We had great conditions last weekend – Atlantis was magnificent – and the good visibility has remained all week. Peet took a stunning video on last weekend’s dive at Atlantis that you can watch here. The weekend heralds the first big winter swell and the predictions earlier in the week were for 7 metre swells with a 16 second period. The forecast swell is now down to 6 metres. Either way, it is WAY too much for pleasant diving.
Surfers looking like ants on the face of Dungeons
On Saturday morning there will be a gathering at the harbour in Hout Bay to sign and hand over a petition to oppose the proposed restrictions on seal snorkeling and diving. It would be a great help if you came by to Hout Bay harbour at 11.00 am. We will be there from around 9.00 am as there are most likely going to be some of Cape Town’s finest big wave surfers heading out to Dungeons and/or Sunset Reef and we will go out and watch from the boat.
If you’d like to book a spot on the boat to check out the surfing, if it materialises either on Saturday or Sunday, let me know and I will keep you in the loop about plans and times.
Proposed changes to the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (no. 10 of 2004) will limit scuba divers’ and snorkelers access to Cape fur seal colonies. The proposal was brought to our attention by Georgina Jones (for which we thank her!). Unfortunately the timeline for comments is extremely limited: we must submit written responses to the proposal by 30 April, which is this coming Thursday.
Proposed legislative changes with respect to Cape fur seals
The primary change that will affect us as scuba divers and snorkelers is that we will no longer be allowed within 30 metres of a Cape fur seal colony. This will mean that we cannot approach the colonies at Duiker Island in Hout Bay and at Partridge Point in False Bay. Furthermore, it may mean that we cannot even drive the boat through the gap between Duiker Island and the mainland. Boat routing around the Partridge Point colony will also be affected. Fortunately we don’t do any recreational diving around Seal Island in False Bay, so we don’t need to worry about that!
The Government Gazette outlining the changes is long (288 pages) and you can download it in its entirety here, but I have snipped out the relevant sections. The first is the definition of “harrassment” from page 88, which in point (f) relates to all seal species and states that one may not “approach a colony closer than 30 metres”.
Definition of harrassment (click to enlarge)
The second relevant section is on pages 260-261 as they specifically apply to Cape fur seals. Note that the second last bullet point (on the second page, page 261) prohibits “harassment” of seals, which is defined above.
Cape fur seals regulations (click to enlarge)Cape fur seals regulations continued (click to enlarge)
Why we object to the proposed legislation
Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) are not endangered. In Namibia they are hunted, but in South Africa hunting of seals was stopped years ago. They are classified as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Redlist, which states that
Due to their large population sizes, the global Cape Fur Seal (Afro-Australian Fur Seal) population appears to be healthy, and the subspecies should both therefore be classified as Least Concern (LC).
The best place to encounter Cape fur seals is in proximity to a breeding colony (such as Duiker Island in Hout Bay) or haul out spot (such as Partridge Point in False Bay). The largest breeding colony is Seal Island in False Bay, and recreational diving and snorkeling is off limits there owing to the white shark population that feeds there, primarily in winter. Restricting access to 30 metre wide areas around these colonies will not improve the lot of the seal populations in any way.
Fishermen frequently have an adversarial relationship with seals (Shaughnessy & Kirkwood). Allowing scuba divers and snorkelers to approach seal colonies in the water enables them to observe any abuses that may be perpetrated on the seals by water users who do not appreciate the seals’ presence. It also provides a means for monitoring and reporting the impact of plastic pollution on the animals, which may be significant. Loops of plastic from bait boxes, shopping bags and from six packs of canned drinks pose a risk to these curious mammals, who get their heads or flippers stuck inside the plastic loops. This causes slow and painful damage to the animals as they grow.
There is no indication that activity by snorkelers and scuba divers causes the seals any distress or leads to harmful behaviour modification that could impact individual seals’ chances of survival (Kirkwood et al 2003). Seals are curious and friendly, and frequently and willingly approach people in the water in order to interact.
If conducted sensitively, trips allowing visitors to experience Cape fur seals have great conservation value, not only encouraging awareness of seal conservation issues, but also of species that prey on and are preyed upon by seals, and of issues of plastic pollution in the marine environment.
