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White shark experiences such as cage diving and boat-based tours are some of the Western Cape’s biggest tourism drawcards, but the industry is facing a new threat in the form of orca predation.
“This is a first,” says Brenda du Toit, PR Officer for Marine Dynamics and Dyer Island Conservation. She explains that four White shark dissections have been undertaken on washed up carcasses by the team at Marine Dynamics and Dyer Island Conservation, and all showed consistent bite wounds and were missing their livers. This indicates orca predation as they attack and stun the sharks into tonic immobility and the buoyant liver rises to the surface through the injury.
The result is that the White sharks have moved to safer territory. “All operators in the Kleinbaai area are affected,” says Du Toit. She says permit conditions limit the operators to this specific bay and even if White sharks are spotted in adjacent bays, they are prevented from travelling to view them.
“The shark cage diving industry is also subject to weather and sea conditions, which is a pressure on the businesses every year, especially during the winter storms,” she says. “This scarcity of sharks as they move out of the area upon detecting a natural predator is unprecedented and we do not know the long-term impacts.”
The various operators each have specific refund policies, but in response, Marine Dynamics has amended its refund policy from 50% to 25% in the event of no sharks sighted. Du Toit says: “Marine Dynamics has run only one trip a day versus the two to three we normally do. All clients are advised of the situation and understand the risk. After over three weeks of no sightings, we sighted a shark on July 14. Since then we have been unable to go to sea due to weather conditions.”
In the interim, there is increased pressure on operators to make trips interesting even in the case of zero sightings. “We have a marine biologist on board so we educate our clients on everything we have learnt over the past decade to keep our trips interesting and informative. We make a stop past the seal colony on Geyser Rock and talk about seabirds, seals, whales and dolphins and everything else in our unique Dyer Island ecosystem,” adds Du Toit.
Sоurсе: tourismupdate.co.za
