Why Are There So Many Shark Attacks In South Africa? | Mystery Of Shark Beach | Real Wild

[Music] a remote surf spot in a far-flung corner of africa [Music] with the lure of perfect waves but there's a catch there have been six deaths [Music] sharks are eating humans here and the reasons are unknown now biologist matt dicken must find answers but the work is dangerous and he needs to act quickly before the beach claims another victim midday summer the east coast of south africa zama indi marseille has been surfing for three hours his brother and cousin are with him with 16 he's just been selected for the state's surfing team he has a big future ahead of him the others tire and paddle for sure zama stays to catch one last wave but something is watching him a shark clamps down on his foot his cousin kuribo turns and tries to help so he's just become the fifth victim of second beach nestled among sheer cliffs scenic headlands and legendary rough seas second beach on africa's east coast was a surfer's best kept secret but this shark attack story is unique usually sharks leave survivors but here all six victims have been killed or eaten the 100 death rate of second beach is unprecedented some of the tribal people living on the surrounding hills believe they have been cursed by the ancestral spirits that live in the sea [Music] others are just frightened by this deadly and mysterious invasion once bustling second beach now stands deserted and under guard the people want their beach back but before that can happen they first need answers shark biologist dr matt dicken has been investigating but this is challenging work second beach is so remote no research has been done here ports and john's is almost a black hole of information it's so remote it's so rural it's so difficult to work here that the fact is apart from anecdotal accounts we know so little about the sharks in this area matt knows that humans usually aren't on a shark's menu and fatal attacks are exceedingly rare but every now and then sharks mysteriously deviate from their natural prey with devastating results previous case studies do exist brazil's recife coast saw sharks attacking 89 people killing 21 over 80 years [Music] recently western australia saw an alarming 11 attacks in one year with five fatalities back across the globe durban on south africa's coast exploded in panic in 1957 when sharks killed another five people reason enough to open a forensic lab in south africa research here helped identify the species of killer sharks in the 1957 attacks got a real dilemma what did the municipality do so matt makes the lab his first stop attacks here in the afternoon okay shark crime scene investigator dr jeremy cliff knows what clues to look for after a shark attack you notice here in the tiger jewel how the teeth are very much angled to the side each species of shark creates a unique bite pattern on the edges of these teeth again you're going to looking for really clean bite marks from white sharks tiger sharks have identical teeth on both jaws serrated and close together great whites have big gaps between their teeth and the upper jaw has wider teeth bull sharks have broad cutting teeth on the top jaw and smaller flesh tearing teeth on the bottom these bite prints will help matt and jeremy id's armor's killer as zama is paddling he feels something bite his foot he's pulled off the board and then grabbed on the upper leg it's going to engulf his entire leg that's right and i can imagine the loss of tissue the blood loss that's going to result from a bar like this by matching the bite pattern on the body to actual shark jaws jeremy identifies a possible suspect [Music] the bull shark these are highly aggressive animals so this species is a logical fit it's one of the most dangerous tropical sharks they have an indiscriminate appetite and will pursue prey into very shallow water on this coastline bull sharks track big shoals of barracuda that move inshore in summer putting them alarmingly close to human activity matt now has one suspect in his sights he travels to the scene of the crime in search of witnesses he needs to find out if other sharks are involved and more importantly why they're attacking humans in the first place but instead of finding answers he's presented with bizarre local theories [Music] some people suspect that the sharks lurking near the beach by day are summoned by tribal ceremonies at night witchcraft is part of everyday life here medicine men perform sacrifice rituals on the beach it's feared that blood from the slaughtered animals attracts sharks sharks have been referred to as swimming noses their nostrils aren't for breathing only for smelling they channel water into nairs folded nasal cavities that can sense blood from 800 meters away they can sniff out one part blood in one million parts sea water very effective when it comes to finding prey matt soon discovers that people are indeed killing animals on the beach the animals are used as offerings but the slaughtering only takes place high up on the sand well away from the water the blood and guts don't make it into the ocean so the rumors that these sacrifices attract sharks seem unfounded [Music] but there's another even more unusual theory on why sharks come here to hunt nighttime beach parties often include tribal drumming sessions [Music] sharks have legendary hearing could they be attracted by this low frequency thumping hairs