In peak shark season, a South African beach warning system is idle

The waters shared by bathers and great whites off Plettenberg Bay, one of South Africa’s most popular beach resorts, are going unmonitored during the peak shark season when the world’s biggest predatory fish move inshore to hunt seals.

A dispute with the local municipality has seen Shark Spotters, an organisation that sounds the alarm when the predators approach beaches, halt its activities since July 1.

The service, instituted at the southern coast town in 2023 after a wealth manager and a restaurant owner died in fatal attacks a year earlier, is yet to resume because of “significant contractual and operational implications” of the pact offered by Bitou municipality, Shark Spotters said.

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“If you are planning to swim, surf, paddle, or participate in any other water activities, please exercise extra caution,” the organisation said in an earlier statement, together with drone footage of a shark swimming near one of the town’s beaches on July 13. “Entering the water is entirely at your own risk, and we encourage everyone to remain vigilant.”

Great white sharks can grow to about five meters (16 feet) and weigh two tons.

Shark Spotters was first set up in 2004 to monitor Cape Town’s beaches after a spate of shark bite incidents.

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