Shark Chronicles 094 - Is this a dream?

We were driving in the back of a truck bed, six of us stuffed under blankets and sweatshirts, bundled up with our beanies and gloves, wind whipping our hair as we drove the winding mountain side watching the African sun set behind the snow capped mountains. “Is this a dream?” was all I could think.

The past week that I’ve been living in South Africa has felt like just that: a dream. Whether we’re chumming the water to attract a great white shark to the side of the boat, or squeezing through 27 cm inside a dark cave on our bellies, or witnessing breaching whales from our survey sights, every moment has been a surreal experience that I don’t want to end. The internship days alone make the whole trip worthwhile; however the weekends make up some of the most memorable moments of my African adventure. In just one weekend, we’ve had a night on the town, a beautiful day on the beach, a hike to the lighthouse, a walk through the craft village, a morning of sliding and climbing through a cave, and an afternoon petting tiger cubs and grown cheetahs at a cat park. We are planning a trip to Cape Town and to Durban toward the end of the month, hoping to do some shark dives, a cage dive, and see some natural shark predations.

Never have I become such close friends with a group of individuals so quickly. The bonding experiences are never ending and our common interests in marine life, not to mention long hours together often in close quarters, make the interns become fast friends. We have all stepped out of our comfort zones together, making our connections to each other that much stronger.

Our field specialists have been extremely supportive on a daily basis, encouraging us to try new things and get our hands dirty. They have taught us some of the important details about field work through lectures, training, and hands-on experience. They have also offered an opportunity to those of us interested to get SCUBA certified so that we can participate in the dives during weekend trips at the end of the month.

With only three weeks left of the internship, I can’t help already hoping that this experience would never end. In Mossel Bay, you never know what might happen next, from a car breaking down and a four hour chum trip in a non-stop downpour, to spotting your first great white shark and being eye to eye with a playful tiger cub. You keep thinking to yourself, “am I really doing this?” It’s the pictures at the end of the day that help you realize it really isn’t a dream and these experiences will remain with you for the rest of your life. I could not recommend a better internship to someone who desired to pursue a career in marine field work.

Lesley Anderson - Mossel Bay Marine Lab intern

Shark Chronicles 093 - 3m Great White Shark breaches into Research Boat

Mossel Bay, 18 July, 2011: Mossel Bay — The Oceans Research team, a marine research organisation working in Mossel Bay, got the surprise of a lifetime today when a 3 meter great white shark breached into their research vessel, shocking a field specialist and her crew.

Field Specialist Dorien Schroder of Mossel Bay, and six crew members had been chumming since 7:30 this morning with sardines off of Seal Island, conducting research for a population dynamics study that has been ongoing for the past three years. They had been chumming for over an hour and had a fair amount of activity around the boat, taking data on at least 4 sharks, including a shark named Pasella, which has been frequently seen in the bay since 2008.

Activity around the boat had ceased for about five minutes and all was pretty quiet at the stern. Schroder describes the incident; “Next thing I know I hear a splash, and see a white shark breach out of the water from side of the boat hovering, literally, over the crewmember who was chumming on the boats portside.” Schroder automatically sprang into action and pulled the crewmember quickly away towards the stern of the boat’s platform into safety. The crewmembers all jumped towards the stern of the boat as the 3m, 500kg, shark landed on the top of the fuel and bait storage containers. The shark had landed with only half of its body onto the boat and Schroder and her team hoped that as it thrashed it would make its way back into the water. But instead the panicked shark worked itself into the boat getting stuck in between the 1.5x2m area behind the container and boats stern. The shark began thrashing around, destroying equipment and cutting the fuel lines as it twisted and turned on the boats deck.

In the meantime, Schroder was able to calm her stressed crew and direct them to walk along the railing towards the bow of the boat to safety. Schroder immediately radioed Enrico Gennari, and Ryan Johnson, both Directors of Oceans and world renowned shark scientists about the incident. Gennari and Johnson quickly assembled a team as they raced to assist Schroder and her crew. Schroder then began pouring water over the shark’s gills consistently until Johnson, Gennari, and their crew of field specialists Riley Elliott and Rob Lewis arrived 15 minutes later. They immediately pulled their boat Lamnidae, alongside the vessel Cheetah, and climbed aboard. Once aboard they made sure that no one was injured, all crew members were safe, and the environment was secure before working their best to figure out how to get the shark back into the water quickly and safely. Johnson and Gennari secured a rope around the tail of the shark and tied the other side of the rope to the vessel Lamindae and attempted to use the side of the boat as leverage to tow the shark out of the boat into the water but were unsuccessful. They then tried this method again using Lamnidae to tow the shark off the platform through the opening in between the motors, but both methods failed. Port authority was then contacted regarding the incident and was requested to assist in getting a crane so that the 500kg shark could be safely lifted off of the boat and released. Since the fuel lines in the vessel had been cut by the shark, Lamnidae had to tow Cheetah back from the island into the harbour with the shark still onboard.

