SASC/SOSSC public statement on Bronzie Festival

The Two Oceans Angling Club (TOAC) will be hosting its first annual Bronzie Festival on December 11th. TOAC invited SASC and the Save Our Seas Shark Centre (SOSSC) to participate in this festival, which marks the first time many of us local scientists, conservationists, public volunteers and anglers will apply a co-management approach to recreational fisheries in the False Bay area.

In light of concerns expressed by several members of the public SASC and SOSSC deemed it necessary to issue a public statement on our participation in this angling competition.

Please read the statement below if you would like further information in this regard. Comments and queries are welcome, so feel free to contact us.

Statement from the South African Shark Conservancy (SASC) and the Save Our Seas Shark Centre (SOSSC) regarding participation in the first annual Two Oceans Angling Club Bronze Whaler Festival, to be held on December 11^th, 2010

Issued on December 7, 2010

SASC and SOSSC were invited to participate in a bronze whaler shark (Carcharhinus brachyurus) angling competition by the Two Oceans Angling Club (TOAC) – organisers of the event – on Saturday, December 11, 2010. The purpose of participating in said event is threefold:

1) to collect biological, genetic and population dynamics data on bronze whaler sharks to inform species-specific conservation and management measures in South Africa and internationally;

2) to engage in a public forum with recreational shark anglers and promote cooperation and collaboration between primary resource users and the research and conservation communities;

3) to monitor shark angling ethics (e.g., handling, fishing methods) to better inform primary resource users and the scientific community at large on best-industry practices to mitigate and eliminate harmful (or perceived harmful) angling practices.

SASC and SOSSC recognise the growing value of collaborating with resource users to promote the sustainable co-management of fisheries as tabled in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Association Technical Guidelines on the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) (FAO Technical Guidelines 2003) and South Africa’s Marine Living Resources Act (MLRA 1998).

The FAO Technical Guidelines on the ecosystem approach to fisheries (FAO 2003) define the EAF as follows: An ecosystem approach to fisheries strives to balance diverse societal objectives, by taking into account the knowledge and uncertainties about biotic, abiotic and human components of ecosystems and their interactions and applying an integrated approach to fisheries within ecologically meaningful boundaries.

However, SASC and SOSSC recognise that many elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays) are inherently susceptible to overexploitation, which includes potential mortalities resulting from recreational angling activities. Although post-capture mortality rates of elasmobranchs have not been quantified in South Africa, it is likely that improper treatment and handling of animals result in unnecessary mortalities and undue harm – causing long-term suffering and potentially death - to captured sharks.

It is a guiding principle of both organisations to promote the sustainable use and conservation of marine resources, but both organisations are in agreement that unsustainable and unethical fishing practices cannot be condoned if viable alternatives exist.

In light of the aforementioned, SASC and SOSSC publicly state that, if any perceived deliberate unethical and unsustainable fishing practices are witnessed as being employed by participants during the Bronzie Festival, we will be hesitant to contribute to, or take part in, future events of this nature. This includes support by way of use of organisational logos, scientific services and/or promotion of the annual event as a conservation-conscious undertaking.

SASC Interns go on an adventure

Late September: Cage-diving Interns!

Thanks to Marine Dynamics in Gansbaai (http://www.sharkwatchsa.com/index.php),

SASC’s first-ever interns Nic and I, and visiting scientist Kat, were able to go cage-diving with great white sharks on Tuesday 21^st September. Although Kat and I had both cage-dived with white sharks before, it was still sure to be amazing, and for first-timer Nic, mind-boggingly so!

Meag dropped us off just before 8am for our yummy breakfast spread provided for all cage-diving customers by the company, including hash browns. Nic and I studiously cleaned our cameras, lenses and underwater housings with dust blowers and microfibre pens, filled up on coffee and tea, then headed upstairs for the intro briefing by Marine Dynamics intern Zach. Life-jackets on - we headed excitedly onto the boat and enjoyed the gorgeous views on the top deck heading out. A mere (what felt like) 20 minutes we were already at a good site for the day and the cage was dropped down, and the chumming began with fish oil and fish heads, the air and sea heavy with anticipation...

