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Worried about shark attacks this festive season? Trust the drones

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   Picture: Supplied
Picture: Supplied

Thousands of revellers will feel much safer this festive season thanks to two drones that will scour the sea for those fins.

The increased surveillance of Fish Hoek and Muizenberg beaches – both known for their shark sightings – has been made possible by a partnership between a private company, weFix and non-profit organisation, Shark Spotters.

Cape Town based weFix, a popular tech technology company, has donated two “sought-after” drones – a DJI Phantom 4 Drones and Mavic – to be despatched to two of the beaches.

These would enhance the binoculars and high-lying vantage points usually used by Shark Spotters.

Currently, Muizenberg and Fish Hoek beaches each have mountain-based shark spotters who use binoculars and polarised sunglasses to look out for sharks close to shore.

The drones will now give them additional range up and down the beach and out to sea.

The drones can stay in flight for up to 30 minutes before needing a battery change.

City of Cape Town community services mayoral committee member councillor Anda Ntsodo said an estimated 1.5 million people visited the City’s beaches during the peak holiday season last year.

The numbers are expected to peak during this time of the year.

“Cape Town has some of the most pristine beaches in the world – 10 of which are recognised as Blue Flag beaches. Both Fish Hoek and Muizenberg are Blue Flag beaches,” Ntsodo said.

Shark Spotters project manager Sarah Waries said this was a fantastic enhancement of their programme as the drones will ultimately improve the accuracy of the current shark flag system and enhance the safety of water users.

“We’re in no doubt that our organisation will benefit hugely over time by deploying and mastering the latest technologies, and we couldn’t be more delighted with this partnership.”

Waries said Shark Spotters was only based in Cape Town and currently monitored seven beaches in False Bay and one beach on the Atlantic side.

She said shark sightings were most prevalent during the summer months with Muizenberg having the highest number of sightings annually with an average of 83 shark sightings a year followed by Fish Hoek at an average of 46 shark sightings a year.

“Although False Bay is home to the second largest aggregation of white sharks in the world, shark attacks are a rare event, with an average of one shark attack in Cape Town every two years since 1960,” she said.

Waries said although Shark Spotters was not 100% effective, the organisation had spotted more than 2050 sharks across all eight beaches since 2004 and cleared the beach on at least half of these occasions.

Spotting was limited by murky water, glare, wind, big swells, the distance of water users from the spotter, and human error.

She said when a shark was spotted that did not necessarily mean everyone would have to get out the water.

“If the shark is far away from the water users and poses no threat, then there is no need to close the beach. It is also hard to say how many times we have prevented a shark attack from happening – when a shark comes into contact with a human it does not necessarily mean that it will bite that person, however the important point is that we prevent this possibility from happening in the first place,” Waries said.

Alex Fourie, weFix founder and chief executive, said the partnership entailed a full sponsorship of drone infrastructure for the Shark Spotters.

This includes drones, peripherals, connectivity, training, licensing, insurance and maintenance of all equipment.

“The initial setup cost is about R100 000, but this will obviously increase if we scale this venture. If this is successful we will look at doing it at other areas as well. We have a few ideas how we can grow this initiative into the life saving arena, and would also like to see this rolled out at more than just the Cape Town beaches,” Fourie said.

He said the company chose Cape Town because there were so many opportunities to enhance traditional operations with drones.

“Our company’s philosophy is that #WeMakeItBetter and we would like to see the application of our skills and technology to make things better for South Africa and in the greater region. Partnering with Shark Spotters was the obvious choice for us. We will provide a 100% maintenance solution as well for the drones,” he said.


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