The monetary value of Cape fur seals as a tourism resource is also significant and contributes to South Africa’s tourism sector. In addition to snorkeling and scuba diving trips, run by a number of operators, there are seal viewing boats (which sometimes pose a significant danger to snorkelers and divers in the water, but that’s another story…) operating out of Hout Bay, which bring thousands of visitors, mostly tourists, to see the colonies each year.
As both Duiker Island and Partridge Point are located close to shore, restricting boat movements around them may force watermen to use less safe routes up and down the coastline, and force them further out to sea than they would otherwise choose to venture in order to avoid the seals.
(It is in fact not clear to me whether Partridge Point, which is a resting or haul out spot rather than a breeding colony, will fall under the proposed legislation, but Duiker Island in Hout Bay certainly will, as will Seal Island in False Bay.)
How we think seals need to be protected
A more impactful (sorry, hate that word) way to protect seals from perceived harrassment would be to enforce a Code of Conduct for seal tourism operators. This would prohibit landing of people on a seal colony by tourist operators. The use of toys such as bits of rope to attract seals in the water should also be prohibited. Teaching seals to identify human manufactured materials as playthings will only lead to more entanglement of young animals in plastic waste. Strict boat speed limits should be enforced around seal colonies and haul out spots. Finally, no bait or chum should be permitted to be used by operators, even if it is kept on the boat and trickled over the side or held inside a glove and not given to the seals.
How to submit comments
If you enjoy snorkeling and diving with seals and want to be able to share that with friends and family in the future, or have a business that profits from seal trips, or if you like to win photography competitions with pictures of seals chomping at your dome port, this means you have a vested interest in the legislation that has been proposed.
The quickest way to comment is to send an email to nmbedzi@environment.gov.za with your comments or objections. Feel free to use any or all of the ones we have listed above. Please do this now!
Contact details to submit comments (click to enlarge)
Operators who do white shark trips and turtle nesting tours in Sodwana should also consult the proposed changes carefully, because they may impact their operations as well.
The words “organised crime” don’t typically intrude into our privileged Capetonian lives (if you can afford to scuba dive recreationally, you’re privileged), but in reality there are networks operating on our doorstep, and many of our activities as scuba divers actually cause us to cross paths with these syndicates. Sometimes it is a very literal crossing of paths, and other times it’s simply sharing the same space as individuals who are advancing the interests of a criminal organisation.
Khalil Goga, a researcher who has been focused on organised crime since 2009, published a report on the Western Cape’s illegal abalone trade for the Institute of Security Studies in August 2014. This paper can be seen as a companion to Jonny Steinberg’s 2005 ISS report on the illicit abalone trade in South Africa. While Steinberg’s paper deals with poaching’s socioeconomic and political origins and has a broad geographic focus within South Africa, Goga lays out the structure of poaching operations from harvesting the resource to its arrival in Asia, with special reference to the Hangberg community of Hout Bay.
Half sunken in Hout Bay harbour
The state of Hout Bay harbour – with corrupt or no access control, no checking of catches by Marine and Coastal Management or monitoring whether vessels are compliant with SAMSA regulations, and sunken ships at their berths – visually demonstrates how easy it is to base a poaching operation out of this location. The individuals who do the hard work of diving, driving, and carrying abalone over the mountain are drawn from the communities surrounding the harbour. Despite the involvement of these impoverished and sidelined communities, however,
The abalone trade has moved from largely being in the hands of a marginalised population to one that is ‘dominated by outside opportunists’. It has evolved from an informal activity by fishers into ‘a highly organised commercial fishery run by organised criminal syndicates’.
Read the complete ISS report here (PDF). It’s clear, easy to understand without glossing over the complexity of the issue, and absolutely fascinating. If you would rather read a shorter article on the abalone trade emanating from Hout Bay, you can try this M&G piece.
Perhaps you have noticed some new signage and a little wooden hut at Glencairn beach, where an exciting test – of an electronic cable to repel great white sharks – is underway. The cable is a massively scaled up version of the Shark Shield technology with which many surfers and lifesavers will be familiar. The Shark Shield has been subjected to scientific testing, and is effective in certain circumstances.
The risers on the cable are clearly visible at low tide
The cable is a collaboration between the KwaZulu Natal Sharks Board (who would like an alternative to the gill nets and drum lines currently used to harvest sharks and other marine life off South Africa’s north coast), and the Institute for Maritime Technology (IMT) in Simon’s Town, a division of ARMSCOR. Shark Spotters and the City of Cape Town are assisting with the testing phase, which started in November and will continue until the end of March 2015. A permit has been obtained from the Department of Environmental Affairs.