And then there they were! Or at least there one 3.5 metre great white shark was, to start with, approaching the boat, bait-line and coming back round repeatedly for more investigations of the source of the tasty smells in the water... The first group geared up in very new (or extremely well-maintained) and stylish wetsuits, booties and hoods, pulled on masks diligently washed and cleaned by the Marine Dynamics interns and volunteers, and given a 4-6 kg weight belt to minimise buoyancy in the water, and climbed down into the cage for the show!

We were determined to go in the same group together, so we took our last pre-cage photos from top-deck, geared up quickly and awaited our turn. It seems the wait allowed the shark to warm up a bit and get a bit more inquisitive, and then another, and another one again, joined the first one, and finally it was our turn to jump in! The staff up top keeping watch and throwing the bait line shout, “Down, down, down! Divers, the shark, down left, down left!”...

And so we draw our breaths quickly, and jump ourselves down below water-level, hooking our toes under the provided bar near the bottom of the cage, as instructed, and grabbing the lower hand bar inside the cage, away from potential sharky teeth... And see one the world’s most amazing creatures enter our view outside the lower left corner of the cage where I am, and then swim past the front of our cages and our stunned eyes, and head for the fish on the end of the bait line, never catching it before it gets pulled up out of the water.

It’s hard to describe the surreal experience of watching an apex predator less than a metre away from us ‘hunt’ for food... And the stunningly beautiful eyes of the great white as they watch you, watching them. I have cage-dived a few times now but each time is no less beautiful or surreal than the last. Especially knowing that these special creatures are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List (http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/3855/0), and the increasing threats they are under from commercial long-lining as by-catch, the mostly illegal shark-finning industry, and many other factors, not the least global warming impacts on the ocean’s environment. And imagine the disastrous trophic effects that the removal of species at the top of the food chain would have on the ocean’s ecosystem!

We stayed in for at least 20 minutes, though it felt like much longer in the 16 degree water, but never tired of the sharks making passes in front of our cage over and over again. On the way back we were lucky to witness two beautiful southern right whales playing and rolling repeatedly in front of our boat, and then watch the hundreds of seals chilling and playing on smelly Seal Island. Life’s pretty good! And if I’m not mistaken by Nic and Kat’s repeated squeals of happiness going into and coming out of the cage, the other girls agree too!

It’s important to note the unfounded fear of many people of these beautiful creatures, perhaps partly perpetrated by fictional media like the Jaws films, and maybe again by the upcoming Halle Berry film Dark Tide. Save Our Seas produced an interesting article on why white sharks have every bitten people, and explains the extremely rare times this has ever occurred in history, they were investigative, mostly non-fatal, nibbles to determine that humans, in fact, are not their food of choice at all, in terms of calories, fat content, etc (http://saveourseas.com/articles/why_do_white_sharks_bite_people). And with less than 60 attacks of any species of sharks on people each year, with only a handful being fatal, it seems pretty obvious that jumping into a car and getting on the road is a much more dangerous place to be than around white sharks! But perhaps I’m preaching to the converted here...

There are sometimes suggestions by the public that cage-diving might encourage numbers of white shark attacks around the Western Cape, and condition the creatures to see the cage-diving boats as a regular food source, but as the bait-lines are pulled out before the shark has a chance to eat it (except for a tiny amount of times when the staff member is not quite quick enough), and there is no real scientific evidence to support the theories. Obviously research continues to be conducted to find out more of this great fish’s habits and lifestyle, but the public awareness on shark biology and conservation that cage-diving operators provide through this tourism instrument aids the creatures’ protection by showing the average person that the creature is indeed graceful, beautiful, and not aggressive towards humans. And by protecting the apex predators in our oceans we are helping ensure a healthy marine ecosystem and food web, which helps maintain an overall earth ecosystem and food web, which we are very much a part of, so is good for us in the end!

But back to the blog; white shark cage-diving is an amazing experience I’d encourage anyone to have, especially those who car for our earth and its environment. More often than not you will end up a shark lover if you weren’t to begin with... and that’s the coolest club to be in ;)

Many thanks again to Marine Dynamics for fantastic life experience, and keep your eyes peeled for a post on our first ever White Shark Training Program where we at SASC conducted shark biology and conservation modules with staff from various operators in the white shark cage-diving industry, with much positive feedback from our participants!

