March 19, 2019 Dyer Island Conservation Trust In 2018, our penguin philanthropist, Mike Gibbs, kindly donated a special drawing of African penguins by Hermanus artist Malcolm Bowling. This picture went on silent auction at the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary (APSS). It finally has a home - with the Kendziorski family. The Kendziorski’s are from the USA and have been volunteering [...]
March 15, 2019 Dyer Island Conservation Trust “We are thrilled to have acoustic tagged two Great White Sharks from our research boat today!”, said shark biologist Alison Towner. It’s been over two years since a transmitter (tag) has been deployed on a white shark in Southern African waters largely due to their unpredictable distribution patterns, and a notable decline in white [...]
March 07, 2019 Dyer Island Conservation Trust On Tuesday the 5th March at 9 am, Anthony Fouche of Gansbaai documented the carcasses of eight large bronze whaler sharks at Die Plaat, Gansbaai. The Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT) / Marine Dynamics team were notified in the late afternoon and made their way down to the site to collect them. On arrival, [...]
We all know that Africa is not for “sissies” and the African Penguin is a perfect example of African tenaciousness. The story of the African penguin is not a good story to tell. This iconic bird is on the brink of extinction. We have lost 99% of our African Penguin population through no fault of their own. Forced removals Guano (an [...]
February 19, 2019 Wilfred Chivell of Marine Dynamics and founder of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust was ecstatic to receive a R50 000 donation from International Marine Volunteer Susy Alexandersen. This money will go to the Dyer Island Conservation Trust’s conservation and community efforts. Norwegian based Alexandersen had this to say, “In 2013 I went to Gansbaai for the very [...]
February 02, 2019 Pinkey Ngewu World Wetlands Day (WWD) on 2 February is a key environmental day on the calendar. This global movement was established in 1971 in order to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet. World Wetlands Day was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and has grown remarkably since then. The Theme [...]
January 31, 2019 Pinkey Ngewu Ralph Watson, Ph.D. Candidate at Rhodes University, and a marine biologist guide at Marine Dynamics was the speaker at the latest Marine Evening held by Marine Dynamics/Dyer Island Conservation Trust. Ralph was born in Johannesburg but raised in the Netherlands. From a young age, it was clear his interests lay in the natural world around [...]
January 07, 2019 Black and white dress was the order of the day at the second March for the Penguins held at the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary (APSS) in Gansbaai. This family friendly event held on the 21st December attracted over 180 participants. The event held two objectives – critical fundraising and awareness of the African Penguin and its endangered [...]
December 18, 2018 The Dyer Island Conservation Trust’s Environmental Education Programme known as DEEP works with dedicated groups of young learners and runs for three years to monitor and evaluate the impact and growth of each and every individual learner. Our aim is to expose these young learners to the field of science and conservation and serve as a forerunner for [...]
December 18, 2018 White shark experts from across the globe came together to map out the priorities for future research on the species. Our shark biologist, Alison Towner, contributed to this critical paper, as did her PhD supervisor Dr Malcom Smale, and past students affiliated with the Dyer Island Conservation Trust. “White sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, are often described as elusive, with [...]
