The Pros and the Cons of Cage Dive with Great White Sharks

What is cage diving?

The cage diving consist in observe sharks while being in a cage underwater, using fish blood to attack those predators. No scuba tank is used for this kind of dive so everybody can participate, no license is needed. There is a big difference between cage diving and Shark Feeding.

Cage diving origin

The commandant Cousteau is the first, in 1948, to use cage to film shark underwater for “safety reason”. Then we have to wait 1976, to see the first cage diving tour for tourist in Australia, Rodney Fox was the first to organize it. Today, Gansbaai in Africa, is the world capital for great white shark observation. All dive centers of the city proposed it!

Against cage diving

This industry totally change sharks’ behavior. Normally those shy and fearful animals do not approach human. But excited by fish blood they become very aggressive, and might start to be dangerous for divers. Shark will consider human as a food provider and will eventually no longer fear us. Moreover with the waves the cage often harmed sharks, in Australia, where the cages are not at the surface of the water but at a 30 meters deep, shark are calmer and act more naturally.

Cage diving usefulness

This activity is not only a bad thing. It makes it possible to demystify the myth of the shark “man-eater”. Moreover South African biologists’ fervent defenders of sharks, are defending this practice and this tourism. For them it does not distort the behavior of those animals at all and disagree with other specialist. They also claim that the economic stake is such important that it is the best guarantee for the preservation of the species and the maintenance of the prohibition of shark fishing in those countries.

For once it’s a role reversal: in zoos, human are observing animal stuck in cages, here sharks are on the free side!