Where did they go?
Newsletter - March 2009
Where did they go?
The beginning of March started very slowly, with long waits for sharks to arrive on each trip. After such an unexpectedly active February we had really high hopes for March however unfortunately those hope's were not met too quickly! For some reason there seemed to be very few sharks responding to chum lines in our shallow water location of Joubertsdam. The water temperature remained cold (13C). On three separate occasions we were actually faced with miss trips- no sightings at all, very strange for March. One afternoon all cage diving vessels (8 boats) anchored in different areas around the bay in a desperate attempt to at least locate a shark. After a long hot 5 hours not one boat was successful in finding a shark. Where were they?It was like this for a couple of days. Without speculating, a couple of sharks had been sighted previously that week down in the surf zone.
Big Thanks!
I would like to take this opportunity to send out a big thanks to the three wonderful volunteers who arrived to crew with Marine Dynamics on our International volunteer program during this period. Tami Kasche, Gina Ruzioro and Penny Yin, arrived from the USA and Paris on the 2nd of March until the 20th and were an absolute pleasure to have on board. Working each day with tourists on the sea when Marine life is in low season can be quite stressful, but the girls took the challenge each day and were a real breath of fresh air to have on board! Continuously optimistic and positive with the clients, they made everyday an entertaining event. Fortunately the girls were rewarded for their patience by observing a fantastic seal pup predation event in Shark Alley. Not only that, but they also got the chance to observe two individual white sharks patrolling the seal colony edge in the channel itself, something not observed very frequently.
Mid month- a few large Great Whites were observed from our vessel. A 4m female circled our vessel elegantly twice lifting her head clear of the water and going for the decoy. After that she disappeared. A 4.5m female was then sighted on the 22nd of the month, although I wasn't on board our skipper Hennie referred to her a simply HUGE.
By the 25th of March we finally moved up to work with our sharks around the Dyer Island area. We located the sharks on the Geldsteen side of Dyer Island (GPS: 34.40.496/19.23.703). A new batch of manly large, mature, 3.5m males graced us with their presence. Finally the sharks were displaying the behaviour most anticipated by viewers 'Winter style'. These sharks were incredibly active continuously circling our vessel and approaching the cage. One crew member of another vessel observed a congregation of fish (possibly snoek or yellow tail) around a reef in this area. With a settled South Easterly, the sharks were in full force with a banquet of food on hand. Towards the end of the month, the same sharks seem to have spread out around the island. Some trips (on a settled westerly wind direction) we observed many sharks stalking and hunting seal pups heavily, with a full predation just meters from our boat on the 27th.
Resights
- 2.4m: F 'Bokkie' Last observed on the 20th December 2007. Distinctive white line at base of her dorsal.
- 3.4m 'Betty' Scar lipped animal from an old prop wound. Half moon cut out of the upper lobe of her caudal fin.
- 2.5m M 'Bow-tie' observed last month and again this month, distinctive pigmentation on leading edge of dorsal- almost looks like a bow tie.
Other Marine life in the Bay
Birds: Plenty of Cape Gannet activity: particularly diving around the island. Sub adults and adults together. Subantarctic skuas and white chinned/Giant petrols were sighted occasionally during the month,great to see the return of some Winter birds. Whales: 2x Brydes whales, 26th and 28th, Geldsteen. Seals: Numerous seal pups have been found washed up on the mainland lately. They have been returned to Geyser rock by our shark and whale watching crews vessels in turn.
Return to the Breede River
As April approaches, I will be spending the first week back in Witsands, with Meagan McCord (South African Shark Conservancy). The aim of the expedition is to hopefully catch and deploy a Pop up archival tag on to another Zambezi shark to monitor where the shark migrates over six months.
The wonderful Zambezi shark we previously tracked in the river has supplied some outstanding data, which is in the process of being published.
When I arrive back at Dyer Island the second week of April I hope to see our winter sharks in full swing, with hopefully not too many cape storms in the way!
Until then regards,
Alison Towner
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