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South African scuba diving, marine and environmental news - Archive November 2004
News and articles relating to scuba diving, marine and environmental issues in South Africa and abroad. Features on Great White shark cage diving, tropical reef diving and wreck diving holidays plus diving with sharks, whale sharks, whales, dolphins and turtles
- Great Whites have a lot to fear from humans
The fascination with shark attacks has for decades caught the public imagination. It has reached a crecendo once again. From Peter Benchley's 1974 novel Jaws to this summer's block-buster movie, Open Water, based on a true story of two divers stranded in a shark-infested ocean, the Great White has fascinated and terrified us. With more and more people taking beach-side holidays, it is easy to get the impression that shark attacks are on the increase.
- New biodiversity institute to be launched
MINISTER of environmental affairs and tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk is launching the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) on December 2. Sanbi will replace the National Botanical Institute and build on the existing network of partnerships.
- Cape Town beaches 'safe'
Cape Town - There's no guarantee on the Great Whites, but you should be safe from attack by E coli when you swim off Cape Town's beaches this summer. Mayoral committee member responsible for storm water, Danile Landingwe, said on Monday the annual report on catchment and storm water management showed the city's water quality had been maintained at consistently high levels.
- Storms cause KZN blackouts
Several parts in northern KwaZulu-Natal and the midlands are without electricity after being hit by violent storms and heavy rains, the SABC reported on Tuesday. Parts of Pietermaritzburg, Empangeni and Newcastle were without power.
- Sea-search for missing boy continues
Sea rescuers have been kept busy this weekend as two separate incidents occurred on the same day - one involving a boy who was washed off rocks near Hermanus and another where a raft was found capsized off Miller's Point.
- Raggy (Ragged toothed shark) project
Conservation today is about bridging the divide between human beings and the environment, to ensure long-term, sustainable solutions. The Green Trust has been a pioneer of this approach, and supports projects that encapsulate it. Diving with ragged tooth sharks is such a project.
- Ragged toothed shark facts
Facts about the Carcharias taurus - They are called Ragged toothed sharks in South Africa, sand tiger sharks in the USA and grey nurse sharks in Australia.
- Whales beach en mass off Australia
Hobart - A second pod of 17 whales has died in a mysterious mass beaching on King Island in the Bass Strait off Australia's south coast following the fatal stranding of 80 whales and dolphins at the weekend, wildlife officials said on Monday.
- Operation Neptune back in full swing
Police appear set to continue with the anti-poaching unit Operation Neptune in the Southern Cape until the end of March. This comes after the Cape Times ran articles on Monday about Operation Neptune's decision to pull out at the end of this month. With such a pull-out, perlemoen poaching at the behest of Chinese Triads and other crime syndicates could have rocketed. The department of environment's marine and coastal management (MCM) and the Overstrand municipality's nature conservation department said on Thursday that there had been discussions with police and it had been resolved that Operation Neptune would stay in force until the end of March.
- Great Whites from a surfer's point of view
When Alex Macun was killed by a shark while surfing off Ntlonyana on the Transkei Wild Coast on June 29, 1982, it was the first time that someone relatively close to me had been taken. It was also the last. Alex and I were at school together, and although he was two years ahead of me, his younger brother, Ian, and I were close friends. That I have only ever lost one acquaintance to a shark attack is in itself statistically significant (Tyna Webb's daughter and son-in-law are old friends of mine, but I had never met Tyna herself). The reason I say that is because I have been surfing and diving for over 40 years now. I began diving and surfing not long after I learnt to walk.
- Good shark reporting
There is nothing at all new in the presence of large numbers of these giant sharks close inshore in False Bay. Fifty years ago, as a reporter on the Cape Times, I recall that we frequently quoted light-aircraft pilots who had spotted large concentrations in the bay of what, at that time, were known as Blue Pointers. The dramatised term "Great Whites" was invented by some film producer, with box-office takings in mind. Tragic as the recent attacks on humans have been, these surely point to the need for further research, and for greater caution and vigilance, rather than the mindless slaughter of these creatures in their natural habitat - as has been called for in outbursts of mass hysteria.
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