[imagesource: Dave Fleetham / Design Pics / Perspectives / Getty Images]

Shark sightings in and around Plettenberg Bay aren’t all that unusual.

Drones have regularly captured surfers and sharks in relatively close proximity, for example, but it’s quite a different story to find one in the Keurbooms River.

Yesterday evening, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spotted a 3,5-metre great white upstream from the river mouth.

TimesLIVE reports that NSRI Plettenberg Bay station commander Jaco Kruger said the shark was found during a routine exercise:

“During a routine exercise on Wednesday evening on the Keurbooms River, NSRI Plettenberg Bay duty crew came across a white shark, approximate length 3.5m, in the Keurbooms River, about 300m upstream of the Keurbooms River mouth — about halfway between the river mouth and the N2 bridge,” he said…

“…the warning is a precaution to alert the public of the presence of a shark in the Keurbooms River and a reminder that at this time of year sharks are known to feed inshore along the coastline and increased shark activity has been noticed along the Plettenberg Bay coastline,” Kruger said.

Marine scientists from the SA Shark Incident Committee fear that the shark may be ill or disorientated.

The below video is unconfirmed and was shared to the Plett News and Info Facebook group earlier this morning with the full NSRI statement.

You can see a shark in the water, although it doesn’t appear to be a great white shark, as well as the presence of NSRI boats. There is no sound.

Perhaps it’s an older video that has been reshared.

The NSRI (Station 14 Plettenberg Bay) released the statement via Facebook and the comments soon poured in.

One resident said she thinks she saw the shark the day before:

The Bitou municipality has also appealed to the public to exercise caution on the Keurbooms River and along the Plett coastline.

[sources:timeslive&facebook]