Once back in the harbour, Cheetah moored next to a fishing boat and they assisted giving the crew a water hose which was immediately placed inside the mouth of the shark so that water could further ventilate the gills. The Smit Lombok then moored alongside Cheetah and they connected one of their large lifting hooks to the rope which was secured to the shark’s tail and began to lift the shark off of the boat and into the water. The shark immediately began thrashing as soon as it hit the water and Johnson and Gennari quickly cut the ropes as the shark swam away from the stern, and underneath the Smit Lombok. The shark was then seen swimming towards the harbor mouth.

The Oceans team had hoped that the shark would be able to orient itself out of the harbour however about 30 minutes later the shark had beached itself onto a small beach inside the harbour. Enrico Gennari and Ryan Johnson returned to aid the shark in its orientation by physically trying to walk it however the shark was unable to orient itself and again veered towards the beach. The team of scientists then decided to fasten the shark to Lamnidae using two ropes attached to both the tail and behind the pectoral fins with the sharks head tilted upwards in order to ventilate the gills properly and slowly made their way out of the harbor. About one kilometer from the harbor the shark began to regain its orientation and strength and as the ropes were cut the shark powerfully swam away.

“When working with animals this large you have to take every precaution possible to ensure the safety of the scientists and sharks. However, it is impossible to predict everything that can happen. What is important is how you respond to such situation. No one was injured and the shark survived, this is a credit to our team, the port authorities and members of the community who assisted”.

Cassie Heil- Oceans Initiative Marketing Director

Shark Chronicles 092 - What is Oceans Research for me

If I were given the opportunity to live through December 2010 again, I honestly do not know if I would have signed up for the Oceans Research Internship. It’s not that I dislike the experience – to the extreme contrary! Rather, being from Singapore, it is not exactly very practical to pursue shark/dolphin/whale research internship. And yet, the Oceans Research Internship has been a tremendously amazing experience for me.

When I had been accepted into the internship programme, I had expected to come here and learn about marine mammal research knowledge. However, that was a rather narrow way of looking at things. Well, it is true that working with Great White Sharks, dolphins and other cetaceans make for a pretty exciting story. It is also true that Mossel Bay provides for some spectacular scenery. However, to me, the internship experience was so much more.

When I was asked to write this blog post, I did not really know where to begin. There is already so much that I have seen and learnt. I already have close to 2000 photos (which many of my fellow interns find fascinating – but that itself deserves a different blog post), and I do not think I’ll ever run out of things to write about. Things change so fast here depending upon what research is available. What then has been unique about my experience here?

I will perhaps begin by commenting upon the way that Oceans Research try to reach out and to educate the public. They work closely with the tourism industry in town and also regularly hold talks for schoolchildren in Mossel Bay. They are also very open to collaboration opportunities and are not afraid to admit that there is so much more they need help with. This mentality means that they have offered various opportunities and ample support for students to pursue their own research projects. It also means that they have a shark aquarium (Shark Lab) that serves to bring the Mossel Bay community closer to sharks.

This feature of Oceans Research was something that I felt to be very important. Today, there is a lot of material on the Internet which is poorly supported by empirical data. As a result, people make decisions based on very inaccurate information. Researchers are the ones best equipped to quell these rumours. However, scientists have in many cases not been forthcoming about what they know. There is in particular a curious lack of scientific opinion in the journalism and media industry. Perhaps a very appropriate example is the numerous misrepresentations of sharks in movies. Sharks have largely been depicted as ferocious, bloodthirsty killers that are primitive and unintelligent (example: Jaws + Deep Blue Sea). It does not take much effort to learn that this is not true. Yet, it is an effort that few have taken; and as a result, the opinion of sharks is often skewed.

In addition, there is ample documentation relating to the damage that humans are causing to the environment. Clearly, the best way to stem such damage would be for science researchers to reach out to people. However, what we see in the world today is a lot of radical activism. Such activists demand practices that in effect would require societies to stop development – it is therefore not a practical way to address the issue.

I have only been here for a week, and so cannot qualitatively say anything about whether the work by Oceans Research has positively impacted communities around the world. Yet, there is much potential for the relationship between Oceans and the Mossel Bay community to integrate tourism, science, education and policy-making. It has been very eye-opening and exciting to see how such a model plays out in the real world.

The second feature I wanted to recount is the way that Oceans Research is open to work with undergraduate/masters/PhD research projects. As a result, I have had the opportunity to gain extensive experience in so many areas of research. Thus far, I have done seal surveys in the freezing cold morning; I have tried to identify sharks based on their dorsal fins; I have worked on projects that seek to test if shark behaviour can be conditioned. The specific details of what each of these projects entail can perhaps be read from other blog posts. What was particularly exciting for me, however, was that we as interns get to engage in interesting dialogue with the researchers – whether they are honours students or PhD experts. Field specialists are housed in the same building as interns, so the amount of interaction opportunity has been tremendous.

