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Great white sharks Carcharodon carcharias in Gansbaai, South Africa : environmental influences and changes over time, 2007-2011

Includes bibliographical references.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Towner, Alison
Other Authors: Underhill, Les
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Biological Sciences 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Towner, Alison
author2 Underhill, Les
author_browse Towner, Alison
Underhill, Les
author_facet Underhill, Les
Towner, Alison
author_sort Towner, Alison
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8497
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:31:48.735Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Biological Sciences
publisherStr Department of Biological Sciences
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8497 Great white sharks Carcharodon carcharias in Gansbaai, South Africa : environmental influences and changes over time, 2007-2011 Towner, Alison Underhill, Les Smale, Malcolm Zoology Includes bibliographical references. The South African Government introduced protective legislation prohibiting targeted fishing of the great white shark Carcharodon carcharias in 1991. This pre-emptive measure was intended to protect this species from increasing fishing pressure to allow researchers to gather information of this shark’s distribution, basic life history traits, breeding behaviour, and habitat use. Following this, the species conservation status was placed on CITES Appendix II and classified on the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List as Vulnerable. This thesis investigates white sharks at Gansbaai, in particular their occurrence, changes over time and the influence of environmental variables on their numbers there. The size and numbers of white sharks were recorded from an anchored cage diving vessel over a five-year period between 2007 and 2011. The study was conducted around Dyer Island and the inshore region of Gansbaai in the Western Cape of South Africa. A change in size frequency between seasons suggests that the white sharks are not resident for long periods, but that different size classes use the coastal bay at different times. There was a statistically significant change of size distribution over the five years for both male and female sharks. The trend of larger sizes recorded later in the study could infer a change in the cohorts visiting the bay or growth of the same individuals exhibiting site fidelity to the area. 2014-10-17T07:33:35Z 2014-10-17T07:33:35Z 2012 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8497 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Zoology
Towner, Alison
Great white sharks Carcharodon carcharias in Gansbaai, South Africa : environmental influences and changes over time, 2007-2011
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Great white sharks Carcharodon carcharias in Gansbaai, South Africa : environmental influences and changes over time, 2007-2011
title_full Great white sharks Carcharodon carcharias in Gansbaai, South Africa : environmental influences and changes over time, 2007-2011
title_fullStr Great white sharks Carcharodon carcharias in Gansbaai, South Africa : environmental influences and changes over time, 2007-2011
title_full_unstemmed Great white sharks Carcharodon carcharias in Gansbaai, South Africa : environmental influences and changes over time, 2007-2011
title_short Great white sharks Carcharodon carcharias in Gansbaai, South Africa : environmental influences and changes over time, 2007-2011
title_sort great white sharks carcharodon carcharias in gansbaai south africa environmental influences and changes over time 2007 2011
topic Zoology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8497
work_keys_str_mv AT towneralison greatwhitesharkscarcharodoncarchariasingansbaaisouthafricaenvironmentalinfluencesandchangesovertime20072011