Tagging the Sharks!!??

Killer_Tomato
October 2005
What's the deal with this group wanting to tag the Johnnies in Fish Hoek?
They say that they will warn swimmers before the do it? What about us just round the corner surfing K-Bay!!?? Are they gonna warn us?

Why can't they do this out at Seal Island where the buggers hang out? I'm getting a bit tired of being chased out the water at Muzienberg when I'm having a chilled Longboard with my mates there?

Also, what's the deal with this one at the Hoek? I saw him there Friday the 15th Oct at about 11am... Got me out the water pretty quickly.

What do you guys think??

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12 Replies

Spy Dude
October 2005
dont stress about the sharks bru, they wont bite you at kbay, we have an understanding with them. Tagging the buggers is actually nessessary cos it will provide answers to some serious questions. Like last season some 6 meter buggers were spotted swimming in amongst all the vallies at fish hoek but they wernt too interested in da humans. (must be all that mine dump dust and vallie ego attititude) anyways they wanna find out it the sharks are maeing there. As for Kbay.. dude been there my whole life and never got chomped, only ever seen one in the water and i have check 2 big ones one day from a helicopter aabout 30 meters from a packed kbay, no one got touched.
They tagged a white in gans baai, she swam from SA to OZ in 90 days, chilled in OZ for a bit then swam back to gans baai, see stuff like that would never have surfaced if it wasnt for tagging. Care diving on the other hand is wrong, shopuld be banned and the operators should be fed tot he sharks. If you guys ever hear of someone going cage diving, PLEASE try talk them out of it, we dont go to the kruger park and drag dead goats behind our cars sothat we can get nicew colose encounters with lions... no do we?
Peace
Killer_Tomato
October 2005
I fully unerstand the the sharks need to be tagged.... But why in the bay at Fish Hoek? All that is doing is a associating humans with food in that area. If a sharks is interested, it may take a nibble to test the flavour. I've watched the guys cruise around near Fish Hoek from a mates house in High Way often.

I've also been surfing K-Bay for a helluva long time, not as long as you though, and i've never seen a shark there, only the odd seal... and once a big ass whale just off the reef.

I just think that the tagging shouldn't be done in the bay at Fish Hoek and rather at Seal Island, but as I have seen from the article you posted, they are going to get public opinion on the matter.

Guess we will have to see what happens

Maybe this new shark publicitiy will keep some of the surf spots a little less crowded.

cheers
Spy Dude
October 2005
Researchers hope to lure sharks for tagging John Yeld
October 25 2005 at 01:58PM

Shark researchers will use a tuna tail as bait in shallow water in Fish Hoek in Cape Town to get close enough to a Great White shark to tag it.

No chumming will be done, and swimmers will be warned to get out of the water.

The decision comes after a meeting between the Shark Working Group and groups that use Fish Hoek bay, including the National Sea Rescue Institute, surf lifesavers, kayakers, swimmers and the ratepayers' association.

Shark group spokesperson Gregg Oelofse said: "There are social issues involved in attracting sharks so close to shore, which is why we held the meeting."

'There are social issues involved'
Last summer, shark watchers posted on the mountainside recorded Great Whites cruising through shallow water at Fish Hoek and Muizenberg when the sea was packed with bathers.

But the sharks were not acting aggressively and did not pay any attention to the bathers.

There is now scientific speculation that these two bays could be among historical breeding sites of this top ocean predator.

At Fish Hoek, huge Great Whites were recorded as swimming among the breakers less than 60m from the shore, while at the same time at Muizenberg, sharks were seen slightly further out - between 180m and 240m from the shore - in an area used by surfers and paddleskiers.

Sightings at Fish Hoek ended abruptly on December 26, and at Muizenberg on January 18.

'If we're successful, we'll also go to Muizenberg'
Oelofse said they believed it was vital to tag one or two sharks to see if they were the ones that are regularly seen off Seal Island in winter.

University of Cape Town researcher Alison Kock has tagged several Seal Island sharks with acoustic transmitters and is tracking their movements with sea-bottom monitors at strategic places around False Bay. They receive signals when any tagged shark passes within about 300m.

But neither Kock nor researchers from the Marine and Coastal Management branch of the department of environmental affairs were 100 percent convinced the sharks found off Seal Island in winter were those spotted in sheltered bays in early summer, Oelofse said.

When the attempt was made to tag a shark, there would be tight safety precautions, and officials on Fish Hoek beach, the catwalk between the beach and Sunny Cove, and at Glencairn beach to warn people.

"If we're successful, we'll also go to the Muizenberg community to see whether they will also agree to having an 'inshore' shark tagged there, using bait to attract it."

The tagging would be weather-dependent and would be attempted during calm seas and a light north-westerly wind.

The researchers would attempt to put two tags on to the shark: an electronic acoustic tag that gives information to the bottom monitors, and a "pinger" tag that provides a VHF signal that can be used to track the animals directly.

