HUNDREDS of great white sharks have mysteriously disappeared off the South African coast.
Sightings of the giant fish, which usually support the country’s shark-diving industry have plunged over the last 18 months.
Between 2010 and 2016, the Shark Spotting Programme, established to warn swimmers when the three-ton predators were near beaches, recorded an average of 205 per year in False Bay, a major body of water off Cape Town on the southern tip of the African continent.
In 2018, that figure fell to 50, and so far this year not one shark has been seen.
Nor have any been seen from Seal Island, a small land mass 6km offshore occupied in large numbers by seals, a staple of the great white’s diet.
Tens of tour companies in South Africa offer visitors the chance to be submerged in a cage and see great whites and other marine life up close.
The reason for the fall, as well as its likely affect on the region’s ecosystem, remains unknown to experts.
A statement from the Cape Town municipality on Wednesday said: “Further supporting evidence of the absence of these large apex predators is the lack of any feeding or bite marks on whale carcasses the city has removed from False Bay this year.
“We do not know how their absence from False Bay would affect the ecosystem.
“Neither do we know the causes for their disappearance.”
Local media has speculated that the arrival in the bay of pods of orcas, which have been known on rare occasions to eat sharks, as well as the over-fishing of species that sharks eat could be reasons for the fall.
The great white is typically found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans and is notable for its size, growing up to six metres in length.
While sharks are on the whole less aggressive than commonly believed, the great white is one of the few species known to attack swimmers and surfers unprovoked.
They are one of the “Big Three” aggressive shark species, along with tiger sharks and bull sharks.
First, their size and strength means they are easily able to overpower a human in the water.
Second, they have sharp teeth designed to shred their prey, meaning that when they do attack, the damage they inflict can be devastating.
Third, they spend most of their time near waters where humans swim, making the chance of encountering one greater than for species that live in deeper waters.
The great white is responsible for more unprovoked attacks on humans than any other shark.
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