John Yeld
May 16 2008
Independent Online

Great white sharks swimming in water as shallow as 1,5m off popular beaches such as Fish Hoek and Muizenberg in high summer appear to go out of their way to avoid bathers, says shark researcher Alison Kock.

She also warned that poaching of this protected species - correctly called white sharks - appeared to be increasing, and that there had been a "definite" increase in the number of sharks encountered with fishing gear stuck in their mouths over the past three years.

There was also an as yet unquantified by-catch of great whites by foreign fishing vessels targeting Blue and Mako sharks off Cape Point, and by sport fishermen on False Bay beaches who were targeting Bronze Whaler sharks but whose gear, bait and fishing methods resulted in them catching great whites.

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