Shark Cage diving shouldn’t just be avoided, it should be banned altogether.
Below are a few reasons why we shouldn’t go shark cage diving:
It is not authentic
Sharks are extremely shy animals. The last thing that they would want to do is go and swim next to a cage of divers who are exploiting them for their own entertainment. We know that the only way we will be able to get White sharks as close as possible is with blood, so we attract these sharks with the use of chum, creating a very inauthentic experience for ourselves and the sharks. These inauthentic experiences should be very unfulfilling to us as we recreate something completely unnatural.
It is not sustainable
There are many different shark cage diving operations in South Africa, and in one town in particular about 5000 visitors per week. This means that there is a very unnatural amount of blood and chum being thrown into the water every day. But business is business and shark cage diving brings in quite a lot of money, demanding more boats and more tourists in order to keep making a profit, no matter what.
A few years ago a shark cage boat that was pressurised to make money capsized. Two people drowned after this boat was the only one out of seven who ignored the bad weather to get up and close with the sharks.
Who knows when the next tragedy might occur?
It keeps myths going
Shark cage diving doesn’t promote awareness. All it does is try to create a thrill for paying customers. Tourists don’t leave having learnt anything about White sharks. They merely leave boasting with a photograph or a video that claims a fearless attitude. Advertising these “masculine” adventures does nothing to change the heart of the diver.
It is bad conservation
Shark cage diving does absolutely nothing to conserve these animals that are on a massive decline. All that happens is the taking of trophy photos. We encourage the people who care about sharks to support the Shark Sanctuaries across the world.
Or those who still want to go diving with sharks can do so without the cage along with respectable dive companies in South Africa who encourage good and natural interactions with sharks.