The cable is 100 metres long, and is situated at the northern end of Glencairn beach. Cape Town is an ideal location to test things like this, because Shark Spotters has ten years of shark spotting data that will give a baseline measure for “normal” white shark activity without the cable. When something new (the cable) is introduced into the environment, changes in behaviour relative to the baseline data can be ascribed to its presence. Fish Hoek was originally mooted as an ideal beach to run the test, but the trek net fishermen were concerned for their fishing opportunities and so the test was moved to Glencairn.
The cable is off the end of Glencairn beach
The cable emits a low frequency electrical pulse that – it is hoped – will repel sharks. The electrical output of the cable poses no threat to swimmers or surfers, but for obvious reasons people are requested to keep clear of it for the duration of the experiment. The cable has electrodes on either side of it, supported by vertical risers that are marked by small orange buoys (so the cable runs down the middle of the rows of buoys in the pictures). At high tide the buoys are below the surface, but Tony took the boat past at low tide and photographed them sticking out of the water.
Shark Spotters will be monitoring the cable from the mountain above Glencairn, and a video feed will also be used to closely analyse the movements of any sharks that approach the cable. The risers on the cable (marked by the orange buoys in the photographs on this page) are semi-rigid, designed to minimise the risk of entanglement of any marine life. As it is the end of whale season in False Bay, there is not much risk of a whale visiting this location. Despite that, a boat and crew are on constant standby should an entanglement situation arise.
The position of the cable marked by buoys
Buoys marking the tops of the risers
The usual Shark Spotters sign at Glencairn
The signs and Shark Spotters flag at Glencairn
The big buoy says “Keep Clear” so we did!
The cable is just off the end of the beach
There is a full report on the testing phase, with an artist’s impression of the cable underwater, on the Sharks Board website, including a list of frequently asked questions (which should set your mind at ease). There’s also a great post at Round About South that includes pictures of the study area, and of the cable from the KZNSB document.
It’s important to note that this is an experiment, and no additional protection from white sharks is offered or guaranteed while the cable is in the water.
Here are some suggestions for things you can do at (or near) home that can have a positive impact on the environment.
Mounds of garbage
The first suggestion is the most important!
Be a busybody
Keep tabs on what’s going on in your area. Are there new building projects or developments planned? Community newspapers are an excellent source of information. Attend meetings that give opportunities for public participation, register as an interested and affected party, make objections, write letters to the environmental consultants and your local council representatives. Also, tell your friends and buddies about opportunities to participate as concerned citizens.
Remember that a development doesn’t necessarily need to be in or on the ocean to affect the marine environment. For example, False Bay is where a large amount of the city’s effluent is pumped out. More people means more pressure on the ecosystem. Demand responsible solutions from municipalities and developers.
Keep tabs on proposed amendments to existing laws, and new laws and bylaws. Who is getting permission to do what? Are these decisions well thought out? Is it wise to allow whelk and octopus fisheries to operate in a bay that is visited by large numbers of whales and dolphins?
Hold the government (specifically DAFF and the Department of Environmental Affairs) to account. The environment belongs to all of us, and if it’s being mismanaged, it’s your heritage that’s being squandered.
An excellent example of the concrete results this kind of action by ordinary citizens can have is the recent flip-flop done by the authorities on the proposed diving ban in the Betty’s Bay MPA after many local divers, marshalled by Indigo Scuba and Underwater Africa, registered as interested and affected parties and submitted objections to the proposal.
Banning diving in the area would have essentially left it wide open for poaching. While the local law enforcement can’t and doesn’t do anything to stop illegal harvesting of perlemoen, eyes in the water in the form of recreational divers can at least keep tabs on what’s happening in the reserve.
Wear your heart on your sleeve. Let your friends know that conservation issues and protecting the environment are important to you. Don’t be scary and wild-eyed, just be yourself. (If you’re naturally scary and wild-eyed, I can’t help you.)
When you get an opportunity to discuss an environmental issue with someone who doesn’t know or care as much as you do, stick to the facts. Point them to other sources where they can find information to back up what you’re saying, if they are interested. That way, if they want to relay your argument to someone else, they can do so. Raw outrage isn’t necessarily transmissible (and if you’re too hot under the collar, they may just think you’re a lunatic).
