Videos show 'cruelty to sharks'
In this framegrab from YouTube, a white shark grabs a baited rope on the side of a white shark tour cage, apparently at Gansbaai. In this framegrab from YouTube, a white shark grabs a baited rope on the side of a white shark tour cage, apparently at Gansbaai.
A number of recent YouTube videos show local white shark tour operators apparently flouting regulations by allowing sharks to grab baited ropes and bash against the side of the cages filled with tourists.
It is common and legal for a tour company to use a baited piece of meat attached to the end of a rope to lure sharks towards tourists.
Department of Environmental Affairs regulations require bait handlers to either snatch the hunk of meat away from the shark before it bites or drop the rope immediately after the shark grabs hold.
Otherwise, say experts, the sharks can harm themselves as they thrash against the side of the boat, with a risk that being regularly fed by people will change the way they behave, impacting on the food chain.
Following a weekend media report about the YouTube clips, the Cape Times viewed eight apparently filmed at Gansbaai and posted in the past three weeks. Two showed sharks easily grabbing bait and bashing repeatedly against the dive cage without the rope being dropped. Three others showed a shark grabbing the bait and swimming away. In another, the shark lunges out of the water, misses the bait and lands with its teeth on the side of the cage.
Environmental Affairs scientist Mike Meyer said: “We don't condone this, but it does happen. The rule is that the operator must release the line immediately so the animal is not pulled into the cage and it can swim away. The industry has an association and we will go back to it and ask them for a response because they are self-regulated.”
Mariette Hopley of the Great White Shark Protection Foundation said: “We want to keep the sharks wild. We don't want to condition sharks,” adding that the rules “leave room for error”.
She said one of the videos was about two years old.
Cape Town shark scientist Alison Kock said independent monitoring was needed: “There's an unparalleled opportunity for this industry to have a positive contribution to the conservation of white sharks, if it's done properly.” - Cape Times