SOUTH AFRICA: Surfers blame the practice of chumming for recent shark attacks near Cape Town despite lack of evidence

Record ID: 353864

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: Surfers blame the practice of chumming for recent shark attacks near Cape Town despite lack of evidence
  • Date: 28th April 2012
  • Summary: PEOPLE AT THE BEACH
  • Embargoed: 13th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa, South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Environment / Natural World
  • Reuters ID: LVA5GW7ZPUHH6FJ7PRKXDCWO7PU6
  • Story Text: Luring great white sharks with a smelly mixture of fish and oil in South Africa's False Bay has triggered a wave of anger, with surfers and swimmers calling for a ban on the practice following a fatal shark attack a week ago.
    A growing attraction over the past several years in one of Africa's biggest tourist destinations, Cape Town, has been underwater dives with sharks, with operators clouding waters with a bloody mixture called "chum" to attract the predators.
    Many marine experts doubt if chumming changes the behaviour of sharks in the region, which include great white sharks as long as mini-buses that weigh upwards of four tonnes.
    But, the practice has rattled surfers, swimmers and kayakers, especially after a suspected great white shark ripped the leg off of David Lilienfeld, 20, last week, killing the champion body-boarder.
    "I would like to see a ban on the direct interaction with great white sharks because this is an animal that we must respect, this is an animal that kills people," Cas Collier, a former big wave world champion, said at Surfer's Corner, Muizenberg beach in the bay.
    Data shows since 2000 there have been 10 shark attacks around Cape Town's coast, five of them fatal, including Lilienfeld.
    ""There's a much higher frequency of shark occurrences and sightings and the public safety is being possibly put in jeopardy as a result," said canoeist Mark Wiley.
    Fish Hoek beach, a popular family beach has become a reflection of the anxiety. The beach's championship life-saving team does not swim in the water to practice and makes use of kayaks when venturing into the ocean, such is the fear of the great white menace.
    "Shortly after the Tyler Webb attack, scientists asked for a study to be done on charming and I was present when those results were issued and the results were that chumming had no significant effect on shark activity," said Mike Schilperaart, spokesman for Fish Hoek Surf Lifesaving Club.
    The club, which spent more than 100,000 rand on shark shields that are placed in the water and emit an electronic pulse to deter sharks, is hoping the city would soon erect a shark exclusion net as an additional barrier.
    Sharks are drawn to the area to feed on the large number of seals at Seal Island, a rocky outcrop in the middle of False Bay. Once hunted for sport trophies, great whites have been a protected species in South African waters since 1991.
    For many of those who work with or study these graceful creatures, the emotion evoked in attacks clouds judgement.
    However, research in Australia suggests prolonged chumming can affect shark behaviour around people to associate humans with food.
    Every time an attack occurs, fingers are pointed at the small shark cage diving industry, centred in False Bay and Gansbaai, where the famous "shark alley" is found.
    Contributing about 30 million rand (4 million) to Cape Town's coffers each year, the shark cage industry is highly regulated - only three permit holders are allowed to chum in a restricted area around Seal Island.
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