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Great whites are considered to be the ocean’s apex predators. They can reach sizes of over six meters and have more than 300 serrated teeth in their mouths. Deep giants can travel at speeds of over 50 kilometers per hour and can sense minute motion from prey 250 meters away.
All of the above suggests that there is nothing more terrifying than great white sharks in the oceans, but something killed them off the coast of South Africa, experts said.
Since 2017, cage diving operators have noticed a sharp decline in large white sightings.
In 2018 there were 50 sightings and in 2019 there were none.
Illegal hunting and human activity were thought to be responsible for the decline of the great whites, but scientists now believe there is another explanation.
Killer whales, or orcas, were first spotted off South Africa in 2015, and a team of nine experts believe they are responsible for the great whites’ disappearance act.
South Africa relies on great white sharks for its tourism industry.
As a result, the government called an emergency meeting on their disappearance.
A statement from South Africa’s Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries said, “This day is significant because it serves as an annual reminder of how South Africa is blessed with a wide variety of fisheries resources, but also that we manage it sustainably and adequately protect the ecosystems that host these limited resources.
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Scientists said at the meeting they had “found some evidence of a causal link between the appearances of a pod of killer whales that specialized in white shark prey.”
In 2017, the remains of five great whites were discovered near the Gansbaai area that were compatible with killer whales attacks.
One of the team members, marine biologist Alison Kock, said that when killer whales appear, sharks tend to die.
He said during the presentation: “Whenever this happened, there was an immediate drop and a gap in the sighting of great white sharks.”
However, he admitted that “we don’t have all the answers yet”.
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