in the shark's ear pick up low pitched sounds we'd both hear the deepest notes on a piano but struggling fish give off a deeper thudding less than 300 hertz that's what sharks are most responsive to [Music] matt takes a frequency reading the result is intriguing the drums are in the 250 hertz range well within the shark's hearing spectrum but the crashing waves of second beach almost certainly drown out the drumming before it reaches the sea [Music] so this theory is also unlikely but there's an even weirder one waiting in line six years ago a whale supposedly washed up on the beach and its rotting carcass was buried in the sand to stop the smell would a whale carpet leading festering blubber into the sea attract sharks absolutely most species of sharks spend their days hunting fish but catching them isn't easy fish are fast and a frantic chase only scores a morsel not much payoff for the effort so sharks will choose carrion whenever they can find it the smell of a dead whale is like ringing a shark's dinner bell [Applause] still matt is skeptical a whale carcass buried six years ago is unlikely to attract sharks after such a long time besides he can't find a single person to confirm the whale burial rumor he's investigated the local theories and found them all dead in the water it's time to look for clues in the other attacks summer 2007 lifeguards subulela mesisa heads out for a training swim at second beach he swims out to deep water and never returns [Music] a swim fin is all it's found but it's enough for dr cliff to id the culprit in having a look at these pictures i can see a small slice in the rubber leaves an important clue not much to go on matt and jeremy know that different sharks leave distinctive fights for those bite patterns we thought in this particular case that it might well have been a target just looking at some of the um of the incisions in the fin a new suspect emerges the tiger shark it's a species that's known to consume anything which fits this case where the victim was never found they're known as the garbage bins of the sea combine this indiscriminate feeding habit with its large size up to five and a half meters and that makes it a very dangerous species of shark tiger sharks prefer warm water but so do swimmers when predators and people vie for the same balmy spot in the ocean that's a problem but despite the attacks surfers still head for second beach the pull of waves is just too much for a classic case of it'll never happen to me matt notices a coincidence here five years ago a surf school started on the beach and the sport grew more popular [Music] [Music] [Applause] local surfers grew more talented and more and more took up the sport before long surfing was the cool thing to do for added safety a lifeguard station was set up and second beach became the only easily accessible lifeguarded swimming beach for over a hundred miles for more and more locals it was the best place to swim but that's when the spate of attacks began more people in the water inevitably leads to more encounters with sharks but what's drawing the sharks here in the first place [Applause] that's what matt needs to find out one possibility lies half a mile away where the powerful um zinfubu river empties into the sea brown sediment laden water mixes with the ocean to form a filthy slick [Applause] bull and tiger sharks both the key suspects are found offshore [Music] they love dirty water where they can disappear into the filth to hunt [Music] but of all the dangerous sharks only the bull sharks swim up rivers and the river near second beach is on their route map in summer when the attacks happen high rainfall flashes warm muddy water into the estuary the prevailing north wind blows it straight towards second beach [Music] the silt and algae form a rich soup that nourishes smaller reef fish bigger fish come to eat the small fish [Music] then even bigger predators arrive and ultimately sharks matt suspects that the bull sharks which swim upriver might be staying for the feast which draws them and tiger sharks closer to the shore january 2009 the start of second beach's most deadly year twenty-seven-year-old bangalizure is an off-duty lifeguard he's off for a swim to cool down the water is murky today but he's not alone on the beach [Applause] he's in good shape a strong swimmer but he's also victim number three his friends see redwater but he screams once the details are too gruesome to portray really nasty attack repeated mauling of the body so we suspect that it was a a pattern is forming the bull shark is a suspect once again all one can say is we're dealing with highly aggressive and highly determined sharks of ports and jobs when shark bites man it's often a case of mistaken identity but something is driving these sharks past innocent investigation making them more determined to feed on humans [Music] just two months have passed since banglisway's death a heavy swell strikes second beach a young surfer throws caution aside he's 16 a student at the surfing school his coach is with him luyolo takes a breather between waves he paddles out a little further [Music] he makes it back to the beach but he's been bitten badly he bleeds out on the sand matching the bites in forensics reveal that again the bull shark is to blame the bites were a lot cleaner but again the thing that struck me about it was that there was multiple bites here was a highly aggressive shark