Cheers,

Christine W. Chan

SASC Intern

Melinda McLeod: I am a graduate student of the University of Johannesburg (UJ), where I received my Bachelors in Zoology and Human Physiology. I am currently involved in the educating of the first year nursing students at UJ in Human Physiology for the second consecutive year. I have always had Sharks as my passion and find it a great blessing and privilege to be able to work so closely with them as well as such a world-class scientific team. My goal is to be able to work intensely on researching the Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharius) in and around South African waters. I am specifically interested in the Genetics and life history of these magnificent animals. I am excited about my internship with SASC as it forms a great platform for the conservation and research of Elasmobranches in the Cape area. I hope I can become a positive contribution to the Conservancy.

M. McLeod

SASC's First Interns

A new era for SASC... Interns!

Woah, Meag and the team weren’t lying when they said it would be a busy couple months! Now that things have finally settled down, for now, we’re endeavouring to tell you all about all the amazing events and activities we have been up to.

SASC’s inaugural interns, Nic (marine biology student from Southamption, UK) and I (environmental scientist from Sydney, Australia) arrived on 1^st September with varying levels of drama; contracting a bad bug on the plane and ending up so ill as to need wheelchair transportation on arrival (Nic), and huge flight delays and missed connections from Mozambique during the food riot violence (me).

We soon got to know our way around this awesome office, with its demersal shark tanks and intertidal organisms touch tank in the Shark Lab, pretty marine education centre with Shark Camp painted walls and posters (like “I Love sharks Becose: They are speshel”), loads of shark and marine biology reference books, and the list goes on! On Nic’s third, but my second, day at work (I missed one due to my own bug!) we were already dissecting white-spotted smoothhound sharks for Nic’s honours thesis studying their stomach contents! What else? draining and cleaning the algae out of the tanks; measuring, tagging and releasing our resident sharks, then ‘chumming’ with squid/pilchards to hand-catch more, this list goes on J

And bugs aside, I can’t really complain about coming from a southern Mozambique manta ray conservation internship with humpback whales breaching in front of our dive boat every day, to a Western Cape shark conservation internship with Southern Right Whales breaching out the front of our office window every day! I could go on but there are many events to cover so I’ll leave you with some photos of our first days at SASC, and SASC’S first few days having interns J Next entry, cage-diving interns!

Cheers,

Christine

Just another day at the SASC office

It's a beautiful day in Hermanus today - the sun is shining, no wind to speak of and the local marine life is putting on a show. Just moments ago a pod of 200 common dolphins swam by our office, only 10 metres from us! Following in their wake were two Bryde's whales, chasing the fish being herded by the dolphins. And surrounding all of this were at least five different southern right whales - the most common winter residents of Walker Bay, who come to our shores every year to calve and feed.

Just another fantastic day at work!

A busy few months ahead for the SASC Team

September and October are shaping up to be a busy time at SASC with many exciting events and outreach projects planned. From a local underwater cleanup as part of International Coastal Cleanup Week to our Marine Biology and Shark Camps for local teens and kids, there is an event or activity for every age and interest level!

We hope we see you on one (or ALL!!) of these dates listed below!

August 25th (19h00 @ the Whale House, Hermanus): Screening of Animal Planet's River Monsters adventure documentary on SASCs Breede River Zambezi shark project.

September 13-18: International Coastal Cleanup Week... Join SASC for our underwater cleanup in Walker Bay on September 18th. Meet us at the SASC centre at 11h00 to be part of the fun.

September 15th (19h00 @ the Whale House, Hermanus): Talk on the effects of marine pollution as part of International Coastal Cleanup Week.

September 24-28: Whale Festival... Join us for daily dissections of sharks and daily feedings of the sharks housed in our centre. You can also witness interesting and exciting shark behavioural experiments currently underway.

September 27-29: Marine Biology Camp for Teens aged 14-18 (book now to reserve your spot!)

September 30 - October 1: Shark Camp for Kids aged 6-13 (book now to reserve your spot!).

