3. MA RINE TOURISM: MANA GEMENT AND CONSERVATION
3.3. Marine tourism and SCUBA diving
Marin e touri sts in associatio n with risk and adven ture activities, suc h as surfing, sailing and SCUBA, are ofte n domin ated by (younger) males. The average marin etourist is from an upper socio-economic le vel of society, due to cost of differe nt equipme nt, suc h as bo ats,divin g eq uipme nt and surfboa rds (D ra ms, 1999).
Diving can include a certa in risk . Dee p diving increases the potential cha nces of getting decompression sickness and air embo lis m. Stron g curren ts can disori entate the diver or be exha usting. This can lead to stress or panic and dang erou s situat io ns. But, usu ally if the dive is well planned , the diver has the need ed experience and is in relative ly good physical sha pe, the eq uipment is working and commo n sense is used , the dive will go well even under cha lleng ing cond itio ns (PADI, 1988). Aquati c anima ls usu all y do not harm or bite diver s ifnotpro voked or touched . If,howe ver,this sho uld happ en the major probl emis to sto p the blood loss and tryto keep the hurt diver breathing normally and not go into shoc k due to loss ofoxyge n (pADI , 200 1).
3.3.I. Marine wildlife and human interaction
Diver-inter act ion bet ween human s and marin e life has assisted in marin e research, but also become a popular touri st activity. Interaction with wild anima ls in their natur al env iro n me nt IS for man y mor e attrac tive and exciting than visi ting an ocenar ium/a qua rium which is a man-m ad e setting with capt ive anima ls (O rams, 1999).
One of the foremost interests of recreational divers is to observe large mari ne ani ma ls.
Sharkstend to fascina te all le vels ofdivers (Duffy, 2002; Ander son , 2002). Duffy (2002) experience d during her research of ecoto urists in Bel ize that most divers were most excited about seeing larger marine anima ls and wrecks. She describes this desire of the dive tou rists as eq uiva lent to "T he African Big Five". In orde r to satis fy the dive ecoto uris ts, the touri sm indust ry pro vides easy access to certa in dive sites with spectacular marine life suc h as Shar kAlley with a high possibilityof viewing shar ks and rays.While interacti on with marine anima ls suc has sha rks can, and from anecoto urist ic persp ecti ve sho uld, lead to a greaterawarenessofthe anima ls and thei r habitats,thisdoes not necessarily always happ en . Dive operators cond ucting dives at Shar k Alley have expressed conce rn abo ut diversharassingthe sha r ks, holdin g on to their fins while ha ving
their photo taken. The continuo us feeding of the sharks by dive operators in orde r to satisfy the dive touri sts is beli eved to modify the shar ks beh aviou r into acting in a more aggress ive way than normal (Duffy, 2002). Interpretation is a very valua ble and imperative tool for successful inter acti on bet ween humans and marin e anima ls.
Coll ab or at ions bet ween researcher s and tourist operators can enha nce both the touri st ' s exper ience and help to raise awareness and under standing ofthe marine ecosyste ms, in addition to ed uca tion and informati on abo ut the importance of protectin g marin e areas. Examples of such collaborations include dolphin watching in Port Phillip Bay (Wearing
& Neil , 1999) and swimming with wha les programmes in the Great Barrier Reef (Va lenti ne etal.,2004).
Ecoto urism IS cons ide red a sustaina ble non -con sumpti ve utilisation of nature for recreati on al purposes. One of the factors deciding wheth er an ecoto urism activity is success ful or not is the impacts it has on wildlife. A case study conce rn ing the beh avioural respon ses of fur seals in associ ation with marin e touri sts suggests that negati ve impact s are avoida ble with a set of minimal man agem ent strateg ies. The study showed two main touri st behavio urs causing the seals to eithe r retreat or beh ave as if attacked if the touri sts came closer than 10 meter s or if they did not beh ave in a calm way. The study sugges ts that some of the imperati ve man agem ent strateg ies for min imi sing impac ts on wild life from ecotouris m are to regul ate and contro l the distance betw een the anima lsand the touris ts, and the touri sts' beh aviour. The tour ists' beh aviour can be contro lled by informing them and guiding their attitudes by raising beh a viour al awa reness (Cass ini,200 1).
The most intern ation all y known marin e touri sm activi ty in South Africa is cage diving with Great White Sha rks in the Western Cape which has been mad e famo us throu gh documentar ies by BBC, Nati on al Geogr aphi c and the Disco ver y Chann el. Commer ci al Great Whi te shar k cage diving has been arra nged since 199 2 in Sou th Africa.The main mark et for White Shark cage diving is the intern ation al market and some dom est ic touri sts fro m Gaut en g. These mark et segments are cons ide red to have a higher financi al incom e and can thus afford the rath er costly sha rk exper ience. The cage diving is a
unique experience and the customer s are willing to paya high cost inorder toexperi ence it. The actual dive takes place in a sub merged cage off a boat with usually two diversin the cage at a time.Dive certification is usuallyrequired. The sharks are attrac ted by baits made of various fish substance. Around 20% of the shar k viewing is done from onboard the boat, with good visibility and safe plat form s to watch the sharks from. The cage diving boats collab or ate and support each other as this is conside red as a ben efit for all the parties invol ved .They sha resighting data and realtime sightings. Many of the boats also have scientific researchers onboard which contributes not only to the research , but also as interp retati on for the touri sts. Rep orts of shark enco unters are forward ed to the Marine and Coastal Management Departm ent in Cape Town which is the responsible authority for the shark tou rism . The ope rators need a permit from Marin e and Coastal Management and ha vetofollow aCode of Conduct.