that came back time and time again to attack the victim as this pattern of aggressive attacks continues matt formulates his own theory nearby ports and john's is a seaside town it's growing rapidly and all the effluent drains into the river this river is a half mile away but second beach has two smaller rivers of its own which also leak sewage and organic waste from the town directly into the ocean [Music] the scent of human waste must be strong this could be the shark's fatal attraction before the summer is over trouble returns to second beach 22 year old enduvo another lifeguard is out training he's being watched but he should be safe he's on a big paddleboard he paddles in and out to sea over and over again lifeguard gerald intercarty witnesses the attack but there's nothing he can do this third fatal attack of the year leaves no trace no clues just empty ocean the victim disappeared so unfortunately we've just got nothing to go on with with that attack the suspect could be a bull or tiger shark but matt suspects a number of other species too second beach is on the edge of a shark highway every winter the world's largest shoal of sardines migrates past second beach attracting sharks that come to feast among them a big dusky shark so they usually stay further out to sea [Music] from the south come bronze whalers they all meet here to feed on sardines [Music] if any of these deep sea predators stay for the summer they could pose as greater danger as the bull and tiger sharks [Music] matt has to find a way to keep tabs on his suspects somehow he must literally tail the sharks if matt hopes to solve the shark attacks at second beach he has to find out which species prowl its waters and then track their movement deploy our gear we're going to put our listening station here's the red dot let's have a look at what this buffer is that means tagging sharks with radio transmitters setting up a listening station in the bay pick up any tag sharks in a radius of one kilometer so what i'm thinking is we put the vr2 in the block system smack bang in the mouth of that bay there's no point deploying this equipment if it's not going to pick up sharks close to the beach i mean that's the whole focus of this research project each shark's tag will emit a unique signal so he'll know which species enter the bay [Music] this tagging project will reveal critical results over coming months but the most important information for him will be right beneath his boat right now it's the height of summer shark attack season they have to find exactly the right spot to place the listening station if they miscalculate sharks could sneak in and out of the bay undetected the unit consists of a heavy steel anchor with the receiver mounted above we can see it's activated we've got the red flashing light and this is the thing that's going to pick up any tag shark that comes within 500 meters of the ports and jump speeds so i think we're ready to go they found the right spot but now they have to assemble the station by hand which means joining the treacherous sharks of second beach in their own domain the divers both wear shark pods protective oceanic devices that emit an electric field sharks can pick up electromagnetic information and the part is said to be a repellent but deep down matt knows that worldwide it's had mixed results now it's his only defense shapes glide on the edge of the gloom as they descend the water gets dirtier and dirtier the divers can't see each other at times [Music] the surge is extreme they're thrown around in the bad visibility they operate by feel working as quickly as possible [Music] down here the sharks have every advantage they can smell hear and sense the divers without needing to see them eventually the job is done and they head for the surface but the men aren't out of danger until they're back in the boat a tiger shark arrives then disappears into the gloom maybe the pod has worked they make a break for the surface they have to get back on the boat quickly while down below the listening station is active now comes the really hard part catching sharks and attaching transmit attacks matt expects to find bull and tiger sharks implicated in some of the attacks he's delving into unknown territory no one has ever done a shark survey at second beach on the first clear day the crew heads out if matt hopes to solve the shark attacks at second beach he has to find out which species prowl its waters and then track their movement they're off to an encouraging start sharks in a feeding frenzy just off second beach it's a great opportunity to set up matt gets the first drumline ready the floats anchored to the seafloor keep the bait from drifting away the sturdy line can support the weight of three grown men to tempt the sharks away from their feeding the team douses the bait with anchovy oil the bait slips onto huge hooks attached to a steel cable that sharp teeth can't bite through it works in no time they have a bite but it's not what matt expects it's one of the winter feeders that visit second beach still here in the middle of summer a dusky shark they've got to be careful that it doesn't puncture the inflatable boat it's not high on the list of man-eaters but it has a history of attacking humans so it earns a tag their first shark released almost immediately a second drumline is pulled under the crew has no idea what they've looked into it's big and it reveals itself to