From the 19th – 25th January 2009, our very own marine biologist Alison Towner of Marine Dynamics Tours was lucky enough to join a research expedition to the Breede River Estuary, just two hours drive east from Gansbaai. The project was incorporated under our Faces of Need Sharks program and was partly funded by the Dyer Island Conservation Trust and Marine and Coastal Management. The managing operators of the project were the South African Shark Conservancy, who put together the protocol. The aim of the expedition was to find a Bull shark (also known as: Zambezi shark) in the river itself after rumours of locals and fishermen having their catch taken off their lines.
On the off chance of finding a 'Zambi' we were equipped with acoustic and continuous tags and a VR100 receiver with tracking hydrophone. We were hoping upon landing and tagging the shark so we could maybe track some of its fine scale movements around the Breede River. In all, the project was a HUGE success. Not only did we land, tag and release a bull shark but we did so with the worlds LARGEST. She was a 4m (possibly pregnant) female half a meter bigger than the previous record. We tracked her continuously for 43hrs – the longest acoustic tracking period of any known Bull shark! We also established the Southern most distribution of the species – in the world and the most Western distribution in SA. The list goes on, it was a stunning and fantastic experience to be part of – and what a break through for South African research!