Don’t use jargon. Don’t use cliches (people are smarter than you think). Don’t assume that everyone knows as much as you do about your pet issue – check that you’re pitching your pitch appropriately. Don’t be boring. Show people how beautiful and wonderful and intricate the environment is.
Reef life at Roman Rock
Get your hands dirty
Participate in beach cleanups and underwater cleanups. If you see garbage on a dive (and nothing has taken it for a home), stuff it into your BCD for disposal on land. Get into the habit of picking up stuff that doesn’t belong. Keep an empty bag on the boat for collecting rubbish as you drive in and out of the harbour. Hout Bay is an excellent spot for this. Most harbours are actually filthy.
Consume less of everything
Reduce your carbon footprint. This encompasses all the obvious things: recycle, buy local, seasonal produce, eat less meat, and participate in more recreational activities that are carbon neutral. (Unfortunately diving isn’t technically one of those; even if you do a shore dive, you still need to get your cylinder filled using a compressor that consumes energy.)
Here’s a good carbon footprint calculator that’ll help you identify the areas of your lifestyle that are having the greatest negative impact on the environment. Mine is my commute to work, which produces a horrific amount of carbon dioxide each month. (If I ever needed a justification for running away to sea with Tony and the cats, this is it.)
If you eat seafood, make wise choices that are kind to the ocean. If you fish for fun, follow the regulations defining what and how much you’re allowed to catch.
Donate responsibly
If you have financial resources and want to make a donation to a conservation organisation, first do your research.
What will the money be spent on?
What is the track record of the organisation? What projects have they worked on already?
Do you agree with their aims, objectives and methods? (Would you be proud to have your name associated with their work?)
Will the money be spent on branding and advertising (some people mistake this for real action), or on observable projects that will have a direct impact on an environmental issue that’s important to you?
Remember that addressing an environmental problem may very well involve work with people. Sustainable Seas Trust (not an endorsement, just an example) addresses poverty and food security as a way to relieve pressure on the ocean’s scarce resources, thus caring for people and the sea at the same time. It’s great to take kids snorkeling, but after a while (and a lot of kids) I hope funders can demand a bit more originality and effort in that area.
Personally, I prefer to support organisations that follow scientific advice or include a research component in their activities, because I feel that conservation that isn’t based on scientific data is just marketing… But you may feel otherwise.
If your donation is a significant one, ask for feedback on how it was spent.
Don’t fool yourself
Finally, remember that writing tweets and sharing pictures on facebook doesn’t achieve anything concrete (ok here’s an exception), even though your rate of hashtagging may make you feel like your efforts are putting Greenpeace to shame. Sorry kids. Even Shonda Rhimes says so.
So much bad weather for so long – too little diving and not enough sun. That’s my complaint for the week.
This weekend, Saturday is really the only option for diving. There is very little swell and not much wind, but it picks up in the afternoon. False Bay, however, has been hammered for the last few days by big swell, strong winds and lots of rain. The wind direction has been good for water clarity, but the swell stirs up everything and all the murky rain water ends up close to shore.
I drove the coast this morning to take a look. The Clan Stuart was a little murky from the swell, and Long Beach was clean, but from Ark Rock and down to Shark Alley the water was really dirty. A huge mudslide just north of Miller’s Point has also contributed to this. South of Millers towards the point the water looks clean and blue, so we will head off to Atlantis and Batsata Maze. If you are keen to dive, text me. We will meet at the Simon’s Town Jetty at 9.00 and 11.30.
The Clan Stuart this morning
There is a lot going on right now:
Whale entanglement
Yesterday I saw what I thought was a whale entangled in an octopus trap but lost sight of it after a while as the sea was extremely rough. Fortunately it was found again today and thanks to the the SA Whale Disentanglement Network it was freed. It has some serious cuts from the rope but they heal relatively quickly. There are octopus traps as well as whelk traps in False Bay between Glencairn and Kalk Bay, and in 2012 a 4.3 metre female white shark was caught in the ropes attached to the whelk traps and drowned.
We have been concerned about whale entanglement in these fisheries since they were announced; it appears our concerns were well founded. If you would like to ask some pertinent questions about the whelk and octopus fisheries, and raise an objection, I suggest you contact Dr C. J. Augustyn, Chief Directorate, Fisheries Research and Development at DAFF, by email at JohannAU@daff.gov.za or by mail at 5th Floor, Foretrust Building, Cape Town, 8000.
