Chris & Monique Fallows

Orca Report

10/05/2012

Orca Report: 5 May
Written by Chris Fallows

This was our 4th encounter in False Bay with the group of 4 since 2009 (now known to us as A pod) that includes two very noticeable individuals, Mannemerak, the friendly female orca (often bow rides or stern rides) with the bulbous hump on her dorsal surface anterior to her dorsal fin and then a large female (known now as Cleopatra, beautiful but lethal) that has a very falcate fin with a chink missing at the top. Cleopatra seems to be the lead hunter on 7 of the hunts we have seen this group undertake to date. 4 of the 7 have been successful.

Two of the other members have seemingly grown since our first sighting in April 2009. Mannemerak still has the strange parasite like object trailing off her dorsal fin seen at the last two sightings.

The last sighting unfolded as follows.

Sitting at Seal Island I noticed the school of dolphin we had observed 1nm East of York Shoal 45minutes earlier swimming in a SW direction 600m West of Sector 3 at Seal Island. After 2-3 minutes observation I noticed the school take off very abruptly. Having seen this behavior before when orcas or danger was present I looked for any signs of either. A single blow was seen 500 behind the fleeing school of dolphin but as no large dorsal fin was seen. I thought it to possibly be a Brydes whale. The dolphins continued to move away from the area at speed. I then decided to up anchor and follow. Upon getting to roughly York shoal I saw another blow and then saw a single orca. We stayed within 400m of this animal for 5 minutes. At the same time we noticed the school of dolphin noticeably breaking into three schools and tearing away from a single area. I then saw a massive splash and knew that another orca must be attacking them. We then immediately headed into that area. We saw two orcas pursuing two dolphin.I followed the lead orca from a distance of 300-400 m so as to not interfere with the hunt by forcing any direction changes or confusing engine noise in front of where the hunt was going. The lead orca caught up with the dolphin and overtook it and seemingly tried to head the dolphin back in the direction of where the following orca was coming from. The dolphins circled around the lead orca and once again headed in a NW direction. The speed was roughly 8-10 knots throughout the pursuit. The second orca, Cleopatra took over the chase and followed the dolphins for a further 1mile until abandoning the chase. It appeared that once they had missed a strike on the group but had separated a dolphin they pursued it and then tried to coral it for another orca member of the pod to catch in the confusion. It also appeared that the other two orcas in the pod of 4 were also following the hunt but were too far behind the pace to be of any visible use.

Upon the direction change the 4 pod members regrouped. Upon seeing Mannemerak I positioned our vessel in front of her roughly 300 m away and drove the vessel at slightly slower than her approach speed hoping that if she chose she would join us as she had done on all occasions before. She immediately swam up to the port aft quarter and with me leaning out of the vessel through the marlin door swam 1 ft under water directly under me for over two minutes on her side watching me, it was incredible. She then banked away from the vessel and rejoined Cleopatra.

We followed at distances varying from several meters, when they came to us, to over 500 m. The orcas headed S for roughly 1.5nm and then abruptly turned N. We followed astern and to the starboard side of them for roughly 3 miles upon which we positioned our vessel 300 m in front of them and disengaged the engines. They approached to within 50 m of us and altered course. It was at this point that I felt we may be overstaying our welcome as it was the first sign at any time that the orcas did not want us any closer. We then headed back to Simonstown with the orcas now heading in a SSE direction towards the centre of the bay.

It was truly fantastic to see these animals again and know they seemed all well.

Can’t wait for the next time!

March Shark Bytes

13/04/2012

MARCH 2012 SHARK BYTES

Dear Shark Lovers,

My apologies for the late newsletter. Chris & I have been away in Argentina and then I think the Easter Weekend just caught up with me!
There is a lot to chat about in this month’s news. I do unfortunately start with bad news, that of a white shark that was caught and killed off Fish Hoek bay.
On the good news front Chris & I had a fascinating and spectacular experience watching Orcas that strand themselves in order to hunt South American sea lions in Argentina. And the best news of all is another great month of Great Whites at Seal Island.

