There is a hoax email currently making its rounds. It shows a picture of a white shark swimming near Fish Hoek beach and says it was taken on the Saturday 25 October 2008. This photograph was actually taken on 28 September 2006. On that day the white shark research team was at Seal Island when we got a call from the Fish Hoek shark spotter that a large white shark had just entered the bay. We immediately rushed over because no sharks had been tagged close to shore yet and we wanted to tag the animal to try and understand why the sharks come into the area, how long they stay for and whether it’s the same sharks coming into the area. The law enforcement and shark spotters closed the beach while the shark was in the bay. We did not manage to tag it that time because it was moving fast through the area and every time we tried to approach it, it swam away or dived. Thus, people should not panic about the photo and email, the shark spotters were well aware of it in 2006 and in fact the local papers wrote an article about the incident at the time and we recorded it in the shark spotters newsletter.
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The photograph is copyright protected and unauthorized use is prohibited.
Photo Enrico Gennari / Copyright Alison Kock
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Any queries please contact Alison Kock at alison@staging.saveourseas.com