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  • Shark cage diving in Gansbaai, South Africa with Marine Dynamics. Experience the exceptional and come face to face with a great white shark! 

  • The exact world record white shark is a contested issue, but chances are it is between 6-7m. In Gansbaai, the largest white shark ever caught was at Danger Point and measured up to 5.9m.

  • If you see a white shark in the water don’t panic. Chances are high that the shark has already detected you and isn’t interested. White shark attacks are normally associated with poor visibility, so avoid murky conditions.

  • White sharks have a unique system called a “counter current heat exchange”, which keeps their body  tempreture +/- 7C above the surrounding water temperature. 

  • All sharks have an incredibly unique system on the tip of their nose called the “ampillae of Lorenzini”. These are small pores filled with a gel that transmits the electrical currents in the water to the shark’s brain so that it can assess its environment.

  • White sharks give birth to live young (not eggs), and they give birth to 6-8 pups at one time. Pups are usually between 1.0-1.5m in length and are born with teeth.

  • Body language has been a well documented form of shark communication and has identified body arching, jaw gaping, and other postures as specific social tactics.

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WHITE SHARKS IN GANSBAAI, WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA

Friday, August 30, 2019 |  0 Comment

Author: Marine Dynamics (Shark Cage Diving Company)
Marine Dynamics is a Shark Cage Diving company based in Kleinbaai, a small harbour town, part of Gansbaai in the Western Cape of South Africa. This area is known as a hotspot for the Great White Shark and the best place in the world to see and dive with these iconic creatures in their natural environment.

Recent media reports highlighting the absence of great white sharks in False Bay has resulted in much confusion for shark cage diving tourists to South Africa and the tourism industry at large. Gansbaai is 2 hours from Cape Town and is referred to as the White Shark Capital of the World. Here the team of Marine Dynamics/Dyer Island Conservation Trust have been studying the white shark for nearly 15 years. Daily observational data by their onboard marine biologists is crucial to the scientific research objectives. Research activities include tagging and tracking of great white sharks, behavioural surveys, movement and foraging ecology, environmental parameter monitoring as well as population and fincam studies that help to understand and assess this vulnerable species.
 
“Shark cage diving is the only crucial monitoring platform of white sharks in South Africa. Whilst this species is protected in our waters it is facing many threats, that includes natural predators such as a pair of orcas specialising in hunting sharks for their livers, and human threats of industrial fisheries, pollution and environmental pressures, as well as illegal fishing,” says Marine Dynamics owner Wilfred Chivell. “Whilst we had a couple of tough years as the white sharks shifted their territory in 2017 and 2018, we have been enjoying incredible white shark sightings in Gansbaai over the past few months. Marine Dynamics has a daily blog that highlights sightings. The confusion created by a misleading headline can have negative ramifications on tourism and ultimately for white sharks as we have become the conservation voice for white sharks.”

Shark biologist, Alison Towner says, “Our team was involved in the research and monitoring of white shark behaviour pre and post orca presence in the Gansbaai area, as well as the necropsies on the white sharks that washed up over two years ago - we have a study being published on these results. When dealing with transient marine predators many facts must be considered. White sharks are highly migratory animals spending an average of a few weeks in any one area. We know that they respond to a natural predator and our observations support similar distribution shifts seen in California and Australia. However, many other factors influence their distribution, and we believe it is a combination of pressures leading to the shifts we are seeing in South Africa.

The researchers believe in collaborative and inclusive science and were part of an important paper recently published in Nature that highlights the threats that South Africa’s white sharks face in the high seas. White shark researchers in South Africa are working together to monitor white shark behaviour and movement patterns in order to better conserve the species. 
Scientific publications can be found at www.dict.org.za  / Daily sightings 


ENDS
Issued by: Marine Dynamics Tours / Dyer Island Conservation Trust
Editorial enquiries: Brenda du Toit (Phone: 076 061 3114; email: pa@marinedynamicstravel.com)  
Alison Towner – White Shark Biologist (Phone: 076 030 1538; email: research@dict.org.za )

Additional information: 
MARINE DYNAMICS TOURS – is a shark cage diving company operational since 2005, and DYER ISLAND CRUISES – a whale watching company operational since 2000, conduct and support valuable research, conservation and education in the Dyer Island ecosystem of Gansbaai, South Africa. The award-winning companies hold Fair Trade Tourism certification (since 2008) and employ marine biologists whose research is in turn supported through the DYER ISLAND CONSERVATION TRUST (DICT). The DICT was founded in 2006 by company owner, Wilfred Chivell. It delivers unique conservation and research programmes in the fragile and critically important marine eco-system at the southern-most tip of Africa. Here they strive to protect the largest surviving colonies of the endangered African Penguin - whose numbers are at an all-time low; the globally important breeding and calving grounds of the Southern Right Whale; and the world’s densest populations of the vulnerable Great White Shark. The companies believe that YOUR CHOICE MAKES A DIFFERENCE and support the Trust financially and logistically. 

Corporate Video | Ten-year report
Dyer Island and the surrounding ocean is a critically important ecosystem and home to the Marine Big 5. Known as an Important Bird Area, and managed by CapeNature, Dyer Island is home to breeding colonies of the endangered African penguin and other seabirds. Some 60 000 Cape Fur Seals are resident on Geyser Rock opposite the island and they attract the densest population of Great White Sharks in the world. The many sheltered areas of the bay provide the breeding ground for the Southern Right Whales that migrate here from the Sub-Antarctic islands between June and December each year. The area is also visited by Bryde’s and humpback whales as well as various dolphin species.
 

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