Do we need a Sharks Board in SA?

[rols]

Phew, a difficult one this....I grew up in 'Toti and surfed every opportunity I could. I must admit, knowing the nets were there was a big plus. I also had six months before my National Service started and used to go out in the mornings with the Sharks board boat to help with checking the nets. Not an easy job at all, those nets are frikking heavy to pull up, even without something in it.
I don't know how it works now, but in those days they went out every morning. All sharks that were alive, were released, as were any other fish. This was on the boat I worked. The Sharks board and the work they do is also not just to moer every shark they see. I would put a tick in their favor if asked.
Bearing in mind, my reply is from the heart, and has no other factual bearing.

[HolyGT]

Great Whites are protected in SA and the subject of many photos, documentaries and tourism $ in SA. Yet the Sharksboard operate as free agents outside this, doing whatever its mandate - killing sharks to protect us???

Two Great Whites below were caught last week of Zinkwazi. These sharks were well known to local fisherman and did poach the odd fish. The other smaller shark is a big Dusky.


The big Kulu


Smaller fatter one

Why still this mentality that the only good shark is a dead shark? is it that people tend to fear what they don't understand? And if this is happens to be 5m long and capable of biting you in half, it is a problem for most educated people, not to mention the less socially advanced.

Maybe this analogy to illustrate my point:
Would you get out of your car and take a walk down to the water hole in the Kruger, or do you judge that to be risky and rather take a walk with a Ranger, or stay in your car and enjoy the view from there or insist that all the dangerous animals in the park get contained in a small fenced of area so you can stroll around at leasure or insist they all get shot to keep you safe just in case you feel like taking a walk?

I say stop playing ***, lift the nets and drumlines and give nature a fair chance!

[AdrianPowrie]

I say stop playing ***, lift the nets and drumlines and give nature a fair chance!

I'm in 100% agreement with everything you have said.
The analogy used is to me the best I have ever heard! Well done Geet!

[beefybovril]

So true....I used to work as a sea kayaking guide paddling from the Beacon Isle to Robberg peninsula, in an attempt to visit the seals, hopefully see dolphins and a whale or two....but the irony of it was that we saw more hammerheads than anything else. These were around 2 metres, juveniles, and absolutely stunning. The clients, mostly people from overseas, were amazed by how graceful and curious these fish were. They would often come up to the kayak and then as the paddle went in, would speed off with amazing pace.

I also used to surf up around Leisure Bay on the south coast. There were no nets where we went, and yet we had no issues ever in ten years. I still remember when a 6 metre monster was caught in the nets off Glenmore.....but did it stop us surfing....no way.

The fish stocks are so near to collapse right now, surely we should do all we can to prevent this. Here in Dubai,. they reckon that hammour (grouper) have less than a year before they will collapse. Unfortunately, the government don't want to step in because they own the fishing boats anyway....loss of revenue for them if they have quotas. In Oman, it is even worse, because the government there are being paid by the chinese and portuguese to catch tuna.....guess what, in the last two years, the tuna have more or less disappeared....and the small fishing villages like Ras Madrakah up on the southern oman coastline are disappearing because of it. When I was last there, one of the fish processing plants was about to close because the commercials were raping the offshore fishing stocks.

When I was in Kenya in July, the chaps at Kingfisher said last year was one of the best seasons they had ever had fishing wise, something like 750 sailies off one boat. Why......because the pirate situation in Somalia had scared off any big trawlers and commercials. So, it just shows how quickly the fish stocks can revive if we give them a chance.....my 2 cents from a place which really doesn't give a s$%t about any environmental issues

[firephish]

Sad to see two such magnificent sharks perish, especailly as they are critically endanged.

Interestingly I was chatting to Michael Scholl (whitesharktrust) a while ago about how the netting in KZN affects his research and tagging operation in the Cape Apparently, to date, no shark tagged in false bay/mossel bay/gaansbaai, as been captured in the KZN nets. Althogh satellite tracking indicated the sharks do routinly move up through the transkie/kzn coast to moz waters.

