Shark Breaching In Cape Town
Great White Sharks breaching! Don’t you mean whales breaching? Nope it’s true, and you have to see it with your eyes to believe that great white sharks can fly.
False Bay, Cape Town is home to the “flying” great white sharks. This is a term used for the great white sharks unique ability to breach out of the water. This behaviour can be seen nowhere else on earth on such a regular basis. This unique hunting behaviour has become world renowned and put False Bay on the map for any shark lover.
The breaching behaviour is seen mainly when hunting seals. The shark comes from the deep sea, aims it sights at its prey and then like a torpedo, it propels itself out the water, at the seal. The seal literally has no idea what has hit it. Then, with a big splash it’s gone. If the shark misses the seal, then the chase is on. And boy, what an exciting chase. It is a game of cat and mouse of epic proportions. Watching nature at it’s best, gets your heart pumping, and the adrenalin flowing.
The great white shark also breaches for the seal decoy. Rob and his crew tow a decoy, shaped like a seal from the back of his boat, to encourage the sharks to breach. This technique has become so popular, as it is allows the idea opportunity for photographers to try catch the flying sharks on film/camera and to find what areas are good sharks spots around the island.
As part of a larger study instigated by Rob Lawrence of African Shark Eco-Charters and Chris Fallows Apex Predators, predator-prey interactions between Great White Sharks and Cape Fur Seals at Seal Island, False Bay, South Africa, were investigated by direct observations of ad libidem encounters between these two species at the surface during August and September 2000. Shark Cage Diving
Observations were made from the platform of an 8-metre Butt-Cat boat equipped with paired Johnson 150 HP outboard engines, Garmin GPSMAP 235 with chronometer and sounder; a [brand an model?] ‘fish finder’, and a [brand and model?] VHS marine radio. Water temperature was measured with a [brand and model] electronic thermometer and water clarity was measured using a standard Secci disc. Shark Cage Diving
Predatory events were usually first detected at the surface by one or more of the following indicators;
1. Incoming seals abruptly changing course,
2. Seals suddenly switching from porpoising to rapid zig-zag leaping,
3. A group of travelling seals suddenly exploding from the water in multiple directions,
4. A Great White Shark breaching, with or without a seal in its mouth,
5. A bloody splash, often accompanied by a spreading oily slick, or
6. Kelp Gulls or other seabirds wheeling over or plunging repeatedly toward a discrete region of sea surface.
Upon detection, the research vessel was piloted toward the one or more indicator(s), approaching as closely as possible without manifestly altering the behaviour of either shark or seals. During a predatory event, every effort was made to avoid blocking a seal’s escape path to the Island.
To facilitate analysis, the waters surrounding Seal Island were divided into Inshore (within 100 metres of the island) and Offshore (beyond 100 metres of the island) regions. The Inshore waters of Seal Island were further subdivided into six sectors. For purposes of codification, Cape Fur Seals were divided into four broad categories:
1. pup (neonates with black fur),
2. first year (young of the year up to 1 metre in length),
3. cow and immature bulls (brown-furred individuals 1 to 1.5 metres in length), and
4. adult bulls (mature males with prominent sagital crest and greater than 1.5 metres in length).
Shark length was estimated by reference to the width of the research vessel, which measures 2.5 metres from gunnel to gunnel. Outcome of each attack was categorized as either an unsuccessful Attempted Predation (AP), in which the seal escaped, or a Kill (K), in which the seal did not.
To the extent that direct observation permitted, date, time of attack, seal category, region, island sector, water depth, estimated shark length, and attack outcome were recorded for each predator-prey interaction. Shark Cage Diving