Following the recent media warnings about an increase in Great White shark activity, the residents of Cape Town have one less thing to worry about now that one of the popular surf brands, O’Neill, has stepped in to sponsor the Shark Spotting Campaign.
“O’Neill is proud to be part of this successful project in the Western Cape. It is important for us to be involved in this community project, which is vital to the growth of tourism in Cape Town,” said Chris Bertish, Brand Manager at O’Neill.
“It’s also crucial for us at O’Neill to put something back into the community. Shark spotting does this by creating jobs, and at the same time providing a valuable and necessary service to the public,” said Bertish.
O’Neill has sponsored apparel for the entire Shark Spotting Campaign, as well as much needed equipment such as umbrella’s and shark flags. They have also made a cash donation in order to maintain the successful running of the project.
Its involvement has made it possible to have about three spotters working in rotation in the Muizenberg, St James, Fish Hoek, Glencairn, Clovelly, Kommetjie and the Hoek area, most locations having a look-out spotter, and a beach-based spotter watching for sharks.
The Shark Spotting Campaign came about as a result of the surge of shark attacks in recent years, which have been an ongoing dilemma for the residents of Cape Town.
Shark spotting creates an increased amount of safety for all beach users as well as provides multiple benefits including environmental education and awareness to public, collection of data for research, and capacity and skills development of the shark spotters.
In addition to the shark spotting initiative, O’Neill will be putting spotters on the shark research boats to train as assistants. All shark spotters are efficiently equipped with intensive training on how to handle attacks.
For safety tips as well as more information on the shark spotter initiative log on to the Shark Spotters website.
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