4.3 METER FEMALE WHITE SHARK DIES IN FISH HOEK BAY.
On 11 March a very large 4.3 meter female Great white shark was caught and killed in an experimental fishing practise.
You can read my initial blog on the event here. MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "tracker1.co.za" claiming to be http://www.apexpredators.com/blog/great-white-shark-killed-in-fishing-nets-off-fish-hoek.html
Subsequent to this the official account stated that the shark was already dead when the net was retrieved so there will be no further consequences to the fishing permit holder. This fishing practise has also been halted until fishing methods can be refined. We were extremely relieved to hear this news as the chances of an incident like this happening again would have been highly likely as it is it took only 3 weeks of operation to catch the first great white shark.
Even though this was a shark that neither the scientists nor operators had any record of, it was a great loss to the Great white shark population and I am sure many of you will be saddened to hear this news.

MARCH GREAT WHITE SHARK, SEAL ISLAND NEWS
Last month I reported that we had our best ever February Great White Shark sightings at Seal Island on record and this March I can report the same!
Chris & I were home for the first half of the month and I can tell you that just about every trip was fantastic with an average of 5 sharks per trip. We also had great weather so White Pointer was at sea most days. In seasons gone past it has been really frustrating sitting on land and not seeing the great whites for sometimes up to 6 months so we have made the most of this early arrival to Seal Island.
Most trips have focused mainly on cage diving and viewing the sharks close to the boat but we have had breaches on about 25% of the trips. That is a really high chance for this time of the year, even at our normal start of the season in April breaches are not common.
I thought you would enjoy the account of our very first breach of the season. We decided to tow the decoy for a short period and carefully explained to the guests that there was a virtually nil chance of seeing a breach. Even though I have seen hundreds of breaches I never take my eyes of the decoy, the breaches are just too special and spectacular to miss. We did our short tow around the Island with no luck. As we stopped, Woods waited a few moments before starting to retrieve the decoy. In that moment I turned to mention something to Chris & Poenas just as a shark did a full breach on the decoy! Chris & Poenas were already looking at me, and Woods had turned for a brief moment so the entire crew missed it! The good news is that all the guests had followed my advice and still had their eye on the decoy so they were blown away by this amazing breach. I did have a chuckle to myself as for many seasons either myself, Chris or Poenas has missed the first breach. It is normally a good omen to a good season so I really hope it rings true this year.
This particular trip just kept getting better. We ended up with no less than 15 different sharks that morning, all in sizes ranging from 2.8 meters to a really big female of 3.8 meters. Even in the very peak of our high season it is extremely rare to see this many different sharks at the boat. They just kept popping up everywhere! During this time on anchor we also saw 2 natural breaches. The one I was lucky to see was a fully vertical white belly breach, just phenomenal. A natural breach is when a shark breaches for no apparent reason. This normally happens a few times a month and you have to be looking in just the right spot at just the right time. They are normally hugely spectacular and are followed by excited screams from whoever was lucky to see it.
We also observed 2 predatory events on cape fur seals close to the boat whilst on anchor, so it was indeed a bumper day.
Whilst Chris & I were in Argentina Poenas was leading the trips and we hear that shark sightings continued to be excellent. Sometimes you can have trips where you see good numbers of sharks but that does not always mean that they are interactive. You can sometimes have a better trip if you just see 1 shark that has been interactive in terms of looking at the bait or decoy. Sometimes even in peak season the sharks can be shy. But this past February and March the sharks have been really interactive and I think this has really set our trips apart from other early season trips.

OTHER ACTIVITY IN FALSE BAY
Chris & I felt sure that White Pointer would find the Orcas while we were away, it would have been really ironic if it had happened seeing as we travelled a great distance to see them! Before we left False Bay was teeming with life. We were spotting large schools of common dolphin on 90% of our trips and thousands of gannets had started to arrive too. These predators along with Brydes whales are supported by large shoals of bait fish that have been in the Bay this time of the year for about the last 4 years now. It’s a great time for trips right now, just to see the huge variety of marine life.
As it turned out, no Orcas were seen but after learning a few tricks in Argentina we are even more on the lookout.