For me, it was exciting to see for myself that environmental research is so complex that no single study can sufficiently stand alone. Shark behaviour is dependent upon seal behaviour, which in turn might rely on the moonlight timings and city lights. In turn, everything is dependent upon environmental conditions – which are heavily influenced by human behaviour. Everything works in tandem with each other, in a circle of life.

In turn, meeting with interns from all over the world who are engaged in diverse areas of interest that somehow coincide with your own is a very exciting experience. When everyone brings their own unique experiences to the table, it tends in turn to enrich your own. Oceans Research does provide a very inviting environment that encourages people to share such unique experiences, providing for exciting and interesting dialogue. The relationships and experiences formed from this internship therefore go way beyond just simply “marine mammal research”.

As for the “marine mammal research” segment, it has been tremendously awesome! But you could probably have guessed that from the other blog posts…

Jerome Kok – Mossel Bay intern

Shark Chronicles 091 - What is a great white for me

After almost a month here at Oceans, I have learned that there is absolutely nothing about working with sharks that will ever get old. Whether its assisting small benthic sharks through a maze, observing predator-prey relationships, taking pictures, recording and entering data, getting wet, being cold, hauling the anchor, bait-roping, tying bait heads, bagging hundreds of pounds of fish heads, or crushing sardines with hands and feet.

With good reason, you may wonder what one might find attractive about being elbow deep in fish guts. Particularly with sardines, because they are so oily, it takes days to remove the smell from your hands, and your clothes are more likely to decompose than ever smell fresh again. For me, this smell is more inviting than any perfume. Its not that creating fish-gut soup is my favourite activity in itself (although, at this point, I’m pretty much an expert). The thing is, at Oceans, you learn that the smell of dead fish means chum, and chum means Great Whites.

The feeling I get every time I see a Great White is no different than the feeling of excitement, awe, and utter astonishment I felt when I first saw one: Peering over the edge of our boat ‘Cheetah’ into the murky blue-green ocean I saw a shadow deep in the water. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but as I continued staring the shadow started to take shape. Large triangular wings protruded from the expertly shaded 3.5 meter long torpedo-shaped body. The powerful caudal tail moved only slightly as it propelled this marvel of evolution through the water with seemingly unprecedented efficiency. The shark cruised casually by the boat and eyed the bait-fish floating nearby. My jaw dropped. I had to shake my head and pinch myself. I’ve seen countless documentaries and pictures, but nothing compares to seeing this animal in real life. Its absolutely surreal - almost as if it doesn’t belong in this place or this time. It is a prehistoric leviathan, more effective than any of its ancient relatives and so well equipped that it has been able to defy nature’s merciless ways for millions of years. For me, seeing a great white is like staring into the past.

The shark was so amazing and so beautiful that I wanted to jump in the water and swim with it. Thankfully, my usually absent voice of reason chimed in and reminded me that this was still a powerful apex predator and it would probably not be too thrilled with being hugged by some starry-eyed human.

Since that first sighting, every time I see a Great White my appreciation and admiration grows. I am constantly witnessing new behaviours and new personalities. Different sharks show different levels of aggression, interest, and effort, and they all have different strategies for attacking the bait-head. Bait-roping is the strategy we use to bring the shark to the surface so that we can get photo identification and note defining characteristics. The idea is to pull the large fish head out of the water before the shark is able to bite it. Sharks come from different directions at different speeds making bait-roping one of the most intense jobs on the water. Imagine holding a rope attached to a fish that is floating in the water a few feet from the boat. The visibility in the water is less than two meters. You know there is a shark around, so you can’t take your eye off the bait. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, you see a nose, then mouth, then eyes of a Great White coming in from the left. You pull the fish out of the water just in time as the shark opens its mouth and lunges slowly. Two minutes later the shark comes from the right, a little faster this time, you pull the fish out just in time again. This isn’t so hard. The shark disappears for several minutes. Then, faster than you can react, a massive set of jaws with countless razor sharp teeth speeds in from directly below and crushes your bait. Momentum carries the monstrous shark halfway out of the water before it crashes back and starts to barrel roll, flailing its tail and splashing everyone on the boat. In a few seconds the shark is gone and you are left only with the pathetically frayed ends of your rope. Did I just get outsmarted by a fish? No, you were outsmarted by a Great White. Incredible.

I came to Oceans because I have always been simultaneously fascinated and terrified of sharks. After my time here, my fascination is through the roof, my respect is unparalleled, and my fear is non-existent. Many people have a negative image of sharks because they don’t understand them. The media likes to make sharks appear like dangerous killers because they’re top predators in a realm that is mysterious and foreign to us. Here at Oceans, we study what sharks eat, when they eat, where they go and when, what they do, how they behave, and how they think. After only a month, I feel closer to sharks than ever. I have a newfound understanding of their intricacies, personalities, and objectives. Its like with anything: the more you understand something, the less apprehension you have towards it. I now understand fully that the shark is a marvel of nature that should not be feared, but should be embraced and protected.

Brendan Sanders