Shark alert issued

[caption id="attachment_102972" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A great white shark[/caption]

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) is warning beachgoers to exercise caution‚ especially along the Southern Cape coastline‚  due to a high number of white shark sightings.

It is warning the public to be particularly careful along the coastline between Natures Valley and Mossel Bay along the Garden Route‚ especially Plettenberg Bay.

The increase in shark inshore presence at this time of the year is part of the normal aggregation of these animals‚ the NSRI said.

“Sharks are aggregating in this area at this time‚ as they have done in previous years‚ to take advantage of naturally occurring prey like seals and fish close in shore.

“In particular a large amount of shark sightings have been recorded close in shore along the Plettenberg Bay coastline.

“Most of these shark sightings are in the vicinity of Robberg and this natural phenomenon. with the high number of sightings reported daily offers a rare opportunity for sightseers to view shark activity close in shore‚” the NSRI added.

On Wednesday‚ hikers along an elevated stretch of a hiking trail above Wreck Beach in the Robberg Nature Reserve‚ looked down and saw three surfers being harassed by a shark.

“The surfers managed to reach the beach without incident but this has again highlighted the necessity to urge public caution along this stretch of coastline‚” the NSRI said.

“NSRI are well prepared to deal with any incidents and Plettenberg Bay NSRI now carry emergency medical shark kits on all rescue boats and on the NSRI rescue vehicle and NSRI Plettenberg Bay medics are carrying these emergency medical shark kits in their private vehicles in an effort to ensure the quickest response to any incident‚” the NSRI added.