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Let us put your mind at rest as far as Great White Shark Cage Diving is concerned. South Africa was the first country in the world to protect Great Whites, and this was done way back in 1991, so since then it has been illegal to hunt or deal in any part of a Great White Shark. As far as"rogue" dive operators are concerned, this is not without an element of truth. When Dive The Big Five was first started, way back in 1996, Great White Shark diving was in its infancy, and yes, at that stage everybody in the Gansbaai area who owned a boat tried to climb on the band wagon, and started offering Great White Shark Cage Diving. If it could float and it looked like a cage they were in business! We personally went to Gansbaai, assessed all the so called operators and selected 3 with whom we could feel comfortable, as we did not like what I saw.
In 1996 we selected the South African White Shark Research Institute, White Shark Expeditions and White Shark Ecoventures. These three were the only operators who at the time could conform to standards we would feel happy with by entrusting our clients in their care. Up until a year ago, it was an absolute circus. A disaster waiting for a place to happen, and the industry, and rightfully so, received a very bad name. The incident of an operator picking a cage off a rubbish dump was reported in one of the local magazines but was never substantiated.
However, due to all the bad publicity that the industry received the authorities stepped in. The area where the diving takes place is in a narrow channel of water between Dyer Island and Geyser Rock, affectionately known as "Shark Alley". Dyer Island is a bird sanctuary with a warden living on the island, whose job it is to keep the Cape Fur Seals off the island as its a nesting ground for a number of endangered bird species such as the BlackOyster Catcher. On the other side of the channel is Geyser Rock which is home to between 30 and 60 000 Cape Fur Seals, depending on the season. These two islands fall within a marine sanctuary which is under the control of the Department of Sea Fisheries, now renamed Marine and Coastal Management falling under the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. They then got together with all the operators and formulated a code of conduct that was agreed to by all and which is policed by the Department.
Briefly this lays down the law and prescribes what may and may not be done. Such as all boats must be registered with the Department of Transport and under go an annual certificate of sea worthiness, must be registered as a dive boat, must have a qualified skipper at the helm at all times, must have minimum prescribed equipment on board such as VHF and UHF radios, life jackets, a shark trauma kit etc, etc, must have a qualified paramedic on board as well as a qualified dive master on board. They also went as far as restricting the number of boats that are allowed in the channel at any one time to three. This is controlled by means of a permit system which must be purchased at least a week in advance and is "policed" by the warden living on Dyer Island. The method of chumming as well as the bait used is also prescribed by the authorities. Only natural foodstuffs may me used and anything foreign to the diet of the sharks is strictly forbidden. So much so that only "natural fibre" ropes may be used to attach the bait to the boat, no nylon.
So it is very strictly controlled and "Eco-friendly", and we are proud the say that the three operators that were selected way back in 1996 to conduct our Great White Encounters are all still in business and conform to all the requirements.
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