The Modern History of the South African Great White Shark
Our speaker Bruce Noble will take us back to the blood-soaked and tragic events of Black December 1957 .
Between December 1957 and April 1958 at least nine shark attacks occurred along the coast of KwaZulu- Natal . Six people lost their lives.
Tourists fled the Durban area causing a devastating impact on the local economy. Without thorough research into the possible reason for this sudden increase in shark activity, local authorities made desperate attempts to protect swimmers and surfers from shark attacks. Many will remember these attempts which included enclosures built from wooden poles and netting. A South African Navy frigate even dropped depth charges into the coastal waters causing few shark fatalities but killing huge numbers of other species. This resulted in many more sharks being attracted into the area to feast on the dead fish. Bruce Noble will tell us how those events in 1957 and the indiscriminate killing of white sharks still affect us today – and of the impact on our own waters, our tourism and the entire ecosystem of the ocean.
Bruce has been observing white shark behaviour in the Garden Route since 2004 .
In the latter part of 2025, he was named as co-author of a peer reviewed paper detailing almost 15 years of research work from the leading scientists and researchers in the world.
This paper deals with the declining great white shark numbers off the South African coast and what changes need to be made to ensure the survival of this ancient species in South Africa waters.