October 1-4: Join us at the Hermanus Ecofair (Fernkloof Nature Reserve) to see our display on human/shark interactions.

We invite all of you to participate in any way you can. Contact us on info@sharkconservancy.org if you would like more info on any upcoming events.

Cheers,
the SASC Team

SASC is pleased to welcome our colleague, Katie Gledhill, aboard!

The SASC team met up with Katie for the first time in June for our World Oceans Day events. On her way home to Australia to pursue her PhD degree, Kat decided to spend a few months with us in Hermanus. We extend a warm welcome to her & can't wait for our shark friends to meet her. Kat ha s an impressive CV with loads of experience working on shark projects aroung the World. Her fascinating Bio can be read below:

Growing up in Australia, a huge part of life has been spent by the ocean. Since I can remember, my favourite activities involved going to the beach, swimming, snorkeling, diving, investigating rockpools and marveling at the natural beauty and creatures of the sea. I remember clearly one of my first shark encounters was while fishing with a friend. A small Port Jackson shark was fouled hooked on a friends fishing line. Holding the animal to dehook the shark to return to its home, I was fascinated by the beauty and sheer strength of the animal and since that moment my passion for sharks began. I decided to focus this adoration into doing something positive for the oceans and its inhabitants. I graduated from University Technology Sydney with a BSC in Environmental Biology with a major in Marine and Coastal Ecosystems. After finishing my undergraduate degree, I completed an Honour thesis on the demography and behaviour of Abudefduf species, a small tropical damelfish, in the Sydney region. I have been a committee member and councilor on various non-profit and government organisations, including the Australian Marine Science Association Council, Christine Baltzer Parks Foundation and Sydney Water Customer Committee. I was heavily involved in the consultation process and outreach effort to conserve the critically endangered Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharius taurus) on the East Coast of Australia and the creation of Marine Protected Areas to protect critical habitats of the species, as well as the successful ‘Save Ningaloo Reef’ campaign for several years to protect the area from overdevelopment and conserve the area for whale shark and tiger shark populations.

From then I travelled to various locations around the world assisting with marine research and conservation efforts. After working on a research project on marine turtles and coral reef fishes in the Yuctan Peninsula in Mexico and diving with sharks in Belise and Honduras, I pursued my dream of conducting scientific research with sharks with Dr. Samuel Gruber at the world renowned Bimini Biological Field Station. I assisted in numerous research projects and was ultimately given the position of Station Manager for almost four years. Here I was given the opportunity to be involved in the research of several elasmobranch species including lemons, tigers, bulls, blacktip, sharpnose, nurse, carribean reef sharks and the critically endangered smalltooth sawfish in Bimini. Additionally, I have worked on projects with lemon sharks and bull sharks off the coast of Jupiter, Florida for three seasons; Marquesas Keys, Florida; Tiger Beach, Bahamas and a short longline survey with Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina and spent some time in the genetics lab at Stoneybrook University working with Dr. Demian Chapman on a genetics project on Blacktip sharks (C.limbatus) in Bimini, Bahamas.

I travelled to Southern Africa a few months ago to get a feel for the elasmobranch research and conservation efforts are being conducted in the region. I also got to live out a lifelong dream of mine to swim with Great Whites and Whale Sharks in South Africa and Mozambique! I assisted the South African Shark Conservancy (SASC) with an inspiring Oceans Day event in which hundreds of local school children and members of the community attended, pledging to conserve the oceans. I was then given the opportunity to assist SASC with a bull shark (Zambezi shark) tagging and tracking research trip to the beautiful Breede River, where the world’s largest bull shark was caught by SASC in 2009. During these experiences, I was inspired by Meag and SASCs conservation and outreach efforts. Now I am here to assist SASC with their outreach, research and conservation efforts. I am so excited to helping out here for the next few months!

Sharks have been around for approximately 400 million years and play such an important role in the ocean ecosystem. Little is known about the status and biology of many species and studies show that shark populations continue to become threatened in regions throughout the world. It is our duty to contribute to the understanding and conservation of these special animals. There is so much work to be done and the more people we can inspire and educate, especially from a young age, to magnificence of these creatures and their importance in our oceans, the greater chance we have of conserving shark populations for generations to come.