GEAR CHANGE
Sea and
believe
It started with one man’s passion for the ocean and its creatures.
Now Dyer Island Conservation Trust is integral to marine research
and conservation efforts along the Cape south coast. Saving
the endangered African penguin, understanding great white
sharks and southern right whales – these are just a few of their
important conservation interests.
By Keri Harvey Photographs courtesy of Dyer Island Conservation Trust
D
yer Island is a 20 hectare protected
nature reserve just off the coast of
Gansbaai. “And so what?” you may
ask. Well, there’s a huge amount happening
there. It’s not being shouted from the rooftops,
but it’s happening all the same. And it’s all for
the love of sea life and to better understand
the mysterious marine creatures of which
so little is known. If you love whales and
dolphins, seals and penguins, or if you are in
awe of great white sharks, you’ll know exactly
where Gansbaai and Dyer Island are on the
map. It’s a world hotspot for great whites and
a renowned mating ground and nursery for
southern right whales.
Eco-tourism for research
Wilfred Chivell was born and bred in the area,
and made his passion for the ocean and its
animals his life. Twelve years ago he started
Dyer Island Cruises, a fair trade accredited
eco-tourism venture to take nature lovers
whale watching. Then, for adrenaline junkies,
Wilfred started Marine Dynamics to offer
shark cage diving to get up close and personal
with great whites.
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Both companies employ researchers who act as guides on the boat while doing their research
projects. Sharks are photographed and identified to establish their population dynamics, how
often they visit the area and how long they stay. An acoustic tagging and tracking programme is
under way to better understand the behaviour and movements of these ocean giants.
It was Wilfred’s concern for the African penguin and subsequent fundraising that led to the
establishment of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT) in 2006, and since then all the
research projects are supported either logistical or financially by the Trust.
The eco-tourism ventures, Marine Dynamics and Dyer Island Cruises, support of the trustees
and most importantly public donations specifically from clients visiting the businesses, cross
fund scientific research to study the bigger picture of marine life in the area. The Trust also
educates school children, hosts volunteers and works in conjunction with Cape Nature which
manages the conservation of Dyer Island – an important sea bird hotspot in South Africa.
Protecting penguins
Operations Manager Brenda Walters says: “When the guano was removed from Dyer Island,
with it went the penguins’ nesting habitat. So penguins had to breed on the ground, making them
vulnerable to predators, especially kelp gulls. Wilfred designed new fibreglass homes for the
penguins, resembling their original homes in the guano. ”
It may sound like a ‘cute’ project, giving penguins homes, but actually it’s an essential part
of the quest to save the species. African penguins are listed as endangered. The drop in their
numbers is so severe that at most only 25 000 breeding pairs remain on earth. On average, 100
birds have died every week for the past 30 years. The figures are alarming, and today on Dyer
Island just 1 200 breeding pairs of penguins remain – from 25 000 pairs in 1975. Unless drastic
action is taken, soon there will be no hope for penguins at all.
Brenda says not only did guano scraping on marine islands expose penguins to predators, but
penguin eggs were also considered a delicacy in the late 19th century – with nearly a million
penguins lost when their eggs were collected
and eaten. “We are intervening in many
ways now,” says Brenda, “because every
bird counts.” She explains that in November
penguins moult and cannot swim for a month.
If the penguins have bred late, they can’t go to
sea to feed and subsequently can’t feed their
chicks, then dying of starvation. We remove
these chicks from nests and fatten them up so
they survive and boost penguin numbers.
Penguins get oiled by spills from
unscrupulous vessels and shipwrecks, and
are very sensitive to heat and cold. Added to
this, they are prey to sharks and seals. Most
important though is the food available to
them. Some penguins have been fitted with
R25 000 loggers to track where they go, and
the information has astounded researchers.
Penguins have been found to swim up to
50km in search of food. With this in mind, the
protection of the waters around Dyer Island is
the next logical step in penguin conservation.