There is a major shark conference taking place in Durban, out of which a constant stream of incredibly interesting information comes all day long thanks to a number of scientists live-tweeting the talks as they happen. Follow the tweets here.
Shark talk
Victoria Vásquez, a shark scientist at the Ocean Research Foundation and the Pacific Shark Research Centre in the United States, is giving a talk on shark conservation at OMSAC in Pinelands next Thursday evening, 12 June, at 7pm. If you would like to attend, rsvp here. She has been attending the Sharks International Symposium in Durban this week, so it’s a great opportunity to hear about the very latest shark research.
Finally, if you want to know how our own Department of Environmental Affairs plans to manage our marine resources, check out the recently published white paper here.
This is a citizen science project in the best sense. Four web-based atlases, each focusing on a particular type of marine life, are being established, with contributions from researchers, students, and people like you and me – mostly recreational divers, who get to see firsthand what lives underwater. The four atlases are:
The primary platforms on which these observations will be collected are iSpot (we reported our Western leopard toads there when we moved to the South Peninsula in 2012), SAJellyWatch, and EchinoMap.
There is also a section of the database for historical photographs of fishing activities prior to 1970. This will assist in establishing a baseline from which changes (that we have wrought, mostly) in the abundance and distribution of fish species can be measured. This part of the project is called FisHistory, and even if you don’t have any old photos of your dad holding a two metre long tuna and wearing a mullet and satin hotpants, you can still take a look at the contributions from others.
Starting the conversation in the Whale Well
As was pointed out several times during the evening, the aim of the initiative is to “start a conversation” between the widely disparate users of our oceans in order to get a better picture of what’s down there, how it is threatened, and how it is changing. It’s really exciting that recreational divers can assist with this project, and make ourselves useful.
I am excited to see that iSpot is already buzzing with activity from OMSAC members! iSpot is probably the best place for you to get going, submitting your underwater photos of marine life. You need to provide the location at which the photo was taken (which can be hidden if it’s your super secret reef with a super secret waypoint), and take a stab at identifying the creature – but you don’t have to know what it is. If you don’t know what your creature is, other users of the system will help with identification. If you’re not into photography but are interested in species identification, you can also contribute by identifying other users’ contributions. For more about how iSpot works, visit their help pages.
When the opportunity arises to go aboard a ship, we like to take it. Our most recent ship tour was of the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior vessel. In celebration of World Oceans Day on 8 June, the Department of Environmental Affairs opened the SA Agulhas IIpolar research vessel to the public, and we popped down to the V&A Waterfront to see her.
The SA Agulhas II replaces the SA Agulhas, now in use as a training vessel by SAMSA. The SA Agulhas has been in service for many years, and was recently chartered by the organisers of The Coldest Journey to transport the personnel and machinery to Antarctica before the winter.
The SA Agulhas II was built in Finland at a cost of R1,3 billion, and is state of the art as far as safety features and redundancy is concerned. She has two completely separate main engines, and is capable of continuing underway if one engine room floods. The decks and outdoor staircases of the ship are heated to prevent ice build up, and her hull is capable of pushing through one metre thick ice at a speed of nearly 10 kilometres per hour. She will service Marion Island, Gough Island, and the SANAE IV base on the Antarctic continent.
Tony on the helicopter pad
The ship’s bell
View from the bridge, showing helicopter pad and cranes on deck
Department of Environmental Affairs headquarters in table Bay Harbour
Table Mountain seen from the rear lower deck of the SA Agulhas II
Penguin on the Antarctic continent adorning the side of the vessel
The stern of the SA Agulhas
The ship has room for two helicopters, with a large helipad and a hangar in which the choppers can be housed with their blades folded down. The hangar’s walls are heavily fire proofed, and look like a couch or quilt. The ship can carry 100 scientists and a crew of 45. The accommodation is lovely, with every cabin having natural light. I was ready to run away to become a polar explorer after seeing the cabins, but when we stepped out on deck into the freezing wind (remember, the ship was still at her berth in Cape Town) I changed my mind.
