It’s Inauthentic
Sharks are, by nature, timid animals. Any diver who’s spent any significant time in the water with sharks (without a cage), knows that that they are inquisitive, but cautious creatures who will disappear at the sight of humans. Some larger sharks will approach for a better look, but in my experience, sharks very rarely stick around. They are busy predators hunting their next meal and need to get on with it.
But sharks acting naturally does not fit our schedules and itineraries, thus shark cage diving operators must resort to the only thing that will get sharks to overcome their apprehension and swim extremely close to boats and humans: blood.
As sophisticated predators, sharks can follow the scent of blood and fish oils in the water, or simply pick up the vibration of a struggling fish. When chum is dumped into the water, humans are triggering a response from all the sharks in the area, without delivering the payload that sharks would expect in the wild.
Not only is the very premise of these types of great white sharks’ encounters completely inauthentic, it’s repeating an unnatural situation for the sharks, over and over again.
It’s Unsustainable
In Gansbaai alone, there are 8 different shark cage diving operations, each averaging 3 trips a day. Depending on the most conservative numbers provided to me by locals, that equals 5,000 visitors per week. This adds up to over 250,000 human encounters with sharks per year, which equals an inordinate amount of blood and chum being dumped along the South African shoreline every day.
It also equals $30 million in annual business, and there lies the rub. A business is in the business of making more profit, which means there will always be the pressure for more boats, more outings, and more tourists. Though the shark cage diving operations are, for the most part, well-regulated, big money is often louder than reason.
Commodifying predators is problematic in any form.
Among wildlife professionals, there is a clear ethical standard that you should never bait a predator. In Banff National Park, feeding a bear will earn you a hefty fine or even land you in prison, and anyone entering areas that have been closed due to bear activity risks a fine of up to $25,000. A “fed bear is a dead bear” goes the saying, because once bears have associated humans with food, they will have a hard time keeping away.
Whether you can compare grizzlies to great whites is another argument, however nobody can dispute the fact that shark cage diving involves the active baiting of predators on a daily basis. In my opinion, luring great white sharks inshore, sometimes within a mile of some of the most popular beaches in South Africa, is sheer stupidity. Scientific organizations have shown that chumming does in fact, change great white shark behavior.
It Perpetuates Myths
Despite claims that such close encounters with great whites help “raise awareness”, the motivating factor and resulting reality of the entire shark cage diving industry is the thrill of recreating a “Jaws” moment for paying customers.
From what I’ve seen, tourists return home, not with a change of hearts towards great white sharks and a commitment towards saving them, but rather with their proud underwater photo or video next to the ocean’s apex predator—a phony symbol of bravado and fearlessness, not unlike the hunting trophies of the Victorian era’s great white hunters.
Advertising and selling testosterone-fueled “adventure” as a checkmark of courage or masculinity does not encourage a culture of tender feelings and awareness towards great white sharks, no matter how much rhetoric you cage it in.