Wandering 'Shark' Tracked Down

August 31, 2007

Release from: Jade Witten
Cape Argus (South Africa)

The shark tag that had been "driving" around in the vehicle of a Steenberg resident since the weekend, has been found.

Metro Police officer Brian Ing returned the device on Thursday after hearing an appeal for its return by Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) on a local radio station.

Ing said on Friday morning that staff of Metro Police's marine division had found the bulb like device on Mnandi Beach on Sunday.

Since then, he had been driving around with the device on the front passenger seat of his vehicle.

Ing, who said repeated efforts to contact the MCM had been unsuccessful, said he had been aware that it was some kind of tracking device, but not that of a great white shark.

Mike Meyer of MCM said the device, which reads the exact position of a shark out at sea, had been traced to Steenberg at night and had then moved close to Mitchells Plain in the morning.

Its exact position could not be determined as the satellite only registers to within 200m to 300m of the device on land.

Ing confirmed that he lives in Steenberg and works in Mitchells Plain.

Meyer said an aerial on the device responded to satellite frequencies and that on a specific day, when information about the positions, depth and temperature of the fish needed to be stored, it would be released from the shark and float to the surface.

This was probably when the person picked the device up, he said.

Meyer said he was "extremely grateful" for its return. He said it would be reset in the US before being fitted to the dorsal fin of another shark.