South Africa is home to a large number of wonderful wildlife. One of the things that was most well known for its great white sharks. Big draw as being the shark boats which go out with a cage attached to the side and then tourists are able to get into the cage so as to get up and close to the great white sharks while safe.
However this year they have only been a great white shark sighting, last year not even one. If you go back 10 years there were regularly hundreds of sightings each year.
What is it that is driving the loss of these apex predators?
There are a number of different possibilities for their decline. Being a local apex predator they are often the first animals in the sea to be impacted by chemical pollution in the sea, as chemicals build-up in their bodies from animals lower in the food chain.
Fishermen around South Africa have recently started using long line fishing, which has greatly reduced the number of smaller sharks and it is thought they tear for may simply not be finding enough food.
The last possibility is quite fascinating. Despite great white sharks being apex predators, often the apex predator within an area of the sea they are not the top predator in the ocean. Orca or killer whales have been known on on occasion to intentionally hunt great white sharks, and after two were seen to take up residence in South Africa’s false bay, great white shark carcasses started washing up on shore with his taken out of them, and other signs of predation.
As a significant part of the Cape Town tourism industry, the loss of the great white sharks will impact jobs and the health of the coastal ecosystem, though possibly a bigger problem could be tourists coming to believe South Africa doesn’t look after the wildlife under its care – as they would likely start choosing other destinations.