Accommodation on the SA Agulhas II
One of the life rafts
There are eight permanent laboratories on board, and six containerised ones which can be lifted on and off the ship depending on what experiments are to be performed. Members of the scientific personnel spoke to us about some of the work that is done on board, including sampling the carbon dioxide content of water at various depths and locations (the levels are affected by global warming), and collection of plankton in special devices that enable the scientists to measure the fecundity of a particular part of the ocean. Tony and I kind of hoped that the intern who told us that they give that information to fishing company I&J was joking or wrong, but sadly I suspect he wasn’t.
The hangar for the helicopters
The side of the ship opens up to enable instrumentation to be deployed
Garth the chemist explaining some of the research done on board
Plankton gathering equipment for research
Containers on the dock at the Department of Environmental Affairs building
A CTD water sampler hanging over the moon pool
In the centre of the ship is a moon pool – just like a James Bond movie – through which instrumentation can be lowered into the ocean. It’s essentially a hole all the way through the hull, surrounded by the ship. The advantage of this is that it won’t ice over, and there is no chance of a heavy piece of machinery hung over the side of the ship causing problems of balance. There is a large door in the side of the ship through which instruments can be sent, a feature shared with the old SA Agulhas, but during long experiments it’s possible that the ship gets iced in and the instruments crushed. The device hanging over the moon pool in the photograph above is a CTD, or conductivity, temperature, depth water sampler. It measures those three variables at different depths by taking water into the cylindrical Niskin bottles that make up the array. These close at predefined depths, and the water thus obtained can be analysed on board.
Bridge instrumentation
Radar display (in Cape Town harbour)
Standing on a piece of the bridge that overhangs the edge of the ship
Instrumentation on the bridge
The ship has thrusters and multi-directional propellors that enable her to move in almost any direction, rotate on the spot, and hold a position with incredible accuracy for hours on end, even in unfavourable sea condtions.
I was amazed by this ship, but also worried by her, half waiting for something to go wrong. We have a very sad habit in South Africa of completely dropping the ball environmentally (I’m thinking of the fisheries patrol boats gathering dust at the quay in Simon’s Town while the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries goes on fraudulent trips and accepts bribes), and squandering technology that could otherwise be used for great good. My hope is that the recognition from other nations that this is a special, one of a kind ship with capabilities unmatched by many other vessels will apply a form of peer pressure to keep the powers that be from wasting the SA Agulhas II’s capabilities. The scientists and crew who we spoke to on board are passionate, dedicated people. I hope they will be well served by those who set the maintenance budgets, scheduling and priorities of this special ship.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this is the worst movie ever made. I don’t think a worse movie could be made; I’m willing to make this prediction even if the human race continues making movies in their current form until the end of civilisation. The fact that this is an appalling film shouldn’t put you off seeing it if you live in Cape Town, however. If you’re a Halle Berry fan, you will probably also be interested in this offering, and your enjoyment will probably be enhanced by viewing the film with the sound turned off. The movie was filmed a couple of years ago in Simon’s Town (False Bay Yacht Club, Bertha’s restaurant, and the jetty outside Bertha’s all feature) and False Bay. There is brief footage at (I think – it’s dark) Miller’s Point, Boulders Beach, and a fair amount shot at Seal Island. The underwater footage looked like it was shot in a kelp forest off Duiker Island in Hout Bay. Lots of seals. There was a lot of kelp – more than I remember there being at Seal Rock near Partridge Point. It could also have been shot at Seal Island (where it purports to be) in summer, but the water is quite clean which makes me unsure. There are about six characters, most of whom are played by local actors. We are treated to a variety of accents, sometimes several different ones from a single individual. There is a lot of supposedly endearing and humourous banter between Berry and her local staff members, which I just found patronising and offensive. Halle Berry’s character, Kate, freedives with white sharks. After causing the death of her safety diver (he was eaten), she retires from shark diving and takes people on boat tours to Boulders Beach to look at penguins and to Seal Island to look at seals. She can do this all in one short trip because Boulders is on the way to Seal Island when you sail out of Simon’s Town. Right? Right! (Another interesting fact I didn’t know about the geography of False Bay is that Seal Island is a 20 minute surface swim from Miller’s Point. The abalone