be an even bigger surprise it's a huge thresher shark an open ocean species that uses its long tail to herd and stun shoals of small fish threshers are typically found far from shore out in the deep ocean they don't often venture close to the beach second beach is obviously a hot spot for a number of shark species even home to the weird thresher threshers don't come up against humans that often but they have been implicated in four attacks worldwide a specimen this size could pose a danger to swimmers at second beach so matt tags it it's still the first day of fishing and they've already tagged two unexpected and potentially dangerous sharks and that was fell hooked as well they've barely reset their lines before a monster shark takes the bait it's their prime suspect the three metre bull shark the species that's claimed at least three victims exactly the shark matt hoped to catch tracking the movement of this shark might help pinpoint when the beach is most dangerous but right now it's the crew that's in danger the shark could rip the inflatable to shreds since bull sharks swim up rivers matt can't use an external radio tank it could snag on submerged branches and debris so in a simple surgical procedure he implants an internal tag with the unit safely in the shark swims free it's been a successful day's fishing matt checks the signals of his tagged sharks gathering the first data for his movement study it'll take several months but eventually he hopes to see a pattern to the shark's comings and goings it's january midsummer it's been a full year since the last attack people hit the beach to escape the heat but most play it safe by not venturing too far into the water 25 years old has come here with his friends he's one of about a hundred people playing in the waves somehow he's singled out attacked in waste deep water he fights the shark for five agonizing minutes eyewitnesses watch the attack unfold right in front of them this time the shark lets him go but he never makes it to the hospital he is the sixth person to die on the sand of second beach in the last five years [Music] bite marks reveal the bull shark the fourth such attack the tiger shark has been id'd for one and one attack offers no clues so duskys and threshers might be in the mix but dr matt dickens work is not yet done the recent attack puts new urgency to their mission they'll need to tag as many dangerous sharks as possible they set the lines once a again takes a bite pulling down a 15 gallon float they never even catch a glimpse before it breaks loose i do not believe it barry 16-0 hook that's bait that is straightened i've never seen that before i tell you what we're gonna need a bigger boat that's enormous all right let's get kidded up bigger hooks up [Music] suddenly another drumline gets dragged off but this time the shark shows itself and it's totally unexpected a great white the world's most feared manito here just off second beach they normally stick to colder waters [Music] they call in another boat for help the fishing gear isn't up to the task the predator breaks free one of the second beach attack victims disappeared without a trace a big great white could have eaten him the discovery of this shark reveals a startling fact about second beach during the summer months there isn't just an abundance of sharks there's also a huge diversity of sharks ports and john's is like a shark magnet attracting a variety of different species the sharks find everything they need here some come to hunt in the murky water others are drawn to breed matt has just begun his research more clues and more sharks are likely still out there many variables conspire here to create one perfect storm scenario the perfect place for shark attacks if ever there was one but shark attacks need more than just sharks they need people too as the surf school from the lifeguard station was set up the beach became more popular and so the attacks began not one victim survived these bizarre aggressive encounters something else must be pushing the sharks past the brink matt has one favorite conclusion that the trigger doesn't come from the sea but from land where development creates tasty effluent which runs into the sea leads the hunting sharks right to the only beach where everyone swims so unwittingly people could be summoning the sharks here not by drumming not through animal sacrifices but through the ordinary act of living by the ocean and swimming in the wrong place at the wrong time dr matt dickens shark tracking study will take more time to reveal when the sharks are hunting in the bay but his early research has already delivered a clear message if you want to catch apex predator sharks go fishing at second beach if you want to swim or surf in the ocean in mid-summer go somewhere else [Music] [Music] foreign

Channel: Real Wild

Views: 810,058

Keywords: Port St Johns, coastal predator control, coastal shark attacks, marine animal populations, marine biologist research, marine life documentaries, mysterious shark behavior, oceanic ecosystem protection, oceanic wildlife discoveries, shark attack aftermaths, shark attack awareness, shark attack biology, shark attack mysteries, shark bite prevention, shark conservation efforts, shark feeding habits, shark hunting patterns, shark-infested waters, underwater explorations

Id: I2HeDWKur6c

Length: 49min 29sec (2969 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 12 2022