~

On 14 September 2016, Feike provided a presentation to the Southern Africa CITES Shark & Ray Conservation Symposium on the economic importance of white shark shark eco-tourism as opposed to consumption-based shark harvesting fisheries.  The data that follows is an adaptation of my presentation to the CITES Symposium.  The South African shark cage diving sector was started in the 1990's by a group of entrepreneurs who identified the opportunities of taking tourists out to sea to experience white sharks in their natural environments. South Africa's white shark eco-tourism sector attained international attention shortly after the Discovery Channel produced "Air Jaws" which documented the "flying" great white sharks of the False Bay. This documentary featured Chris and Monique Fallows of Apex Predators, which is a leading white shark cage diving tour operation based in Simonstown, Cape Town.  Feike is the legal adviser to the South African Gre...