PENINSULA VALDES ORCAS EXPERIENCE
In terms of spectacular wildlife events I am sure for many of you a number of instances instantly come to mind. In my case Orcas stranding themselves in order to hunt sea lion pups is right up there, even though I did not know much about it.
During the middle of 2011 friends of ours booked an expedition in the hopes of seeing and photographing this unique behaviour. When David told us about it we immediately had our interest pricked and a few weeks later we were also booked!
I have written a 3 page trip report blog. You can view the whole report here. Below is an extract for those that prefer to hear more about sharks, than Orcas!

“When the orcas entered the channel there were absolutely no pups in the water. Multiple times over an hour period they would approach the beach. They use echo location to find the pups so each time they would check, check, check, but nothing was available. After the hour I felt for sure they would give up and move further down the beach. I couldn’t believe it when they kept staying in the channel.
Eventually the first pup of the day made a mistake and one of the orcas picked up on it. She stealthily approached and had a successful kill on her first attempt. 3 other orcas followed close behind ready to step in if she missed. And so it continued for another 3.5 hours with 15 attacks.
In that 4.5 hours I did not take my eyes off the channel and the drama that was being played out. Having this last opportunity really allowed me to start understand what was taking place. When you see something for the first time it is quite difficult to pick up details as you are overwhelmed.
I mentioned before how much more of a thought process and strategy takes place, this is a seriously intelligent animal. It felt like almost every time a pup ventured into the water an orca would be aware and attempt a hunt. It seems they definitely use a wave to approach and it is fascinating to see the orca through the wave as it lines up the seal pup.
Sometimes between 2 and 4 orcas come in together, if the first one misses the others are ready if a group of pups has scattered in the confusion which aides their success. They food share, so even the orcas that do not strand still share in the meal. I am pretty sure that they have other talents that make up for this!
The most memorable moment was watching Antu (female orca) track parallel to a group of 4 pups that were walking across the beach. They were not in the water but Antu, who was swimming in knee high water, tracked along with them for 100 meters. She was clearly watching the pups the whole time and would have been ready to attack if they so much as touched the water.
Another time one of the orcas approached the beach swimming sideways so that her huge dorsal fin would not give up her approach.
It was this sort out thinking and cunning strategy that absolutely fascinated me and as I said before distinguishes an orca from a Great white shark.”

In April we are flat out again with Great White trips. When one has a funny start to the season I am always a little wary that things can change. But we are all really hopefully that sightings will continue to be good.
On another note, we have just 3 spots left on our August “Great White Trail” Expedition. This trip takes you to all 3 prime Great white shark locations in South Africa, perfect for anyone wanting to see a variety of white shark behaviour in each area. So check out all the info if you are interested.

Until the end of April,
Best wishes
Monique Fallows.

Best wishes
Monique Fallows

Shark Bytes

14/03/2012

Dear Shark Lovers

Greetings from a surprisingly sharky month at Seal Island! The great whites seem to have made an early return to the Island, read all about very interesting new research that shows it is a major health risk to consume shark and hear about our encounters with spotted gully sharks this past month.

