A busy July for Alison Towner and the Great white sharks
July 26, 2011 by dyertrust
Studying great white sharks for the last five years in Gansbaai, I have often found myself out at sea wondering just what the sharks are up to on the other side of the headland- in False Bay. I have often imagined the same sharks I am seeing in Gansbaai and how they may behave if they were to swim around the corner and continue west along the coastline to the famous Seal Island. Essentially, they would inhabit a completely different bay system. Do they hunt differently- and are the sharks visiting Dyer Island able to compete with any of the seemingly huge breaching beauties Chris Fallows has timelessly captured on film there?
Well, last month I was given the opportunity of a lifetime, I was invited to False Bay to be on board White Pointer 2 with non other than Chris and Monique Fallows themselves. Whats more, leading the team, would be Jeff Kurr- one of Discovery channels most experienced and established shark documentary producers. Kurr has directed and produced each one of the classic Air Jaws documentaries with Chris co hosting, since back in the early 1990s. He has pioneered the global exposure around the flying white shark- and has always kept a balance between science, conservation, and the wow factor in his films. Our mission was to film False Bays flying whites- in all their glory for shark weeks 25th anniversary 2012, using the most up to date filming technology. The main aim was to show the white shark hunting around a seal colony like never before. My role- was to comment on what we saw, as it happened, from a scientific perspective- what a privilege!
As I left Gansbaai on the 21st of June, a week of westerly winds and swells had prevented anyshark taggingand tracking. My dedicated research team lead by our marine biologist and skipperOliver Jewellwere on standby to cover a tagging expedition if the weather played along, in my absence. Therefore, off I went!
I can honestly say, without giving too much away-the three weeks I spent at sea with the team in False Bay I will never forget. The first thing that struck me about the place was its beauty. The dramatic mountainous landscape forever changes its mood. In the morning, the sun rises up over the Hottentots mountains to the east, whilst on the opposite side, the most amazing magenta curtain cascades down Table Mountain, awakening the bay. Stormy days are equally as beautiful. As dark clouds gather, only staggered sunlight can penetrate, which in turn produces an almost heavenly- like gleam down the mountain edges, enhancing their proud contours. I learned fast, any photograph you get of any marine animal in False Bay- you want that background landscape in. Its one of the reasons why the Fallowss breach collection is so spectacular!
Being familiar with studying white sharks around Dyer Island, I found Seal Island really quite fascinating, and different. The first thing that struck me was the fact that there is no Kelp! Seal Island Is apparently very exposed and does not allow kelp forests to thrive due to high surge and unfavourable conditions. Seals and sharks often utilise the kelp patches surrounding Dyer Island and Geyser rock. We have seen time and time again, the seals rafting together and surfing the waves, as they break over the kelp, just offshore of the colony. We will also observe them bee lining for a patchy kelp reef as a pit stop before heading out into the open ocean to feed. White sharks hunting at Dyer will often patrol the edges of the kelp reef waiting, and if they are lucky, will get the chance to grab a seal that strays just that bit too far from the kelp edge. At Seal Island however-, the equation is a little less balanced and buffered for the seal! A cape fur seal leaving the colony in False Bay, is literally thrown into no mans land! When he and his group make the decision to go over the top and leave the colony to feed