declared a protected species by the South African government in 1991. SOURCE - TelegraphCompanies and organizations promoting 'interactive' shark harassment activities... | PADI DEMA Project Aware Ocean Futures (Jean-Michel Cousteau) Stuart Cove Andy Cobb White Sharkaholic Adventures Marine Dynamics Shark Diving Unlimited Blackbeard's Liveaboards White Shark Adventures Great White Shark Cage Diving The White Shark Diving Company Aquacat |
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