GREAT WHITE SHARKS, SEAL ISLAND
I almost feel nervous writing about the sharks arriving back at Seal Island, they are so finicky that if they hear me they may just decide to leave again! During the first week of Feb we received a phone call at 3pm from a very desperate group wanting to go out and see sharks that same day. We carefully explained that in all likelihood they would not see any but they were pretty insistent. So, at 4pm Chris, Poenas and Woods headed out. 30 minutes later they had already seen a Great white shark predation event and within 2 hours they had 4 different sharks up to the boat.
As a general rule the Great white sharks return to Seal Island in early April. Their summer food source which is made up of migratory fish species and other species of sharks would have left False Bay and the seal colony now becomes their main option.
We saw the same early return of Great whites to Seal Island in 2011 but we don’t have any definite reason as to why there has been this change other than increased fishing pressure on the smaller sharks that they feed on such as smooth hounds has led them to feed on the only reliable source of food that is left.
We have not had a lot of south easterly wind this summer. This wind is important in terms stimulating the eco system. The strong wind churns up the water which in turn stimulates an algal bloom. Bait fish feed on this and in turn the migratory fish and sharks feed on the bait fish, which attract the great whites to the inshore area.
If the inshore area does not have ideal conditions it does make sense that there may not be an abundance of inshore prey and the great whites may be forced to check out Seal Island.
We have been watching the shark spotter sightings closely and there have interestingly been a lot of sightings along Muizenberg and Fish Hoek this whole month which leads me to believe that there must be a fair amount of Great white sharks present in False Bay at the moment.
It was a little tricky to put trips together on short notice of the sharks being around Seal Island but White Pointer did get out 12 times this month. The good news is that on all trips we had great sightings around the boat. Numbers of individual sharks varied from 3 to 8 per trip, that is fantastic for this time of the year. More good news is that most of the time they were happy to stay around and were interactive. This meant that all our guests got great sightings from both on board and in the cage.
The sizes of the sharks ranged from around 3 meters and we saw 3 or 4 sharks around the 4 meter mark, so it appears there are some big sharks around.
One shark was a particularly interactive individual. We saw him on 3 different trips and he is a regular shark known from past seasons. He is called “Honda” as he is very curious with our engines. Woods had to be very vigilant by using our boat’s broomstick to fend him off (that made for quite a sight!). He is about 3.7 meters, so a good size for a male and a delightful individual.
There have been a number of active predatory events although not too much scavenge feeding which is what we normally see early season. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope that the sharks decide to stay for the rest of the season!

FALSE BAY IS ALIVE!
We are also hoping that the trend of large amounts of bait fish in False Bay over February, March, April the last few years comes together. From about mid February we started to notice large schools of anchovy and the numbers of gathering cape gannets growing too. Also about this time we started to pick up on small schools of common dolphin and a couple of days ago Poenas found a school of 800 strong. So, it seems like the predators seem to be gathering in what we are starting to believe is the start of the Sardine Run.
I am sure our regular followers will guess what we are hoping for next. Yes, Orcas!!
In 2009 and 2010 we had 7 orca sightings, each time hunting common dolphin. It seems that the large presence of bait fish in the Bay is stimulating another unique eco system within False Bay.
5 different pods were identified so that is quite a mix. Orcas were spotted in 2011 but sadly we missed them each time. On Saturday morning one of the fishing charters called us at home to say they had just encountered four orcas close to Cape Point. There is a pod of 4 that we have seen twice in 2009 and 2010 so we are wondering if it is them.
So be sure over the coming weeks that the Apex Team will be using their sharp eyes looking out for these incredible predators.

SPOTTED GULLY SHARKS ENCOUNTER
Every summer Chris & I aim to try and dive with this normally shy species of shark. They live in temperate waters and can be found in the kelp forests, shallow bays and off sandy beaches. They are endemic to Southern Africa but are cousins to the American Leopard shark.
There are a number of areas that you can find them in the Southern Cape but all areas seem to be very dependent on the conditions in terms of if you find them there are not. After many years we have kind of worked it out. This past week we saw the conditions and decide to try for them for 2 days in Struisbaai.
The sea conditions were flat and water visibility great. And the Spotted Gully’s were present!
It was still not that easy, they are notoriously shy and Chris had to carry out a clandestine operation in order to get closer to them. I initially gave them space but was able to snorkel with them some of the time.
Actually snorkelling is not a great reference! They were so shallow that we went in without our fins and waited. If it looked like one would be approaching on their general swim path we would just duck our heads underwater and have a great look as it cruised by. On one occasion a shark was so unaware of me that I had to lift my legs out of the way in order to avoid it crashing into me. It really was a lot of fun!
There were a number of large Gully’s that were sexually mature (around 1.5 meters)and many of them bore what looked like mating scars. We estimated there were in the region of 30 to 40 sharks aggregated in a small area so perhaps this gathering has something to do with breeding. I know understanding is a long way off but it provides a good excuse to spend more time with them.
For the rest of the summer we will closely watch the conditions and hope to have another crack at it.

