Ocean News

Looking to the Future The shark research team at CEI is ever growing with a total of six full time researchers and field assistants – add to that this semesters Island School group and we have a total of twelve people actively working on shark research and conservation – not…

A white shark breaching out of the water after its seal prey Yesterday was a day I won’t easily forget as we had the most beautiful lightning and thunder storm in False Bay while white sharks breached out of the water to catch their seal prey. Seal Island is a…

Today – Tuesday the 18th May 2009, marks the official launch of an initiative that the Cape Eleuthera Institute is very proud to be a part of.  The new website for the shark free marinas initiative is now live and you can see it at www.sharkfreemarinas.com. The shark free marina initiative…

Great whites are by far my favourite shark and probably the most well known of all the sharks, but they certainly aren’t the only species of shark in the cold Cape waters we conduct our research in. One of the most fascinating things about sharks is their enormous diversity and…

Something I have been meaning to write about for a while was the recent visit of the SOSF film and photo crew in the form of Tom Peschak and Dan Beecham.  We had an amazing ten days out catching sharks – the weather did not always play ball but such…

The SOSF Collins Field Guide Sharks of the World is now available as a free download from itunes for your iPhone or iPod touch. The guide which has been described by leading shark scientists as an "…..exceptionally well-produced book, written by the leading authorities on shark systematics and conservation" and "…a…

Another greater hammerhead comes to play So sampling for this season has been difficult again with the wind blowing 25 knots plus for about three weeks now.  The shark team has been bounced around out there but have still managed to get the majority of the baited video surveys completed. …

So, I’m now back at our base in Jeddah, on the Red Sea coast, and have been office bound for a while. Spending weeks catching up on a back log of e-mails, tape logging, and receipts from our Bahamian adventures is the penance you pay for getting to go to…

Lesley Rochat, executive manager and director of education and awareness of the Save Our Seas Shark Centre, along with Clem Sunter, former CEO of the biggest gold mine company in the world, Anglo American, and now well known author of the best seller, Mind of a Fox, and a leader in the…

Lesley Rochat, executive manager and director of education and awareness of the Save Our Seas Shark Centre, along with Clem Sunter, former CEO of the biggest gold mine company in the world, Anglo American, and now well known author of the best seller, Mind of a Fox, and a leader in the…

The Bahamas is essentially a haven for shark life as longline fishing was banned here in 1993, however that’s not to say illegal longlining by foreign vessels doesn’t go on in remote parts of the archipelago.  The end result is that the diversity and abundance here is as close to a…

Last week Morne, Monwabisi and I made our first trip of the season to Seal Island to determine whether the white sharks had returned yet. It’s been a few months since we last saw a white shark and we were eager to see what was going on. We took along two…

The essence of life on Earth is that everything is interconnected and truly interdependent.  It is unfortunate that human beings have traditionally been arrogant, always believing in their superiority above all living creatures.  This has resulted in us plundering, spoiling, killing and destroying most of nature without any concern for…

Studying white shark behaviour around the boatEven though South Africa has been identified as a centre of abundance and white sharks have been protected here since 1991, white shark populations are threatened globally. The White Shark Research Programme, a Save Our Seas Shark Centre, Marine and Coastal Management and University…

Last month Dr Leonard Compagno and Lesley Rochat attended the Ocean Film Festival in San Francisco, USA. While Lesley promoted the SOSSC educational and awareness initiatives, Dr Compagno made contact with many fellow scientists.  Whilst at the Moss Landing Marine Labs in Montery Bay, Dr Compagno, Dr Dave Ebert, and…