Cape Town And The Shark Spotters.
There have only been 25 shark attacks in Cape waters since 1960. Yet there have been some ferocious attacks. It’s moot to compare shark attacks and or shark statistics to anywhere in the world as there are so many variables at play. Australia is currently alive with shark incidents and encounters, Reunion has some of the worst stats in the world, and parts of the Transkei are also hotspots for encounters and attacks.
In Cape Town things came to a head a few years ago with a flurry of attacks in the early 2000’s, and in 2004 Shark Spotters was founded. Its goal was to find a middle road between shark conservation, as well as addressing the concerns of the public. There was to be no culling, but there was also a massive popularity surge in ocean-sports. Something had to give. It took some time and funding, as well as a buy-in from the City Of Cape Town, before the program could settle in and operate functionally.
There are up to 20 spotters, perched in very high vantage points over 9 popular beaches, shaded in polarized glasses. They peer over the ocean and look out for sharks. It’s a difficult job, tedious, and it’s a hard job to do when the weather is inclement, but the most important thing to note, is that they see sharks. Between 2005 and 2008 they spotted 476 sharks, of varying species. Since then, even more. There have been quiet patches, but they are soon replaced with busy periods. Cape Town has a lot of sharks. Not all of them Great Whites, but there are enough to worry about.
The spotter’s information is relayed to the water’s edge very quickly and actions are put into place. So the system works, and it is a system that could be implemented anywhere in the world.
The system consists of spotters, binoculars, two-way radios and alarms that set off sirens on the beach. There’s also a system of flags and a team of people operating all this. There is an active Shark Spotters Twitter feed that all Cape Town surfers follow, and a few others. It has 22k followers. https://twitter.com/SharkSpotters
When it comes to the flags, green means it’s good to go. Black flag with a black shark outline on it means that the spotting conditions are poor, murky, or the weather cloudy.
A red flag with a white shark on it means that it is a high shark alert for the beach, and a white flag with a black shark means that there has been a definite sighting and you need to stay out of the water.
All that is needed is height. Spotters need to have enough elevation to be able to see the sharks from a distance. Without elevation, it is difficult to discern sharks, particularly in cloudy conditions.
The Cape Town beaches are not suitable for shark nets like they have in Durban, and across the bay in False bay there is a very active shark cage diving operation, chumming the seas relentlessly in a bid for more encounters, more thrills and more dollars. There is very little else that could work, as the technology for the Smart Buoys that was in place at the JBay Open continues to develop and improve. While it could be seen as a stop-gap as the technology catches up, it might actually be the only thing viable in many locations around the world. It’s only getting better, more organized, better funded.
Could it adapted to a place like Ballina? In an instant. There are enough vantage points, on the headlands overlooking Speeds (just to the north of the North-Wall hot-spot) and overlooking Lennox, for example.
Think of yourself surfing your local break. Look back at the beach. Do you have a vantage point that can be used, or is there one fairly close? How many are there in a 5km distance? Enough?
There are many such locations along the coast to spot sharks going up or down, and it needs someone to manage a team and the equipment. A control-center. Some salaries. Compared to expensive sonar equipment, nets, culls and endless debates from the pro sharkers and pro cullers, it could be set up quickly and fairly cheaply.
Someone, anyone, needs to pick up on the idea, and run with it. Get council to sponsor it. Employ people. Maybe get the surf clubs involved and start bleating those sirens, raising those flags, and saving lives. The shit’s getting real out there.