NEUROTOXINS IN SHARK FINS
Our good friend Dr Neil Hammerschlag from the RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program in Miami has been chatting to us for the past 2 years about an exciting new finding he and colleagues were working on. We are delighted to see that it has now been published.
The team has discovered high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins, a neurotoxin linked to neurodegenerative diseases in humans including Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig Disease (ALS). The study suggests that consumption of shark fin soup and cartilage pills may pose a significant health risk for degenerative brain diseases.
Findings of this nature can have a significant on shark conservation if it can help to reduce consumer demand of shark products. If you would like to read the full details please read our blog or visit MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "tracker1.co.za" claiming to be www.rjd.miami.edu

MAKO AND BLUE SHARKS
Since the return of the great whites to Seal Island our focus has been on these trips but we did still get out on 2 Pelagic Shark Trips.
The water off the Point has been a beautiful blue so the trips were great for diving. We had blue sharks and mako sharks on both trips. The mako sharks did not stay long on either trip, in fact a large cape fur seal actually chased one away. The numbers of blue sharks have been down significantly and again we think it is a direct link to 3 shark longlining boats working off Cape Point this summer.When they have fished in the area we go from seeing 10 or more sharks to 1 or 2 if we are lucky.
We have been fighting this battle for 12 years and have come to the conclusion that The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) doesn’t give one iota about South Africa’s shark populations.
More distressing news is that DEA is leading a new project by hosting the notorious “Shark Men” documentary team in South Africa.
This controversial series was aired last year and the main theme was for Chris Fischer to hook and land great white sharks in order to tag them. The sharks were handled in a very bad way and there was huge criticism to the project with well established operators in Guadalupe noting that several tagged sharks did not return to the island and some of those that did had severely overgrown tags resulting in damaged dorsal fins.
The South African project is due to start next week and so far the operators of the great white shark cage diving industry have not been informed never mind consulted about the project. We can only hope that the impact on the sharks is not as severe as at Guadalupe and The Farralones and the DEA people tasked with conserving the white shark will actually do something about it.

WHATS HAPPENING IN MARCH?
Well, we hope that the Great Whites stay at Seal Island.
Chris & I will actually be spending 2 week at Peninsula Valdez in Argentina. We are hoping to witness and photograph the orca’s as they race onto the beach in pursuit of seals.
We gather we have to be very lucky, but hopefully we have given ourselves enough time for a good chance at it.
Poenas will be taking care of trips on White Pointer so if any of you are interested in an early view of the Great whites let us know.

If anyone is interested in attending a Photographic workshop by Art Wolf (in South Africa, April 2012) check out this link to further info. The workshop is being hosted by C4 Images.

We are also fast approaching our annual Apex Sardine Run Expedition. There are 4 spots left so let us know if you are interested in experiencing this incredible marine phenomenon.
Until then,

Best wishes
Monique Fallows

Pilot whales

01/07/2011

The waters off Cape Point are extremely nutrient rich and not only support the sharks and birds but also a large amount of cetacean species. On May 15th we did not have any guests booked and as the weather forecast was so good we decided to head offshore with just the Apex crew to enjoy a good day’s sharking together!

On the way out one of our new crew members, Amy, was asking me about what whales or dolphins we could possibly see. Not 30 minutes later, we came across a school of about 100 Dusky Dolphins. We had not seen this species of dolphin for nearly 3 years so it was really exciting to get close to them again.

Once out in the “deep” we had 4/5 blue sharks up at the boat. The guys were enjoying a great dive with these beautiful sharks but this was suddenly interrupted.

About 100 meters away Chris spotted a large disturbance in the water. After a closer look it appeared that a herd of wild horses was galloping towards us, such was the velocity with which this pod of pilot whales was travelling.

Chris, still struggling with his case of “orcalitis” , thought they may have been killer whales but as they raced past we identified them as pilot whales, most likely short-finned.

After a quick decision we decided to leave the blue sharks and pursue the pilot whales. Easy choice as this was only the 5th time we have seen them!