Most of the tourists have a percep tion ofthe Great White affected bythe famou s "Jaws"
movies beforethe sha rkview ingexper ience, but the shark diving tourism industr yclaims that this view point is changed to one of a need for conse rva tion and respect for the sharks after just one day on the sharkview ing boats (Ma nnix, 2004) . However , the reare severa l env iro nmental concern s expresse d from vario us parti es about the potenti ally neg ati ve effec tson the Great White Sharks as a spec ies due to the popul ar and increasin g cage-diving industr y. One of the most discussed conce rns is linked withconditio ning the shar ks by feedin g or chumming, and the increase in Great White Shark attac ks in the Cape area of South Africa the last few years (Sadie, 2005) ."Conditioning is a type of learnin g in which the instinctive refl ex actions oj'an animal in response to a given stimulus area altered as a result (~lthe experience of the animal" (Sad ie, 2005, pp. D). Conditionin g of the Great White Shark is at the least theoretically possibl e, but conditioning must be considered in a list of aspects including frequency of contact bet ween a speci fie shark and a cage-diving operator, wheth er the shark actually gets and eatsthe bait and howlong itstays around the boatto menti on some. The increasein Great White Shark attac kson humansincreasedpreviou sto the star tofcommercialcage-diving and the number of attac ksseems to fluctu ate without direct correlation with caoze -divina0
operation (Sadie, 2005). Howe ver , one might ask whe ther it is ethica l or ecologica lly
sustaina ble to feed and attract a prot ected marin e apex pred ator , and if it is really a true eco to uris m experience . Even though ecotourism will ne ver mean no-impact , but rath er less negati ve impact than regular touri sm, it is difficult to establi sh a limit bet ween acce ptable and unacceptable touri sm practi ses. Does protecti on of a spec ies mean just that it sho uld not be killed , or sho uld the protecti on also include othe r aspects such as prohibition ofstress ing, hurtingorothe rwise disturbingthe sharks?
The cage-di ving industry has been accused ofhabituating Great White Shark sto human- beings and boat s,due to the sha rks association of bait with the electrica l field s of peopl e.
Addition all y, one cage diving opera tor claim s he has attracted over 5 000 sha rks for the purpose of cage-d iving . The shar ks are migratory, but stay in loc ali sed areas over time . The number of Great Whites in this parti cul ar area is sugges ted to be around 500, implying that the majority of the attracted sharks will be return visitors to the dive boats (Ashton, 2004).
"Like lions or leopards white sha rks are potentially dangerous under certain circumstances, hut they are nothing like the vicio us,man-eating monsters often depicted in the press" (Sad ie, 2005). How is it then that the feeding of lion s, baboon s and other terr estrial animals is not recommended due to safety issu esand potenti ally habituating the animals ,whilst sha rk feed ing isallow ed?
Anoth er type of sha rk feeding occurs bet ween Prote a Bank s and the MPA Aliwal Shoal.
Two ope rators cond uct Tiger Shark divin g whe re baiting is used to attrac t sha rks. The dives are ope nwateror big bluedives witho utcages.TheTiger sha rksare not believed to be local but rath er migr ator y, thus not cond itioned by the baitin g. There is, howe ver ano the r conce rn; that of the diver s' safety. Tiger Sharks can gro w to the size of over 4 met er s (Bass etal., 1975). In a feeding fren zy, even thou gh not purposely attac king a diver, accide ntscan potenti all y happ en . How e ver,no accidentshave been rep ort ed so far (ref. Anon ymou s).The sha rk diving opera tors at Protea Banks do not practise any form of feeding or chumming to attract sha rks, but rath er prom ote the expe rience of vie wing sharks in theirnaturalhabitatwithout disturbing or harassing them .
3.4.Marine tourism and recreational fishing
Ano the r group of marin e recreation al user s and tourists who are interested in sha rks are therecreation alfish erm en ,but thecontinu al fishing of sha rks has also led to theirdecline. Howe ver ,in recent years in some countriesrecreation alfishin ghas been revise d with the implementati on of tag and release program s. These prog rams are becoming more common , killing few er sharks and potenti all y assisting in scientific research.
Recreational fishing of sharks might only con sist of a sma ll per centage of the total commercial elasmo bra nch fisheri es, but sha llowe r coastal area s in which recreati onal as opposed to commerci al fishing occurs, are assumed to have a more fragil e ecosyste m conce rning extrac tion ofthe shar k as the apex pred ator (Ande rso n, 2002). South Africa has long a histor y of spor tsha rkfishing.The eastcoast was and still is apopul ar area for spea rfis hing(Condon, 1971).
Recreati on al fishin g is a popular activity in man y countries includ ing the USA.The peak of regi stered sha rks caug ht by recreation al fishe rmen was reach ed in 1974-75 with 1,588,000 sharks in the Atlanti c Ocean and Gulf of Mexi co . Howe ver, catc hes have dec reased significantly ever since. But, sha rk fishing is still very popul ar mainl y due to its accessibility as di fferent shark spec ies can be caught practi cally everywhe re from the shore to open water area s (Stone et al., 1998).