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Great white shark being landed on rocks.
The man who caught a protected great white shark in Mossel Bay says he did not know the animal was a great white when he hooked it while sport fishing.
He also says he did not haul it onto the rocks to pose with it for photographs – insisting that the shark had been washed onto the rocks by waves.
Through tip-offs from the public, the Cape Times traced the angler, Leon Bekker, who lives in George.
In a telephone interview on Monday, Bekker said: “The water washed it up. I’m not that strong.”
Asked why he had not cut it loose after he had hooked it, as required by law, he said: “I’m a beginner at this (sport fishing). I didn’t know it was a great white. I’ve been doing this for a year only. I normally do take hooks out.”
The Cape Times was sent a sequence of photographs which show Bekker, with another man, hauling the great white onto the rocks.
Leon Bekker of George says that he did not haul the great white shark on to the rocks after he had hooked it. Photo: Oceans initiative
Oceans Initiative
One of them shows Bekker being handed a tape measure to measure the shark’s length.
Bekker denies that he was trophy hunting or that he was giving a thumbs up sign while posing next to the great white, which was still alive.
“That was not thumbs up. That was to show a greeting: ‘hosh, my broer’ (howzit my brother.) That’s how we greet in the Western Cape.
I greeted them,” said Bekker.
“We have over 100 photographs showing the sequence of what happened. About three photos show him with his thumbs up, staying in one position,” said Mossel Bay shark researcher Enrico Gennari.
Gennari and researcher Ryan Johnson said there were photographs of Bekker’s catches at a George sports shop.
“There were at least 12 different sharks he was posing with at the sports shop, big photos,” Gennari said. “But they wouldn’t let us photograph them. Now they’ve taken some down.”
It is illegal to kill or target great whites – listed as vulnerable to extinction – for sport. No one has been prosecuted.
At the time of the incident on Friday, Gennari telephoned the local law enforcement officer from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, but he never arrived at the scene.
Yesterday fisheries spokesman Hein Wyngaard said the department condemned the incident “in the strongest terms and once we have established whether there was any wrongdoing on our side we will take the necessary steps”. - Cape Times
melanie.gosling@inl.co.za
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Petrus Viviers, wrote
Appendix II Appendix II, about 32,500 species, are species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but may become so unless trade in specimens of such species is subject to strict regulation in order to avoid utilization incompatible with the survival of the species in the wild. In addition, Appendix II can include species similar in appearance to species already listed in the Appendices. International trade in specimens of Appendix II species may be authorized by the granting of an export permit or re-export certificate. In practice, many hundreds of thousands of Appendix II animals are traded annually [3]. No import permit is necessary for these species under CITES, although some Parties do require import permits as part of their stricter domestic measures. A non-detriment finding and export permit are required by the exporting Party [13]. Examples of species listed on Appendix II are the Great White Shark (Carcharadon carcharias), the American black bear (Ursus americanus), Hartmann's mountain zebra (Equus hartmannae), African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), green iguana (Iguana iguana), queen conch (Strombus gigas), Mertens' Water Monitor (Varanus mertensi), bigleaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) and Lignum Vitae "ironwood" (Guaiacum officinale).
JR, wrote
The man is a liar as well as a criminal. He boasted to people at the scene that he knew he was breaking the law and that he did not care. Jail him as an example along with his son.
Anonymous, wrote
Let him go swim with our great white sharks of false bay area, let me know i want to see how they going to rip him apart........
Jason, wrote
Anonymous, wrote
Let this man know the implications of what he has done. There´s no chance he was ignorant about anything regarding the current plight of sharks and would you really like to catch a great white thereby distiguishing them from other sharks without being informed about them and in that case, one also cannot avoid knowing about great whites being endangered. This guy is not only a shark torturer, he is also a coward trying to pretend he was igonrant about what he was doing. Obviously there are photgraphs of him catching other sharks before this so whoever believes his stories would believe anything. It´s just a big disgrace and with the story this guy made up, he hardly even respects himself.
Jeremy, wrote
I love animals and recycle more than the avg person throwing stompies out of their windows. BUT I'm with this guy. You that moan, meet me anytime and then YOU target a specie and beware if you catch anything else. This guy is not trading in shark-fins, but you don't complain about the chinese-trade in CapeTown regarding shark-fins. He is also not using nets. I bet more great-whites are killed by shark-nets and shark researchers than a sportsman.
adrienne, wrote
Anonymous, wrote
How did you not know it was a Great White? have you not watched Jaws? I think the sport shop should also be fined or prosecuted, for supporting the whole shark fishing, because clearly that is what they were doing by hanging the pictures up in the shop....
Anonymous, wrote
Anonymous, wrote
Brownie points and free media. Please tell the great whites not to eat the bait being put out. Stopping pushing the environmental issue, it is really getting old. Maybe it is Global warming causing the sharks to jump out of the sea and evolutionalise or is it natural selection
Gravy, wrote
Tania, wrote
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