We estimated there to be about 60 animals in this pod, a mixture of adults of juveniles. They were completely unfazed by the boat but we were careful to only stop ahead of them and wait until they came across us. We then turned the engines off and just listened and watched as they cruised at about 8 knots past us. The noise of rushing water was spectacular!

A number of them were pretty curious with the boat and would dive beneath us for a really good look.

We also tracked alongside them for a while and just really enjoyed & appreciated getting such a great look at these animals.
They really are strange looking animals with a huge bulbous head. This is most likely due to the fact that they rely heavily on using sonar for navigation and feeding. They feed mostly on squid so they also need at times to dive to great depths. (Between 200 and 500 meters).

They have a parrot-like beak mouth, tiny compared to the rest of the animal and a very small eye. It was a little difficult to get a really good view of their eyes and mouth as these are only exposed very quickly while they breathe at the surface. Chris took some good photos and in some of them you can have a good look.

Their dorsal fins also vary from one animal to another. Some are really wide and thick and others are a little smaller.

There are 2 species of pilot whales, long-finned and short-finned and both occur in our waters. It is very difficult to tell the two apart but having done some reading on both species I suspect that in the 5 sightings we have had, we have seen both species.

I am still not quite sure what species we saw on Sunday but I suspect it was short-finned.

Some interesting info about them is that males live up to 40 years and females amazingly up to 63 years. Scientists do not currently know why the males die at a younger age. Males generally leave their natal school while females remain in theirs for life. Another interesting fact is that some females can nurse their calves for up to 15 years.

From reading all of this there seems to be a very strong bond between the animals in each school.

This is a species that is known to strand on a fairly regular basis and it is said, although not proven, that a single member of the school “pilots” or leads the group and that all members will follow this leader without question, even if it is to its death.

This was our fifth sighting of Pilot Whales and goes to show they we all need to keep our eyes open on the seas for these special wildlife sightings.

Treknets and inshore sharks

18/06/2011

Dear Shark Lovers,

We have not spent a lot of time at sea this past month but the days that we have been out there have certainly been interesting and exciting whilst we have spent time with the Great white sharks inshore of the Gansbaai area.

With the onset of summer we have also been frequenting the beach seine net fishing area and have been able to release a number of large bronze whaler sharks due to the responsible fishing practices that two of these fishermen currently practice.

Finally, see below for Apex Christmas Specials for 2010.

GREAT WHITES INSHORE

Over the last 20 years of working with sharks not only our knowledge but the knowledge of Great whites in general has indeed come a long way. Since Chris began working at Seal Island back in 1996 it was apparent even then that around September each year the sharks were leaving Seal Island only to return again in early autumn. Chris had always suggested that the Great whites were patrolling the inshore waters of False Bay over this period as his own as well as anecdotal evidence suggested this. This was evident from his work with the treknet fishermen whereby not only had they caught and released a number of Great white sharks in their nets but also the amount of available food in terms of various species of fish, other species of smaller sharks and rays was apparent. Also on occasion other sharks or large fish had bite scars from what in all likelihood were Great Whites.

For years Great whites have also been spotted close to shore over our summer months in various ways. For example by passing helicopters, fishing boats close to shore and sometimes by water users such as surfers. In fact in Dec/Jan 1987 the Muizenberg beach was cleared of bathers for 6 weekends in a row ( the helicopters only patrolled on weekends and holidays in those days) due to sharks spotted by the John Rolfe rescue helicopter.

Over the years people’s awareness of Great whites close to shore has increased tremendously and with people actively looking for them the sharks are sighted on a very regular basis from September to March each year. These sharks have however always been patrolling these areas and it is only now with increased interest and vigilance that they are been seen inshore.

There are a number of theories why the Great whites are patrolling these areas but no concrete information. Our feeling is that they must be moving with the large biomass of prey items that move just beyond the backline, especially after days of onshore conditions. Some areas in False Bay are littered by broken reef systems and the white sharks could actively be feeding here as the biomass of larger bony fish often congregate here.

