The Great White has made Gansbaai, its operators and shark wranglers famous. I myself have seen the transformation shark tourism has brought.

This, in turn, has raised the profile of this much misunderstood animal and helped bring about a better understanding to the population at large.

Though critics of the cage-diving industry argue that the close interaction between the caged divers and sharks in chummed and baited waters condition the sharks to associate people and food, but the boat operators follow a code of conduct which states that an animal must not be rewarded with food. A number of operators have admitted, though, sometimes the shark gets the bait by accident.

Although one person is killed on average only every two years by a shark in South African waters, experts argue this is indexed in proportion to how many people are swimming in the ocean, and not linked to the cage-diving industry, though a number of locals and South Africans do blame the cage-diving industry despite a lack of evidence to support their claim.

 “The problem is with the high expectations that tourists have,” said Alison Kock of the University of Cape Town’s Shark Research Unit. “They are not happy with just seeing the sharks, but want them to leap out of the water or go right against the cage. Great Whites don’t regard people as natural prey.” ■

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