poachers apparently do it often, but have a “less than 50% chance” of making it back.) It was fun to see Simon’s Town on film, and to identify that Kate’s office is actually the clubhouse for the kids’ dabchick sailing school at FBYC. A wealthy man of indeterminate nationality wants to swim with white sharks outside a cage. Kate is tricked (sort of) into taking him to do so. At seal island they see a couple of sharks, but the millionaire cannot follow instructions (“stay in the cage”) and Kate discovers that her boyfriend promised him a cageless dive without consulting her. After an INORDINATE amount of shouting and screaming on the boat, Kate loses her rag and decides to take the millionaire “around the point” to “Shark Alley” where the really big great white sharks can be found, to teach him a lesson. (Readers unfamiliar with Cape Town should know that there is a place here called Shark Alley, but it’s inside False Bay and no white sharks are found there… Only sevengill cowsharks.) Despite the worsening weather they make the trip, and at this point the movie becomes a cross between The Perfect Storm and Jaws. There is a lot more shouting on the boat. Lots of people get eaten by sharks. No doubt the NSRI is called. Not many of the characters make it home. To sum up, several people die in extremely violent and gory shark attacks. The blame for all of the deaths can be laid at Berry’s character Kate’s feet. She is immature, has a bad temper, and is incapable of assessing risk. Unfortunately she survives. Some of the shark footage is nice. An alternative title for the film could be “Shouting on a Boat” or “Halle Berry in Small and/or Tight Clothing”. If either of those appeal, by all means, be my guest. I hope the Department of Environmental Affairs, FBYC and STADCO made some nice money out of issuing permits and renting facilities for this film (really). It’s great that local venues are benefiting from the international film industry. SharkLife apparently sponsored a lot of the clothing worn in the film. Their logo was everywhere. I watched the credits with greater attentiveness than I did the rest of the movie, looking for familiar names among the stunt divers, skippers, cameramen and extras who featured. I found some! You can buy the DVD here if you’re in South Africa, otherwise here or here.
The net lies in the calm water after a successful deployment
Here’s the rest of the set of photographs I took on Friday 22 March of the shark exclusion net being deployed for the first time at Fish Hoek beach. There’s a press release about the net here (or here – read it). If you’d rather flick through a facebook album of photos, there’s one here.
The mesh of the net is 4.5cm square – too fine for marine creatures to get caught in
Further down the beach, the trek fishermen and team are at work with the net
Swimmers already inside the net
Heading down the catwalk
The net is just visible as a line of yellow buoys
Putting the rope through an eye on the buoy
Approaching Jagger’s Walk
Monwa attaches the ropes so the net can be pulled ashore
Discussions between boat crew and diver
The yellow line attached to the net, joined to a light red line for pulling it ashore
Pulling the net to shore on the catwalk
The boat alongside the net
Boeta attaches the net to the rocks
The net attached to an eye in the rocks
A member of the project team from the City of Cape Town
Safety diver Brocq next to the net
Fish Hoek beach
The boat can be seen near the buoy alongside the catwalk
Safety diver Brocq takes a break
The net is temporarily attached to the rocks on Jagger’s Walk
Two leaded ropes (seen at the bottom of the picture) will drop to the ocean floor
Temporarily attached to its trailer, the net will eventually have a permanent moorning block on the beach
For your edification, I reproduce the FAQ part of the press release, which answers some common concerns about the net:
Q. Where will the net be placed? A. The net will be placed in the corner near Jagger’s walk, enclosing the space (approximately) between the City of Cape Town Law Enforcement offices and Jagger’s walk, including the area in front of the Galley Restaurant. It will extend approximately 300 metres out to sea.
Q. Will the net be permanently in place? A. No. The net will be deployed and removed on a daily basis. It was determined that leaving the net unsupervised at night would pose an unacceptable risk for entanglement of marine life, such as whales or dolphins. This arrangement will mean that the net is supervised at all times, thus allowing the net to be removed should whales, dolphins, or other animals be deemed to be at risk.
Q. How long will the trial last? A. The City has received permission from the National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Department of Environmental Affairs to trial the net under a research permit. This permit is valid until the end of January 2014, after which the programme will be evaluated and a longer term approach developed.
Q. What type of netting will be used, and why was the mesh size chosen? A. The net is made of thick HDPE twine, with a small mesh, 45mm X 45mm in size. The mesh is hung “on the flag” i.e. in a square configuration. This mesh size and configuration significantly reduces the risk of entangling large marine animals, as well as small fish.