Surrounding the broken reefs are large patches of sandy areas close to shore and it seems as though once the sharks have fed they spend time slowly cruising these areas in a relaxed manner. Perhaps being close to the surf, the water is highly oxygenated and is often warm after days of onshore wind. Both of these attributes would help aid digestion and the conservation of energy.

There are of course other things happening that we do not understand yet. We have spent some time filming the treknet fishermen this month and on one good weather day we were filming them from sea so that we could film the back of the net coming onto the beach. After some successful shots we were headed back to Simonstown when we heard over the radio that a large Great white had been sighted in Fish Hoek. We were only 5 minutes away so we made a quick turn here. In such flat conditions the shark stood out like a sore thumb and we approached for a closer look to see if we could identify the animal. It was quite a sight. The beach had already been cleared by Shark Spotters and the shark was now cruising along Jaggers Walk on the western side of Fish Hoek Bay. People who were walking along Jaggers walk could clearly see the shark and from our point of view we had shark, people and then houses directly above.

It really drives home the fact that we need to be able to co-exist with sharks in our waters.

The Shark Spotting program is a very proactive way of doing this. Basically there are spotters who sit on the mountain above Fish Hoek and Muizenberg to keep watch for sharks. Fish Hoek and Muizenberg are two areas that the sharks are patrolling frequently so people really need to be aware of this at this time of year. There was an especially high rate of sightings in Fish Hoek over November. A simple flag system on the beach lets beachgoers know the situation and if a shark should be spotted close to bathing areas the water will be cleared by use of a siren.

HERE’S WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING

In recent times people working in other Great white shark hotspots in South Africa have found the same movement patterns.

So, each summer the Great whites are leaving the seal colonies in Mossel Bay and Dyer Island and are also moving inshore. Both inshore areas have these broken reef systems, similar to that of False Bay, that provide a great alternative of fish and elasmobranch species for the Great whites to feed on.

That may leave you wondering why the sharks would change their diets when they could be feeding on seal pups that are born around November and December each year.

This is something that is really surprising. When the seal pups are born there are thousands of easy meals floating and bobbing mindlessly away whilst they attempt to swim. Surely this must be the easiest of all meals for the sharks? Again this is all theory but we assume that the new born seal pups do not contain enough body fat to make a good meal, they are pretty much skin and bone. (Things are quite different 6 months down the line having fed off their mother’s milk). Also the large adult male seals that could easily pose a threat to the white sharks are present at Seal Island this time of the year for annual mating.

At places such as Guadalupe you clearly see large adult seals harassing the great whites as we witnessed in September.

Another idea is that the kabeljou, elf and yellow tail (fish species) and the smooth hound, soupfin and bronze whaler sharks inshore may be proving other nutritional value that the white shark needs in its diet.

Chris was able to spend some time with Alison Towner, a marine biologist from Marine Dynamics in Gansbaai this month. Alison is in the very beginning stages of a study of the Great whites in the inshore area off Dyer Island. She is trying to understand how the sharks are using this inshore area as well as the triggers that stimulate them to go inshore.

They got extremely lucky with perfect conditions of clear skies, great visibility, and no swell with pancake flat sea conditions. Under these conditions they could take the boat right into the shallows and extremely close to the beach as they followed a number of sharks that were already in the area. Always keeping a respectful distance they were able to very easily observe the sharks without changing their course or movement.

Amongst others, they came across a large 4 meter (13 foot) female. As they observed her, she went so close to the beach that her belly was scraping the sandy bottom as her dorsal fin and tail fin protruded out the water. The back drop of beautiful sand dunes and a turquoise sky set the scene for this dramatic encounter.

Alison is really passionate about her work and we wish her and the rest of her team the best of luck with their study. Of course we are also really interested in what she will find out too!

OK, NOW IT GETS EVEN MORE INTERESTING.

I do not know a lot about the following situations but there is information that not only are the “South African” sharks coming close to shore but Great whites in California, Mexico and Australia are showing the same movements and I would assume for the same reasons. Sadly however in Mexico these sharks are being caught in large numbers and one fishing camp alone is said to catch over 50 juvenile great whites per year which are turned into mercury and neuro toxin laden taco’s, bon appetite!

