When surfers and kayakers enter the water, they know they run the risk of an encounter with a shark.

That’s fine, too, because in almost every single instance no harm occurs, and South African surfers have spent the last few weeks more concerned about SAPS on the beach, looking to make arrests, than anything in the water itself.

Still, drone footage that began to circulate yesterday, showing a large great white shark in very close proximity to surfers in Plettenberg Bay, has captured the attention of many, and the NSRI has appealed to “bathers, paddlers, body borders [sic] and surfers to be cautious along the Southern Cape coastline and the Eastern Cape coastline…due to a high number of reported White shark sightings and White Shark close encounters”.

In particular, the NSRI points out the coastline of Plett and between Mossel Bay and Jeffreys Bay.

This isn’t the first time a large shark has been spotted off the coast of Plett, and it won’t be the last.

Here’s the most recent drone footage in question:

Due to a high number of reported White Shark sightings and close encounters, NSRI are appealing to the public exercise caution along the Southern Cape coastline, in particular around the coastline of Plettenberg Bay and between Mossel Bay and Jeffreys Bay.https://t.co/IKbxE3tNhh pic.twitter.com/3uI02FGgSc

— Sea Rescue South Africa (@NSRI) June 23, 2020

If you’re having trouble viewing that video in the tweet above, here’s one from Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

SPEACHLESS!!!! @discoversharks

A post shared by Zach B (@crazy__nature2.0) on Jun 23, 2020 at 10:34am PDT

The account above belongs to Zach B, who says he’s a 14-year-old boy “who took up a lockdown hobby to capture his love for the ocean from the skies”, adding that he’s the one who filmed the video.

Great work, Zach.

More from the NSRI release:

The increase of sharks at this time of the year is part of the normal aggregation of these animals that take advantage of natural prey like seals and fish close in shore.

A large amount of shark sightings and some encounters have been reported close in shore along the Plettenberg Bay coastline over the past few weeks, on Sunday and today…

NSRI can confirm that a number of encounters reported recently included authorities appealing to surfers to exit the water at Robberg, Plettenberg Bay on Sunday, at Boneyards, Jeffreys Bay on Monday and again at Robberg, Plettenberg Bay on Tuesday, following shark sightings in close proximity to surfers reported by eye-witnesses.

Something to bear in mind if you happen to be in any of those areas and are keen for a paddle.

For some tips on reducing the risk of encountering a shark, see the bottom of the NSRI release.

[source:nsri]