Introduction:

Dyer Island Cruises is a boat based whale watching and eco-marine tourism company, based in Kleinbaai, a small harbour town, part of Gansbaai in the Western Cape of South Africa. Dyer Island Cruises allows visitors an unforgettable experience to see whales, dolphins, seals, penguins and sharks, as well as many species of rare pelagic birds that reside close to the shore.

Sister company Marine Dynamics is a Shark Cage Diving company. This area is known as the best place in the world to see Great White Sharks in their natural habitat.

These two companies allow volunteers access to a diverse area of learning, and a holistic insight into the challenges of ocean conservation at the tip of Africa.

Marine conservation is not considered mainstream, and therefore offers an exciting opportunity to get involved with new and developing research.

 

Background:

Founder and owner of the company, Wilfred Chivell, is a committed marine conservationist. He has lived in the area since childhood and is happiest out on the ocean. He is a well-known wreck diver and spear fisherman of note, and because of this, he is well aware of the subtle changes affecting the oceans of South Africa.

Wilfred works closely with a number of conservation bodies to address conservation challenges and improve living conditions for the local communities and the wildlife. To further efforts he has been instrumental in establishing the following projects:

1. Marine Anti-Litter Campaign
2. WWF - Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI)
3. Faces Of Need
4. White Shark Foundation

 

Marine Dynamics, the shark diving side of our company, was founded by white shark pioneer Andre Hartman who was one of the first persons to ever free dive with white sharks and he has appeared in numerous international documentaries. Wilfred Chivell, a pioneer in marine conservation, now runs the company. Marine Dynamics and Dyer Island Cruises are heavily involved in a number of marine researches, conservation and education projects covering the white shark, whales, seals,dolphin, penguins and other marine bird species. We feel that the white shark and its environment have to be protected as a whole. 

Marine Dynamics is made up of a team of shark enthusiasts who constantly strive to place shark conservation and education foremost. This is done through educating clients on a daily basis, by conducting research and by maintaining structured marine education and development projects

We collect data on the White Sharks and their environment on a daily basis.  This data is for our own research and is forwarded to the Department Marine and Coastal Management. All participants will be involved in the different aspects of this work. Currently, this work involves sexing, sizing and recording markings on white sharks, recording environmental parameters, bite marks on seals and marine birds. Some of the recordings are made directly from the shark boat while other recordings involving bite marks and behaviour on seals and birds is conducted from our whale boat which often puts to sea twice per day, thus allowing us to obtain very important data.

There is much controversy surrounding shark cage diving and the effects of this industry on the sharks and their environment, is little known, thus, the data collection is of great importance.