Sharks are being spotted more often as the season changes so the NSRI is raising awareness and urging caution to beachgoers.
Eastern Cape, South Africa (26 May 2022) – Shark spotting season is arriving and the NSRI are issuing alerts to keep the public aware of these incredible creatures, to keep everyone safe.
Sharks are pretty cool creatures that have earned a bad reputation because of scary movies. While they are dangerous, they are not man-hungry villains looking to destroy the human race.
Sadly, sometimes sharks make mistakes and do attack a human. So alert systems have been in place for decades to try and keep people out of the water when a shark is present. These include flags placed on popular beaches, sirens and social media alerts.
The national NSRI team have issued an alert to advise the public that shark activity is rising along the Southern Cape and Eastern Cape shorelines.
“NSRI, local Municipalities along the Southern Cape and Eastern Cape coastline and marine authorities are appealing to coastal users, in particular bathers, paddlers, surfers, body boarders and kite boarders, to exercise caution due to increased inshore shark activity.
On Wednesday, 25 May, at Jeffreys Bay, a large shark was spotted in the breaking surfline at Secrets Beach across Commercial Marine. Surfers cleared the water without incident.
Over the past weeks and more recently increased shark activity has been noticed along the Southern Cape coastline from Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay and the Eastern Cape coastline from Storms River, Tsitsikamma, to Jeffreys Bay.
In cooperation with local Municipalities we are appealing to the public to exercise caution along these stretches of coastline due to the noticeable increased shark activity.”
The NSRI created Shark Bite Kits that are strategically placed on beaches or at NSRI stations that have high numbers of shark sightings. They are regularly checked and restocked as needed.
The key to any shark bite is to stop the bleeding. The kits contain the items needed to stop bleeding as well as the emergency details to call so that help can arrive swiftly.
Most coastal NSRI stations are now equipped with specialised shark bite kits, and crew are trained in applying the specific medical resources. Kits are found at the following places.
- Station 3 (Table Bay),
- Station 16 (Strandfontein),
- Station 23 (Wilderness),
- Station 37 (Jeffreys Bay)
- Station 47 (Kei Mouth)
In the Plettenberg Bay area, kits were installed at:
- Robberg Beach,
- Central beach,
- Keurbooms,
- Lookout Beach
- Nature’s Valley
If you’d like to make a donation towards stocking a shark-bite kit, please contact the NSRI on info@searescue.org.za
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