Q. Is the exclusion net like the shark nets in KwaZulu-Natal? Why can’t the KwaZulu-Natal shark nets be used here? A. No, this net is different from the KwaZulu-Natal nets. The shark nets in KwaZulu-Natal are essentially large-meshed gill nets that entangle and catch sharks, reducing the local shark population and thus reducing the risk of shark attack in the vicinity of protected beaches. The City of Cape Town has committed to ensuring that marine life – including sharks – in our coastal waters are protected; nets similar to those used in KwaZulu-Natal would not be acceptable in light of that commitment.
Q. How safe will swimming be when the net is deployed? A. It is important to note that the aim of this net is create a safer swimming area. The City of Cape Town cannot guarantee the safety of anyone using the netted area; use of the area will be at the swimmer’s own risk. However, the City is of the opinion that the safety of swimming at Fish Hoek beach will be improved, and that the presence of the net will considerably reduce the risk to swimmers.
Q. Will people be able to surf/kayak/body board/operate watercraft within the netted area? A. The netted area will be primarily for the use of swimmers. No motorised or non-motorised watercraft will be allowed within the netted area. Inflatables will be permitted. Body boards will be allowed within the netted area; however at peak times users may be asked to leave if they are posing a risk to other water users in the netted area.
Q. What hours/days will the net operate? A. It is intended that the net will ultimately operate according to the same hours as the Shark Spotters, i.e. 07:00 to 18:00 in summer, and 08:00 to 17:00 in winter months. This is to ensure that the net is supervised at all times. This will remain subject to change during the start of the trial period while different configurations and procedures are being tested. Additionally, deployment of the net will always be subject to weather conditions which may necessitate that the net is deployed later than expected or removed earlier than expected each day. It is not possible to determine ahead of time which days the net will operate on and for how long it will operate each day – this decision will be made daily based on weather and sea conditions. However, the net will be available to be deployed every day, and the deployment crew will be on standby daily to ensure this.
Q. Will swimmers be required to leave the area if a shark is spotted? A. Initially, the normal provisions of the Shark Spotting Programme will remain in place. If a shark is spotted in the area, the siren will sound and all users within the netted area will be required to leave the water. This is to ensure the safety of the public. This decision will be reviewed at a later stage, after research on the response of sharks to the net has been completed and analysed.
Q. Will whales/dolphins/seals/sharks/fish get trapped or entangled in the net? A. The City is taking every step to reduce the risk to marine life. In addition to the small mesh size, and the decision to remove the net at night, the netted area will be under constant supervision by the Shark Spotters. This will allow the Shark Spotters to take action should marine mammals approach too closely to the net, including removing the net, or gently herding the animals with a boat. It is not believed that sharks are at risk of entanglement, due to the small mesh size. It is possible that there may be some entanglement of small fish, but this is not likely.
Q. What will the impact of the net be on the trek fishers? A. The trek fishers have been extensively consulted as part of this project. The City believes that the net is not likely to have a significant impact on the ability of the trek fishers to operate in the area. Additionally, the Shark Spotters have contracted the trek fishers to assist with deploying and removing the net on a daily basis, due to their familiarity with the area and their ability in handling nets. The net may be removed at times to facilitate fishing, but will be returned once this is completed.
Q. Who will manage the net? A. The Shark Spotters will manage the net for the City. The City has extended its existing Memorandum of Agreement with the Shark Spotters in order to allocate the additional responsibility.
Q. Were specialists consulted in the design of the net? A. Yes. A number of experts were consulted, including the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board, the National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Department of Environmental Affairs, as well as trek fishers, City engineers, and coastal engineers in the private sector.
Q. Has this approach been used anywhere else in the world? A. No. Exclusion nets have been used successfully in Hong Kong and more recently in the Seychelles, however these are fixed nets that are not removed daily. This is a globally unique project that is being monitored by a number of governments around the world – if it proves to be successful, it is possible that it may be replicated in other countries.
Q. How will this trial be evaluated? A. The net will be the subject of an ongoing scientific investigation, which will look at a number of aspects, including: Ecosystem impacts and the potential for marine animal entanglements; the logistical viability of daily deployment and retrieval; impacts on the trek net fishers; behaviour of the net under a variety of weather conditions; and public response to the net and use of the area. The decision to continue the operation of the net on a more permanent basis after the trial period has ended will be based on an assessment of these variables, in conjunction with the National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Department of Environmental Affairs.
