Whaler sharks to be dissected
THE Dyer Island Conservation Trust (Dict) will perform necropsies on the eight carcasses of large bronze whaler sharks found at a Gansbaai beach this week.
Anthony Fouche from Gansbaai, 160km from Cape Town, documented the carcasses.
The Dict/Marine Dynamics team was notified in the late afternoon and made its way to the site to collect them.
The team found three of the eight dead sharks. It is assumed the rest were taken away to be sold, as the bronze whaler is a commercially fished species.
The Dict said even though bronze whalers were generally regarded as low value, there was a market in South Africa for both their meat and fins for export.
Of the three shark carcasses left on the beach, the Dict team were able to confirm that all were reproductively mature, measuring about 3m each.
One was a heavily pregnant female with the tail of a pup expelled from her cloaca. The team removed the pup and decided to open the mother shark to attempt to save any other remaining pups.
Another 13 full-grown shark pups were found, likely just days away from birth, but all had died due to the length of time the shark had been dead.
“The bronze whaler shark has been visiting shark cage-diving vessels over the last few years, in the absence of great white shark presence, and has enthralled international tourists with their active group behaviour.
“Shark ecotourism is a nonconsumptive industry where the economic value of live sharks is worth more to South Africa than fishermen can make from a dead shark,” said Wilfred Chivell, founder of the trust and chief executive of Marine Dynamics, which is based in Gansbaai.
The shark carcasses will be necropsied by the team and samples will be shared for various scientific projects on the species, including genetic and diet studies.
The public is urged to report any marine animal stranding sightings on the Overstrand to the Dict team on 076 061 3114.