We feel the next few years are going to be very interesting as people around the white shark world start to understand what is happening in this fascinating situation. So, watch this space…

With the advent of new water users (such as ocean kayaks, kite boarding, Stand up paddle boarding etc) and also the number of people using the ocean increasing all the time human interactions with sharks will logically continually increase. To add fuel to the fire the prey source of the white sharks in decreasing all the time with over fishing and for us the biggest potential problem in the shark and human conflict situation is being ignored in favour of arguments such as chumming and population explosions which have been clearly proven scientifically to be unsubstantiated.

It is likely and logical that the Great whites now have to work harder to look for food and it also may stimulate them to patrol new areas in their search for food.

This will ultimately have an impact on shark/human interactions and we all need to be aware and comfortable with this if we decide to use the water.

Over the past year Chris has kayaked with over 30 different great whites, free dived with multiple sharks at a time of over 14ft and stand up paddle boarded with several of them. He has done this for various documentaries to show that these sharks will not simply rush up and attack you, no matter what form of recreation you pursue.

At no stage have any acted aggressively towards him and this clearly shows that under most circumstances these very capable predators pose relatively little threat.

Before others are tempted to try it must be remembered that Chris has been doing this for a very long time and obviously has a good idea of the right conditions to do this under.

Ironically the inshore habits of the great white place it in far more danger from us than we are from them and in South Africa there is a group of beach fishermen who actually target these protected sharks in the Mossel Bay and False Bay area and the rumour is that it is happening in Gansbaai as well. To catch, kill or disturb a great white shark without a permit is illegal and carries a huge fine, however irrespective of this the fact that these animals are a threatened species you would hope anyone with one iota of conscience would steer away from potentially harming them.

Whilst most sharks are released in varying states of health many of these carry hooks and traces and we have seen an alarming increase in the number of these hooked sharks that appear to have lost body condition and carry open wounds, the only likely reason being catch trauma and associated injury.

From a water users perspective we have many risk free options and common sense goes a long way to being safe.

Always look carefully at the conditions and if anything makes you uncomfortable about a particular day, choose not to use the water. We have this choice, sharks don’t.

SHARKS IN THE TREKNETS

I have mentioned that we have been frequenting the trek nets this month. The strong South Easterly winds that have been blowing have produced ideal conditions for bringing sharks such as bronze whalers, smooth hound and ragged tooth sharks into concentrated fish areas close to shore. Unfortunately these sharks are caught as by catch by the local treknet fishermen. But, the good news is that two of these fishing crews off Muizenberg beach are fantastic with releasing sharks and rays and Chris has worked closely with them over the last 20 years to do this.

This month we released a number of sharks and rays including a large bronze whaler that was just less than 3 meters in length.(9 foot). It was quite a handful but exhilarating and extremely rewarding for Chris to jump in the net to retrieve and release it.

PELAGIC SHARKS

We have had a tough month with Pelagic shark trips due to very windy conditions meaning we had to cancel all but one trip. It was the first trip of the season and we had 1 blue shark up at the boat amongst seeing various other marine animals. We can’t wait to get into December as we know there will be plenty sharks from where those come from!

CHRISTMAS SPECIALS FROM APEX PREDATORS

If you are like me, the idea of braving busy shopping malls during the Festive Season is not a good way to spend time!

We have just released a number of Christmas Specials online that cuts out mingling with the masses.

A 20% discount is now available on selected photographic prints from the 2010 shark season as well as a selection of beautiful Black&White images that we have not sold before..

So, save yourself a trip to the mall and purchase the perfect gift for shark and nature lovers here or even that unused wall in your home or office!

We have also just released the dates for our Premium Trip for 2011 Great white sharks at Seal Island. This 10 day trip, hosted by Chris & I, focuses on the unique natural predation events and is limited to 8 people only. Right now there are just 4 spots left so visit us at www.apexpredators.com for all the details.

Until next month…

Best wishes

Monique Fallows