Background

White sharks are threatened apex predators listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Yet, information essential to effectively conserve and manage populations such as identification and their utilization of critical habitats remains sparse.

The research project has already determined the year-round presence and seasonal habitat use of white sharks within False Bay, Cape Town, identifying the area as a critical feeding habitat. White sharks aggregate around the Cape fur seal colony from May – September, and then many sharks change their strategy to inhabit the closer inshore areas of False Bay during September – April.

Challenging consequences of this inshore behaviour on the doorstep of a major city with a population of 3.5 million people are the negative interactions with ocean users as well as regular reports of bycatch in sport fishing. Fear, misconceptions and myth continue to plague the white shark and hinder conservation efforts. In January 2010 another fatal white shark attack at a popular beach left the community of Cape Town in shock with fresh calls for culling the population. Current scientific information continues to be instrumental in formulating effective awareness and safety programmes and preventing knee-jerk reactions to these tragic incidents.

Aims and Objectives

• Continuation of the maintenance to the tracking network of acoustic receivers, manual tracking and acoustic tagging to understand spatial and temporal movement patterns in False Bay. Focus is on identifying the driving forces, environmental and biological, behind the observed patterns.
• Photo-identification forms the backbone of the project to determine the population size and site-fidelity of white sharks.
• Through collaboration with National Geographic Society, Crittercams (animal-bourne cameras) will be attached to white sharks to determine what the sharks are feeding on when present in the inshore areas, their hunting strategies and social interactions.
• Shark sightings data collected by the City of Cape Town’s Shark Spotting Program are being used in conjunction with the acoustic monitoring data to get a clearer pattern of white shark presence inshore.
• Regular aerials surveys have started over the Cape Peninsula to estimate the abundance of sharks and distribution in the area.
• Graduate student Adrian Hewitt will focus on studying the poorly known reproductive biology of white sharks.
• Understanding the relationship between shark presence, oceans user presence and sharks bites with the aim of mitigating shark-human conflict in Cape Town through research, education and awareness.