Beach closed in East London after sighting of shark

Buffalo City Metro have issued a notice that East London’s Eastern Beach is temporarily closed after a shark was spotted in the surf.

The beach was closed as a precaution, and it appears that neither the shark nor beachgoers have come to any harm.

“A shark has been spotted at Eastern Beach. The city has temporarily closed the beach as a safety precaution. Beachgoers are advised not to swim at this beach until further notice,” a Twitter post from Buffalo City Metro read.

BREAKING NEWS: EASTERN BEACH TEMPORARILY CLOSED
A shark has been spotted at Eastern beach.The City has temporarily closed the beach as a safety precaution. Beach goers are advised not to swim in this beach until further notice.
Issued by the BCM Communications pic.twitter.com/LUoNcUo4PW

— Buffalo City Metro (@OfficialBCMM) December 30, 2019

Shark attacks remain rare events

Incidents of shark-bite injuries to humans are rare according to statistical analysis conducted by the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board.  

“Since 1990, only 26% of attacks have resulted in serious injury and only 15% were fatal,” the KZN Sharks Board claims.

“This equates to an average of one serious shark-inflicted injury every year and one shark-inflicted fatality every 1.2 years along some 2 000km of coastline from the Mozambique border to Table Bay (Cape Town).

“Initially, most attacks took place on swimmers in warm, shallow waters on KwaZulu-Natal beaches, but the shark nets – now concurrently with the drumlines – have greatly reduced the number of these incidents in the province to less than one per annum.

“There have been only two serious attacks at protected beaches in the last 30 years. Both involved surfers who were bitten in very clear water by a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). The last attack at a protected beach took place in 1999, which bears testimony to the success of the shark nets in reducing shark attacks.”

Net reduction

The majority of beaches protected by nets are found on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, but the board is committed to the reduction of nets in favour of repellent methods that have lower environmental impact.

Most of the nets deployed along the KwaZulu-Natal coast are 214m long and 6m deep and are secured at each end by two 35kg anchors; all have a stretched mesh of 51cm. The nets are laid in two parallel rows about 400m offshore and in water depths of 10m to 14m.

“A major initiative has been directed at reducing the number of nets at individual beaches. Logically, given that the nets are fishing devices, fewer nets will catch fewer animals. The initial impetus for this research was provided by a comparison of the KZNSB’s operation with those of its counterparts in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. In both Australian states, considerably less shark fishing equipment is deployed per protected beach than in KwaZulu-Natal.”