The waters of Cape Town , once a regular hang out for great snowy shark , have fall suspiciously quiet recently .
The City of Cape Town , work with the local Shark Spotter program , is reporting the “ complete disappearance ” of great white shark from False Bay over the preceding 18 month , harmonise to a statement given to IFLScience .
Between 2010 and 2016 , research worker enter an norm of 205 outstanding white shark sightings per year around False Bay , the 28 - kilometer - wide ( 18 - mile ) basinful on the southwest corner of South Africa near the metropolis of Cape Town . By 2018 , that material body had slip to 50 . This year , there has n’t been a single confirmed sighting yet .
“ Shark Spotters have recorded a meaning decline in white shark activity both along the inshore and at Seal Island over the preceding two year , ” Shark Spotters , a Cape Town - base shark safety and research organization , said in astatement onFacebook .
If you ’ve ever learn footage or photograph of a white shark egress out of the water in a spectacular bounce while hunting prey , there ’s a high-pitched luck this was in False Bay . This behavioris unpredictable and difficult to contemplate , but it ’s thought to be a learned conduct that ’s mainly performed in this South African bay .
Along with business organization for the great clean sharks , there ’s also dread about the likely knock - on event this could have on the orbit ’s ecosystem . As apex predators , they playa central role in cope theecosystemby both controlling prey density and restricting smaller predators . The metal money are also a major pull for the local tourist economy .
So far , there is no clear explanation for the apparent disappearance , but there ’s been good deal of venture regarding a new radical of orcas in township . After all , orcas are one of the few animalsthat can immediately movea big white shark out of its search grounds .
“ While the exact ground for this is undecipherable , the arrival of a specific ecotype of Orca that forego on shark appear to have had a pregnant issue on the dispersion of white sharks in our country . ”
When this decline in livid sharks was first being talked about last year , some locals pointed to another suspect . Speaking toYale Environment 360 , Yale University ’s environmental cartridge clip , local shark researcher trap the rap on overfishing . Long - rail line fishing in the surface area has been recognise to aim smaller mintage of shark that are a foundation of the great flannel ’ diet . They also suspected that the fisheries might be lawlessly sneak and killing young keen whites . instead , this loss of great white in the area could be a symptom of climate modification and wider environmental shifts .
“ There could be some chemise in the surround take place , ” Meaghen McCord , founding music director of the South African Shark Conservancy , toldYale Environment 360 in August 2018 . “ We ’re just not certain , and with us being on the cusp of potential large clime - related sack , few scientists are inclined to say anything conclusive just yet . ”
