White Shark Trust - Field Research Assistant - December 2004

The White Shark Trust Field Research Assistantship is proud to introduce you to our assistants:

Trey SNOW (Wilmington, North Carolina, USA), Nicolas PADE (Nivaa, Denmark), Alice CLARKE (London, England), Gillian Taylor (Sutton, Surrey, England) and Kate BARLEY (Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England).


	On the 24th of December 2004, we launched Lamnidae in the early morning hours... We observed five different White Sharks today... And the conditions were the best we probably had the whole month of December... Flat sea, hot air blowing from the east and good viibility. Great morning with the Sharks!





A pod of about six Humpack Dolphins visited Lamnidae during the morning while we had a White Shark swimming around the boat... They certainly did not seem to mind one another in the beginning. But as the Dolphins moved closer, the Shark disappeared...







	We then conducted our shore transect along the Haibaai beach... We observed four White Sharks swimming close to shore... Again, the conditions were ideal and perfect! It was so wonderful to have such a beautiful day again... December has not been a great month so far, with a lot of wind and choppy seas... but today made up for it!




	The fourth and last Shark we observed along the transect, was very close to the Uilkraalsmond river mouth, where most people go swimming... This is the peak of the South African summer holidays, and a lot of people were at the beach today and in the water... You can see from the shadow cast by the Shark on the sandy bottom in the pictures above, how shallow these Sharks swim... in less then two-meter deep water... We decided to keep observing and remain with this last Shark to make sure that she would not go too close to the swimmers. She swam back and forth along that small beach stretch several times... and the beach users most probably figured that there was a Shark close-by from the movement in and out of the water as we approached with Lamnidae...


But this is normal and natural behaviour for these Sharks, and they have always used the inshore area for some yet unknown reason... And we often swim there too, and there has never been an incident in that area. Last week, six people died drowning along the South African beaches... For more information, read on here...

Michael and Tracey, and our assistants, Trey, Nick, Gillian and Kate, wish you a Merry Christmas from the sunny and warm Great White Shark Capital of the World!