Higher presence of sharks between JBay and Oyster Bay

By Bev Mortimer

There have been reports of an increased shark presence between Jeffreys Bay and Oyster Bay, believed to be have been attracted by a whale carcass washed ashore at St Francis Bay.

Carcass of a Southern Right whale washed ashore on Thursday at Anne Avenue Beach. Photo: Lee Rayment

And the NSRI has urged people to be careful along this coastline , particularly bathers, paddlers, divers, and sail boarders.

The NSRI St Francis Bay said a whale carcass of  a 15 meter Southern Right Whale,  that washed up on Anne Avenue Beach on the St Francis Bay coastline yesterday is believed to have caused a larger number of sharks in the area than usual.

The NSRI said in a release today , 29 October, that  sharks were spotted in the vicinity of the Kromme River and Anne Avenue Beach, off-shore of St Francis Bay, close in-shore, over the past few days.The  increase in sharks is believed to be directly related to the white carcass that beached on 27 October and was then towed out to sea yesterday

NSRI St Francis Bay trainee crew member Mark White, a saturation diver, and his friend, Cody Futeran, assisted the Kouga Disaster Management team that was  tasked to remove the whale. They secured the whale carcass into a bridal and rope and using their private jet-ski they secured the other rope end to the chokka fishing boat Sparadon that was behind the breaker line at Anne Avenue Beach.  During high tide yesterday Sparadon towed the whale carcass off the beach and out to the deep sea where it was released for natural disposal.

St Francis Bay station commander Sara Smith said the whale carcass was initially located by NSRI St Francis Bay floating off-shore of Jeffreys Bay on 26 October. Strong winds had blown it southwards  to Anne Avenue.