Importantly, penguins are also environmental
indicators; when their population declines,
there’s something unbalanced in the whole
local ecosystem.
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Dyer Island was named after a Polynesian
seaman, Samson Dyer, who was stationed
on the island in the early 18th century. He
used the island for harvesting Cape fur
seals that lived on nearby Geyser Rock.
The remnants of a few boiling pots and
fireplaces can still be seen here.
Inside the cage
Volkswagen Brand Managers Tarryn de Klerk and Bridget Harpur comment on their
recent shark cage diving day at Dyer Island:
“We were both rather apprehensive about coming face to face with the king of the
ocean, as well as nervous about being sea sick! We were blessed with perfect weather
and this experience has forever changed our perception about the mysterious great
white. “Jaws” is an outdated persona for this graceful and beautiful animal – we were
in complete awe.”
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Shark tagging
Along with penguin protection, great white shark research is considered pivotal for the trust. The
aim is to better understand the behaviour and movement of great whites, how weather affects
them and where they spend their time, says Brenda. “We are now tracking great whites to better
understand their behaviour within the bay, especially in the summer months when they are not
feeding on the seals. We now also have excellent footage and information of wound healing in
sharks – all this research runs in tandem with the eco-tourism ventures. So we take what we do
commercially and make it count.”
The trust recently tagged its fourth shark with an acoustic tracker – it was a 2,4-metre female
great white, but the biggest great white seen in the area is a sizable 4,5 metres long. “The tags are
extremely expensive though,” says Brenda. “Currently we are lucky to be able to borrow much
of the equipment we need for research, but we do have to purchase the tags and some tracking
equipment and have been raising funds to do so.”
Sharks are an apex predator and are also an indicator species of the state of the ecosystem,
yet we are not even sure how many are left in the oceans. While great whites are protected,
they are still under threat from poaching and shark fin operations. Estimates are that between
3 000 and 5 000 great whites are left in the world. “The largest proportion of great white sharks
exist in Gansbaai,” says Brenda, “but we cannot be certain of numbers, which is why we are so
committed to shark fin identification helping us to count as many individuals as possible.”
Dolphins and whales
“There are very interesting interactions between dolphins and sharks in this area,” says Brenda,
“and we support research on dolphin and whale dynamics too. We see humpback, common and
bottlenose dolphins in Gansbaai, as well as southern right whales that mate and calve in our area
from June to December. We also see Bryde’s whales pass through this area.”
However, whale numbers in Gansbaai are not yet known and Brenda adds that, “we still need
to figure out what whales are up to in our bay. We will be doing this through various methods
including acoustic studies. Really, we still have so much to learn.”
Current challenges
Funding is the main restriction to research, admits Brenda. “If we had money we could do so
much more. Currently we are also petitioning against the location of a proposed nuclear power
station in our area, which will affect the pristine marine environment and the eco-tourism
industry. These are two big challenges for us at the moment.”
Great successes
Wilfred’s penguin nesting project has won many awards locally and internationally and is now
a concept that is being widely used in other areas. And shark wound healing research is another
conservation breakthrough for the trust.
“There is so much information held in this area,” adds Brenda, “and if we could tap into
more of it, it could influence conservation decisions made by government. Gansbaai is a marine
hotspot, where two oceans meet, so there is upwelling of the ocean – plentiful food attracts
a great numbers of animals. It’s a world shark hotspot, the place where southern rights come
to mate and breed, with a massive bird and seal colony so Dyer Island is a very rich marine
ecosystem. The dream of Wilfred and the trust is to do much more research here and also to open
an educational centre to share knowledge with people. We want them to come here specifically
for that, because education is a real passion.
“What we wish for in the future is to contribute effectively to good scientific research which will
influence the conservation of our species and educate people to really think differently about the
world around them. I believe we can change the world little by little, starting with small things.”
For more information on Dyer Island Conservation Trust or if you’d like to sponsor a penguin
home or shark research see www.dict.org.za
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