[imagesource: Wikimedia Commons / Hurkummer]

You can tell you’re heading into the summer months in Cape Town when those open-top red tourist buses start filling up.

Then you start noticing an increase in the number of GP licence plates and finally, sure as the swallows migrate, somebody asks if you’re thinking about heading to Plett in December.

This year is no different, although two fatal shark attacks in recent months, which tragically claimed the lives of Bruce Wolov and Kimon “Kiki” Bisogno, may have led to some apprehension around swimming.

The Bitou Municipality has been hard at work formalising a comprehensive three-part plan, titled the Plett Shark Action Plan, ahead of the busiest time of the year.

There’s some good news on that front via The Daily Maverick. The Plett Shark Action Group (PSAG) has now partnered with Shark Spotters and hopes to reduce shark-human interactions in the area:

[Shark Spotters CEO Sarah] Waries, who went to Plett with some of her team last week, said they scouted five spots where spotters can be placed and which will be trialled over summer.

“We think it shows good potential for shark spotting,” said Waries, adding that, “with any shark safety measure, there is no solution that is like a silver bullet that will work on every beach.

“We certainly need to do some more data collection, so we’re going to put spotters in place on these beaches, and see how effective they are, looking at where their visibility is and where the water users are. So it’ll be a six-month trial to see how effective spotting is in the area. There’ll be some safety measures in place over the festive season as well.”

What’s especially noteworthy is that this safety measure won’t negatively affect the local marine ecosystem.

In some areas of the country, traditional shark nets are blamed for killing a large number of species and thus throwing the ecosystem out of balance.

Besides being a popular beach getaway, there are two marine protected areas around Plett and marine tourism brings in year-round revenue.

The Plett NSRI’s Jaco Kruger, who also chairs the Plett Shark Action Group, said: “It’s natural for the Plett community to support an eco-friendly approach.”

“And we rely from a tourism point of view on these to help our town create jobs. Kinda in Plett DNA. So we had to look at the different options for Plett.”

Patty Butterworth, the CEO of Plett Tourism, also stressed the need for an eco-friendly approach “because of the economic benefits it brings to the town and because it is the right thing to do”.

Further down the line, pending further investigation, the use of an eco-friendly barrier is another option.

[source:dailymaverick]