Great white shark population shrinking, new study shows

Celeste Li
By Celeste Li
June 6, 2017World News
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Great white shark population shrinking, new study shows

They’re one of nature’s greatest predators. And yet they’re disappearing: the great white shark.

That’s according to a new study by an Italian scientist. Dr. Sara Andreotti, of the University of Stellenbosch, studied the animals in South Africa.

South Africa is a global hotspot for great white sharks.

According to the research, there may be very few of them left in Gansbaai and along the South African coastline.

Andreotti’s findings showed that there are only between 353 and 522 individual great white sharks left in South African waters.

“We are working in what is called the white shark capital of the world. So we were expecting to find thousand of sharks around here, certainly not 500 alone,” said Andreotti.

She used a special software called Identifin to develop a population estimate. The software collects a photographic database of the sharks’ dorsal fins. Those are like fingerprints—no two are the same. Using the database, the computer identifies each individual shark.

“So by doing that we could count the animals without double counting them, because now we know which is which so when they come back we recognize them,” said Andreotti.

The software has a 80 to 90 percent success rate in identification.

Other scientists think Andreotti’s study needs further research.

A similar study conducted by Marine Dynamics doubles the great white shark population estimate.

There is the possibility that some great white sharks are hard to see, which could leave a great number of them unaccounted for.

“I think it’s entirely possible that they didn’t see enough mature adults because we simply don’t encounter them at the boat very often. In our experience here we very rarely … we’ll see a large shark off in the distance, but they don’t often approach the boat where we can get a photograph of them,” said Dylan Irion of Ocean’s Research, who is a member of the South African White Shark Research Group.

Various research groups focusing on marine life and white sharks are continuing to study the animals and track their population.

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