{"id":27083,"date":"2016-07-21T02:13:04","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T02:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/south-africa-s-great-white-sharks-facing\/"},"modified":"2016-07-21T02:12:53","modified_gmt":"2016-07-21T02:12:53","slug":"south-africa-s-great-white-sharks-facing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/south-africa-s-great-white-sharks-facing\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa&#8217;s great white sharks &#8216;facing extinction&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>{South Africa&#8217;s great white shark population is heading for possible extinction after a rapid decline in numbers, say researchers.}<\/p>\n<p>A six year study of the country&#8217;s coastal waters concluded that only 350 to 500 great white sharks remain.<\/p>\n<p>This is half the level previously thought, the researchers from Stellenbosch University said.<\/p>\n<p>The team said trophy hunting, pollution, shark nets and baited hooks were among the reasons for the decline.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The numbers in South Africa are extremely low,&#8221; said head researcher Sara Andreotti.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If the situation stays the same, South Africa&#8217;s great white sharks are heading for possible extinction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The study, the largest of its kind in South African waters, was carried out in the Gansbaai area near Cape Town, a popular cage shark diving spot, and along the country&#8217;s coastline.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers were able to track the sharks by collecting biopsy samples and photographs of the dorsal fins, whose unique markings served as &#8220;shark fingerprints&#8221;.<br \/>\n&#8220;We have come to the conclusion that South Africa&#8217;s white sharks faced a rapid decline in the last generation and that their numbers might already be too low to ensure their survival,&#8221; Ms Andreotti said.<\/p>\n<p>The study will now form the first ever database of the country&#8217;s shark population.<br \/>\nDespite the situation in South Africa, great white sharks can still be found in large numbers in Canada, Australia and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>{&#8220;If we take sharks out of the eco system it is a cascade effect of the whole eco system that may collapse. And that is a serious problem for the eco system services that the marine environment give to humans&#8221;}<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-13691 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/_90464740_shark1920.jpg\" alt=\"South Africa&#039;s numbers of great white sharks are alarmingly low\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>{South Africa&#8217;s great white shark population is heading for possible extinction after a rapid decline in numbers, say researchers.} A six year study of the country&#8217;s coastal waters concluded that only 350 to 500 great white sharks remain. This is half the level previously thought, the researchers from Stellenbosch University said. The team said trophy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[249],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-27083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-bbc"],"bylines":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"contributors":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27083"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=27083"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=27083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}