The Sharkwise Project

By Dr Sara Andreotti

Among all the fascinating creatures in the underwater world, sharks are the ones that spark the most contradictory feeling from people. Most people’s opinions about sharks don’t stem from personal experience. Some people obsessively love them, some fear them, and others don’t want to hear about them. These animals are also generally vilified by movies and media outlets, looking to leverage people’s thirst for shocking stories.

Regardless of people’s feelings, what is true is that sharks are essential for the marine environment. They are crucial to maintaining a balanced and healthy ecosystem, eliminating sick individuals from their prey populations, keeping smaller predators’ populations in check, and their distribution confined.

Sharks are facing an unprecedented threat from human activities. Most sharks in South Africa are legally fished, poached, killed as bycatch, and targeted by shark nets for “beach protection”.

These threats escalate when there is a lack of information on sharks’ population numbers, distribution, and reproductive cycles. The lack of information on these species prevents efficient management and conservation efforts. As a response, South Africa started to prioritise shark research in the National Environment Biodiversity Assessment Act (2004), the National Plan of Action for Sharks (NPOA Sharks 2020) and the Shark Biodiversity Management Plan (SBMP 2015), which states that “to achieve and maintain a favourable conservation status for resident and migratory sharks within South African waters it is necessary to have science-based management approaches”.

It is challenging to achieve the above goals because it requires dedicated scientists with specialised training to study sharks. It is a time-consuming and costly exercise.

The facts mentioned above are why The SharkWise Project came into being. The Project is the collaboration between conservation-minded corporates Italtile and Stellenbosch University to increase shark researchefforts in SouthAfrica. The goal is to raise the necessary funds,enhance shark research and ultimately train the next generation of marine biologists to expand the work in the future.

To kick off the program, the Department of Botany and Zoology of Stellenbosch University graciously received a deserved R 150 000 financial injection from Italtile and Tivoli taps at the Italtile Branch of Somerset West. The funds are used to purchase laboratory equipment, fieldwork equipment and travel expenses.

Thanks to the SharkWise Project support, three Masters degree students and two PhD students could enrol at Stellenbosch University. Their current research projects span fields of environmental DNA and population genetics to shark behaviour.

In parallel with raising funds, the SharkWise Project Marine Internship was created to provide free logistics support to the studentsneeding continuous access to the field/ocean for data collection.

It also provided selected interns the opportunities to gain hands-on experience in the marine biology field. The SharkWise

Project Marine Internship was founded by Dr Sara Andreotti, an extraordinary lecturer from Stellenbosch University, and Walter Bernardis, owner of African Watersport and well known for his knowledge of sharks’ behaviour. Similarly, in the Western Cape, some students receive logistic support from the Shark & Marine Research Institute based in Gansbaai.

The SharkWise Marine Internship is a fully research-oriented internship program based in Umkomaas to assist with the data collection of current MSc or PhD projects, analysing data using specialised software and the opportunity to meet like-minded local and international people! The program is run by a local marine biologist, who ensures all the data are organised correctly, and the equipment is well looked after. The interns must pay to access this training program. Still, there will soon be merit sponsorships for a few young South African students to join the program free of charge.

The hope is for more conservation-minded companies to join Italtile and Tivoli tap in our effort to study and conserve South African sharks. Get in Touch or contact them to support their efforts to create future SharkWise marine experts.