Cape Times – Great white shark sightings recorded near Macassar beach over the past week mark the first time in more than a year that the infamous predators have been spotted back in False Bay.
Shark Spotters chief executive Sarah Waries said: “Last Tuesday, one was recorded at Seal Island by Chris Fallows of Apex Shark Expeditions, and then on Saturday SANParks marine biologist Alison Kock did an aerial survey and also saw one white shark off Macassar about the same size.
“So there have been two shark sightings, possibly the same shark, in False Bay in a week.
“We’ve had some bronze whaler shark sightings since then, but we
haven’t had any confirmed white sightings on any Shark Spotters’ beaches,” Waries said.
In August, the City of Cape Town said that spotters recorded an average of 205 great white shark sightings a year between 2010 and 2016 at their operating beaches during the spring and summer period.
However, in 2018, the total number of shark sightings fell to only 50, and in 2019 there had not been a single confirmed great white shark sighting by the spotters.
Kock, from SANParks’ Cape Research Centre, said the shark sighted during her aerial survey was about four metres long, swimming behind the back line of the surf near Macassar.
“At one stage it swam into a wave, in approximately two metre-deep water. We also saw several bronze whaler sharks, small hammerhead sharks, numerous stingrays and schools of fish, sunfish and bottlenose dolphins. It was an incredible flight, showcasing the amazing marine wildlife of False Bay,” she said.
Meanwhile, a juvenile humpback whale was freed from a rope in which it had become entangled about five nautical miles north of Dassen Island on Friday.
Volunteers from the SA Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) were called out at about 7am to help the department of environment, forestry and fisheries research boat, Ellen Khuzwayo, which was on the scene.
The 7-metre-long young humpback whale had become entangled in the rope, which was anchored to the seabed.
The SAWDN team, including members from both Cape Town and Yzerfontein, were equipped with specialised cutting equipment. They were joined by two NSRI sea rescue craft.
“On arrival on the scene in calm sea conditions, the whale was found to be in a healthy condition, and the SAWDN volunteers found one wrap of rope around the whale’s caudal peduncle (the narrow part of the animal’s tail)... with two flotation buoys attached,” the SAWDN said in a statement.