[chris williams]

Some very good thoughts there guys. BB, in 1976 when I finally graduated from student demos at Wits (I still await my R1 mill Beamer), I retired to Plett to take over the highly-undesirable post of barman at the B.I. (Grapevine). Unfortunately one night a bus-load of Australian female backpackers happened to attack Plett, which in those days was a one-sheep town. Suffice to say, at sunrise the next morning I was forced to go surfing off Robberg beach to catch waves off the 'Wreck'. I'm sure I've related this story before on the forum so I won't repeat it for fear of exaggeration.

Punchline, I got a strange genital disease shared by German part-time chefs at the Beacon Island and my forester one-eyebrow rugby/darts team mates, via Antipodean third parties so I'm reliably informed. They watched me trying to catch a decent wave off the 'Wreck' and I had no benefit of contact lenses or grey-lens designer glasses. a couple of times they were only dolphins, often hammerheads, escorting me inshore. the one time was the 'Blue Train' - a giant white shark. I never saw it, but the guys on Robberg beach were all screaming and there I was on my board thinking how cool I was to be able to make the chicks get wound up like that...

A couple of days later, a trawler off Knysna shot (with a Luger - I didn't know Somali pirates had got as far as Hamburg) and brought in a white shark much to the local media's satisfaction and circulation benefits. Whether it was the same guy or not we'll never know.

All I'm saying in retrospect apart from boasting I made the local darts team is that i appreciate the good stuff the sharks board do in KZN. MY brother Justin was a heavy lifesaver at Umhlanga Rocks/Durban Surf/South Africa International and he'll back up most of the SB guys go out and do stuff for virtually nothing and without the benefit of websites.

However with the benefit of hindsight, the Internet, various marine scientists I've met up with in the last week or so, and more especially with the respected observations from our mates on the Forum, I'd say do away with the nets.

[firephish]

good story, interestingly someone sent me apic of two surfers being "buzzed" by a gw off robberg the other day ... hopefully it does'nt give you too many sleepless nights - although it sounds like you had more to fear from the Sheilas

[chris williams]

The one sheila was the most fearsome monster I've ever met - when we meet over a beer I'll recount the full story with trepidation and much wailing and gnashing of teeth

[Buf Aloe]

The one sheila was the most fearsome monster I've ever met - when we meet over a beer I'll recount the full story with trepidation and much wailing and gnashing of teeth

Chris, I hope you make a recording of your experience and post it on the forum, it sounds most entertaining to say the least.

[HolyGT]

Some very good thoughts there guys. BB, in 1976 when I finally graduated from student demos at Wits (I still await my R1 mill Beamer), I retired to Plett to take over the highly-undesirable post of barman at the B.I. (Grapevine). Unfortunately one night a bus-load of Australian female backpackers happened to attack Plett, which in those days was a one-sheep town. Suffice to say, at sunrise the next morning I was forced to go surfing off Robberg beach to catch waves off the 'Wreck'. I'm sure I've related this story before on the forum so I won't repeat it for fear of exaggeration.

Punchline, I got a strange genital disease shared by German part-time chefs at the Beacon Island and my forester one-eyebrow rugby/darts team mates, via Antipodean third parties so I'm reliably informed. They watched me trying to catch a decent wave off the 'Wreck' and I had no benefit of contact lenses or grey-lens designer glasses. a couple of times they were only dolphins, often hammerheads, escorting me inshore. the one time was the 'Blue Train' - a giant white shark. I never saw it, but the guys on Robberg beach were all screaming and there I was on my board thinking how cool I was to be able to make the chicks get wound up like that...

A couple of days later, a trawler off Knysna shot (with a Luger - I didn't know Somali pirates had got as far as Hamburg) and brought in a white shark much to the local media's satisfaction and circulation benefits. Whether it was the same guy or not we'll never know.

All I'm saying in retrospect apart from boasting I made the local darts team is that i appreciate the good stuff the sharks board do in KZN. MY brother Justin was a heavy lifesaver at Umhlanga Rocks/Durban Surf/South Africa International and he'll back up most of the SB guys go out and do stuff for virtually nothing and without the benefit of websites.

However with the benefit of hindsight, the Internet, various marine scientists I've met up with in the last week or so, and more especially with the respected observations from our mates on the Forum, I'd say do away with the nets.

Great story, Chris, ever thought of putting some of your experiences down on paper? You have enough stuff to write a hefty book!!