Breede Estuary Sharks

[Garage]

Hi Michael,

Registered on Sealine, very interesting. Saw a dorsal fin a while back on the drop off in front of Southwinds Lodge, must have been a Zambezi, approx 2m in length. Probably the close proximity of the Breede to the warmer Mozambique current.

Maybe MC will tell his Zambezi shark story here, fishing in the bay outside the mouth.

Cheers,

Philip

MC?

I've told my story on this forum before (and was scoffed at), and Reinier has referred to it above.

We were sure it was a Zambezi shark, although it was a little large... Now we know.

[firephish]

fascinating, one of the Breede sharks was fitted with a satellite tagi in March and has turned up in Bazaruto (moz) ... thats 2000 km at 34km / day!


http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/art...-SA-bull-shark

[Kevin James]

Very interesting topic this.

There was a documentary here in Oz just last week of Jeremy Wade - "River Monsters" detailing his help in this exact topic.
Not sure if you guys get this over there on M-net or some other satellite stations.

In any case, he flew to South Africa and helped catch two huge Bull Sharks that they tagged with satellite trackers. They referred to this huge one already tagged - over 400kg from memory. The lead researcher was Megan somebody with a very toff Cape Town accent put on for the cameras.

Apparently the theory why they leave the swimmers is that they are attracted to boat noises and this means easy prey. The sound of engines rings the dinner bells and they actively follow boats fishing. (Think Pavlov's dog)

Bull sharks were actively targeted using live baits -
The struggling vibrations are what turns them on.

There is supposedly a symbiotic relationship between them and humans according to the documentary, but it smacks of human emotion being transferred to them.

All in all, very interesting.

Just one other thing, there is supposedly more food in the Breede than the other estuary systems hence the higher number of sharks in there.
It has been suggested it is a breeding ground from the male sharks captured and tagged who had enlarged claspers.

Interesting indeed.

[firephish]

Very interesting topic this.

There was a documentary here in Oz just last week of Jeremy Wade - Not sure if you guys get this over there on M-net or some other satellite stations.

eish, what is this satellite thing you speak of ... too cleva