"These pinger tags last for about three months, and the idea would be to monitor the shark for some 24 to 36 hours immediately after the tagging, and then during the course of the next few months, weather permitting," Oelofse said.
Spy Dude
October 2005
dude, lets get this tagging over and done with. i dont think the tagging will be too much of an issue, either way its not cage diving and it wont be happening 5 times a day, every day of the year, by 7 boats, filled with up to 15 tourists, thats the f**K of cage diving.
TAMEGA
November 2005
A shark does not have a memory like me or you - he goes by his senses, he will not come back to that particular spot to feed again ( unless the same measures are taken ) , tagging sharks is heavely needed in SA in all areas. to track movements and high mating areas in my opinion. ]

If you are a non bodyboarder and enjoy just swimming or bodysurfing etc and come in contact with a shark ( Pray to God not ) i have a few suggestions: Remain as calm as you possibly can, do not make sudden sporatic movements Ie panic and lash your way through the water, move closer to shore with slow and movements as close to the top of the water as possible, in saying that spread yourself as wide as possible over the surface of the water, try to moan and groan as less as possible, noise in water is greatly enhanced and can travel amazingly far. Do not as best as you can pee yourself be it being scared or just desperate in the water. Fable or truth urine in the water can and most times contain enough blood to attract attention ( please inform me if i am wrong here ). If your stuck in a current out to sea all the above still play - save swimming slowly to the shore, this is where things get difficult, if im in that situation i would do this ( God help you and me if we are ) Swim to the bottom and try find a rock to hang onto, DO NOT Hyperventilate before you dive, this soothes the need for O2 in the blood stream as you have a high amount of co2 in your blood - this can cause you to black out as you think you dont need breathe but you do, when on the bottom try your best to spot the shark or sharks and walk on the floor of the sea bed with a rock or few stones on your hands pockets etc, obviously you will need to breathe at stages your will to survive will be your lead hehe. Before going each time make sure you check for ships boats etc around you - to signal distress when i water wave your hands slowly above your head in a criss cross formation. Just a few things that have not been mentioned before that i hope will one day not have to come into effect. Oh main reason for diving under water and walking - sharks attack from under you or if they have to the side they do not swim down and attack ( as far as i have been taught and read). Any ideas i think should Def be added.

Thanks
Muggy Whitelaw
November 2005
Thanks for the advice i hope no one ever meets a shark in the water. personally i would kuk myself but now i know the basics.
I may not be an expert but i know that sharks ARE atrackted to urine. so try not to piss your self.

Mugsta
sooz
November 2005
Are you kidding me?????? I am sitting here laughing my head off! "Walk under water holding rocks" - I mean, COME ON!!! You have got to be joking...
Fact: Sharks are at the top of the food chain in the sea. So everything in the sea is fair game for them. Things at the top of the food chain make the rules. It is that simple. If a shark wants to bite you, it will... There is no way around that. Most shark attack victims will tell you that they never saw the shark until the attack happened - they did not know it was there or in the vicinity... so in all likelihood if you see the shark, that probably means it is not interested in you as fodder (although, truth be told, I am not sure that they are interested is us as meals anyway). You cannot prepare or plan to avoid an attack. The only true planning to avoid an attack would be to stay out of the water! The guys at the top make the rules, the rest of us are simply the pawns (or prawns...)!
simon hagen
November 2005
Hey Sooz,

how you?
haven't seen or spoken to you in ages! hope you good.
like Sooz said, if a shark wants to attack you you are not gonna be able to stop it, most of the time you see a shark they are just cruising around slowly with their fins out of the water, hence the reason you can see them.
it's when their fins go under the water that they are most likely to attack.
great whiteattack from under their prey, they use the element of surprise. you won't see them until they attacked you. and most other sharks attack from the side but they are still fully submerged until they attack, simply because that's where they get their speed to attack so quick. part of the reason there is so many shark on the false bay side is because of the fishing boats, they dump their bait overboard on the way from their fishing leaving a trail of blood and fish guts for the sharks to follow, and where do they follow it to, the coast and then they patrol up and down the coast cruising into beaches and surf spots.

not to scare anyone but you do know that most of the time when you surfing there are sharks around you?
we often speak to guys on our coast that fly microlights over the sea and they tell us stories, they reckon that everytime they go out they see sharks circiling surfs in the watre and we aren't even aware of it. sharks are so well camoflauged, they are made to hunt and that's that.

just wanted to add my 2 cents.
later youall
simon
TAMEGA
November 2005
Heh

My Objective in the above post was to try and give some foundation or basics as what to do WHEN ENCOUNTERING A SHARK - which means when you know that its there, please read a bit more carefully my friends. you are right they are in the top of the food chain and if they want to munch they will, but isnt it good to be prepared? to be proactive, in all aspects of life we need to be ready dont you think? So yeah get to the bottom and hold onto a rock its better hope of just saying oh well eat me!
Spy Dude
November 2005
anyone check that photo of that guy in the yellow kayak in gans baai with a 6 meter buger cruising behind him. Staged shot... the shark is attrackjed by the paddles, when the shark gets close enough he pulls paddles out of the water. These guys spend 8 weeks trying to get that photo and they have some interesting stories to tell.

Who remebers the old rule that was taught to the navy back inthe day of WW2, : when landing in shark infested waters, scream and spash as mch as possilb eot scare the buggers off.... right.
TAMEGA
November 2005
OMG! I cant beleive they told them to do that haha, 1 up for the opposition though
Chilternburt
November 2005

Spy Dude wrote:
anyone check that photo of that guy in the yellow kayak in gans baai with a 6 meter buger cruising behind him. Staged shot... the shark is attrackjed by the paddles, when the shark gets close enough he pulls paddles out of the water. These guys spend 8 weeks trying to get that photo and they have some interesting stories to tell.

Who remebers the old rule that was taught to the navy back inthe day of WW2, : when landing in shark infested waters, scream and spash as mch as possilb eot scare the buggers off.... right.

Have you got that pic? please email it to [email protected]

shot shot...

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