CNN – Shark tourism has become a large business which brings in more than 30million USD every year to South Africa. This controversial attraction for tourists is under debate by localsurfers and swimmers, who say that it is changing shark behavior and may becausing more attacks.
CNN presenter Anderson Cooper travelled to South Africa to swim with great white sharks in Shark Alley, withouta cage as part of his report for “Planet in Peril:Battle Lines.”
In a CNN report he talks about his experience(quote):
Anderson Cooper: We went diving with great white sharks.There is a big controversy over whether or not these cage tour operators areactually changing sharks’ behavior. They chum the water to attract the sharks,tourists get in the water, and so we had the opportunity to go cage diving andalso to go free diving with the sharks, which is a pretty rare thing. There’snot many people on the planet who actually do it, probably for very smart reasons.
Anderson went on to say thatswimming with great white sharks without a cage was one of the most thrillingexperiences of his life. Video footageof this may be seen at this link. Mr.Cooper said they went free diving with the sharks, and that the water waschummed with blood to attract them. Apparently the recommendation made to him by the operator before jumpingin the water was “”Project confidence.”
Arecent shark attack in Australia and various sightings thereafter is causing anational panic as Australian and international newspapers are headliningarticles with words of fear and terror, blaming a Great White shark as the causeof death of Australian snorkeller Brian Guest of Port Kennedy Beach, Western Australia.
