Blogs

The staff of SOSSC and EnviroEds (a Cape Town based environmental education organisation) together with a small but committed group of school teachers led a wonderful, fun-filled day along the False Bay coastline. The teenagers who participated in the outing were drawn from various township and Cape Flats schools, and…

Recently the Save Our Seas Shark Centre hosted learners from the nearby township of Masiphumlele, through the Ekamva Youth Project. While most of their classmates were enjoying the school holidays in the usual manner, these young men and women used the break to further their education. Because these learners had…

The Save Our Seas Shark Centre recently headed inland to The Cape Winelands Environment Expo and Youth Conference which ran from 30 June to 1 July. We weren’t too sure how our message would be received by people who have little or no contact with the coast, but as it…

We had a late start yesterday morning, only arriving at Seal Island at 11:30. We anchored immediately upon arrival. There was a small swell with light winds blowing from the South West. Water temperature measured 14°C and vertical visibility was 6 meters. Within 10 minutes of dropping anchor we had…

We did not observe any predatory activity and did not have any sharks visit the boat on anchor. Vertical visibility was 4 metres and water temperature was 13°C. Sea conditions had deteriorated with a large swell and South Easterly winds making it impossible to anchor on the Southern side of…

Wow! Hunting white sharks were exploding from the waters around Seal Island today. 15 predation attempts were observed, 10 of which were successful. Whilst on anchor 7 different sharks ranging in size from 1.8 to 4.0 metres visited the boat. The largest of the sharks was re-sighted from last season,…

Adam Barnett, scholar with the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute and SOSF grantee recently visited the Save Our Seas Shark Centre in Cape Town. Adam has submitted his PhD thesis on the role of sevengill sharks (Notorynchus cepedianus) in coastal ecosystems, and published novel results on the ecology and movement…

It was a beautiful morning at Seal Island with calm seas, light winds and warm weather. Seal activity was high, many large groups were observed leaving the southern part of the island providing plenty of hunting opportunities to the sharks. However, the sharks were nowhere to be seen before sunrise,…

The South Westerly swell was huge (around 5 m) this morning and was breaking hard against Seal Island. The entire western side of the island was engulfed to the top when a large set rolled through. Three predation attempts were recorded, none of which were successful. Once on anchor a…

Weather conditions were poor again this morning with fog blanketing the entire bay. The swell was still big and continually breaking around the island. However, this did not deter the sharks from going all out to try and catch the seals. Water visibility had dropped to 7 m vertically and…

We had an amazing field trip today with 5 attempted predations, 4 different sharks identified and a pod of common dolphins. The weather was incredible and the the visibility around the island was 15 meters which meant we were able to see the sharks swimming below us on the reef.…

WEEK ONE: Part 1 – My Month Aboard the Save Our Seas Shark Centre! One week ago, I entered Cape Town and came aboard the Save Our Seas Shark Centre, a building along the beautiful Kalk Bay coast. Right away, two things stood out: 1.) I was struck by the…

Not 1 shark came up to our vessel today, other boats had a brief glimpse but that was it. Trips like today are very frustrating from a research aspect there simply are no sharks to photograph and document. 6 hours is a long time with no shark activity. We observed…

The grade sevens of Charleston Hill Primary School from Paarl visited the Centre today. They saw and learned about an amazing variety of plants and animals in the rock pools and broadened their knowledge about sharks.Going by the number of questions asked, they had a great day. Special thanks to…

The sharks remained slow today with only one 3.5 metre male who behaved exactly like the one shark we had yesterday. It made 3 passes and then disappeared. However, we did observe 5 predation attempts with a spectacular lunge at seals crossing the launch pad. On the way home we…