Early in December last year, Tony escorted some members of the media on a dive/snorkel in the shark exclusion net at Fish Hoek beach. To remind you, this net is a highly visible barrier in the ocean, designed to keep sharks and humans apart, and both species alive. It was specifically designed not to catch anything, unlike the gill nets that are deployed by the Sharks Board off the KwaZulu Natal coast. This is what the net looks like from underwater:
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP0G0nDqAHc&w=540″]
This is what it looks like on the surface. The day was quite grey and dreary when we dived it, but the yellow buoys along the top of the net are highly visible. At the end of the day the net is retrieved, and if the weather and sea conditions permit, it is deployed again in the morning.
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PCc5eN2uJA&w=540″]
When the net was deployed for the first time (a trial run – it’s been tweaked and improved since then), I took some photos (part i, part ii).
