Arsonists attack city shark boat
June 1, 2004
By Melanie Gosling
Police have opened a case of arson after the boat belonging to white shark tour operator Chris Fallows caught fire in Simon's Town on Sunday night.  The R350 000 boat, White Pointer, rigged for white shark cage diving and for photographic tours, was reduced to a smouldering hull in the False Bay Yacht Club.   

The incident comes after growing tension between shark cage operators and those opposed to the operators' practice of "chumming" the sea to lure the fish to their boats.  Some surfers, who held a public protest in Muizenberg recently, claim
chumming is responsible for shark attacks.  "I'm pretty shattered," Fallows said yesterday.

 "If anyone is targeting me because of chumming, they've got the wrong target. We do very little chumming. Mostly we do observations, watching sharks attack seals. We do mostly photographic and film trips.  "We don't cater for tourists who want to see gnashing teeth."

Yesterday police with sniffer dogs, trained to detect inflammable substances, searched through the debris in the hull, but said they were unable to say at this stage what had caused the fire.  Fallows said all the electronics on board had been switched off.

His wife, Monique, said they received a call from the yacht club around 1am yesterday to say their boat was on fire.  "As we drove there I hoped it was just a small fire that they could put out. But when we got close to the yacht club I could smell the burning
and I thought: 'Oh no!'," she said.

 When asked whether he suspected anyone, Fallows shook his head: "I don't know. The only people who could gun for me would be people against sharks, because our work is to educate people and to conserve sharks.  "Sharks are part of my life."

Two police sniffer dogs, Nero and Cagney, took turns to sniff through the charred fibre-glass hull. Trained to sit if they smelt inflammables, both sat at the same spot near the stern where the fuel pipes were. Inspector Cassel Nimb of the Maitland Dog Unit said an arsonist could have severed the fuel pipes to start the fire.

Robin de Kock, general manager of South African Surfing, was shocked to hear of the incident: "It's terrible. I know there are some surfers opposed to shark cage operators, but SA Surfing is not. I think Chris is doing a great job. If it was arson I certainly hope it was not surfers. I personally don't think chumming is a problem and the Sharks Board has said so, too.

"East London has the greatest number of shark attacks in South Africa, yet there is no chumming there," De Kock said.

Gary Shearer, president of Western Province Surfing, said he believed shark cage operators' interference with nature, including chumming, was changing the behaviour of white sharks, and he was opposed to it. "Many surfers are angry about chumming, but I can't imagine anyone linked to surfing committing arson. "Surfers are by nature far more mellow," Shearer said.

White shark tour operator, Theo Ferreira, who had his permit withdrawn last month and is fighting a legal battle with Marine and Coastal Management over the matter, said he was shocked to hear of the incident.  "Vandals of this sort should be stuck in jail.
"Chris and I have had our disagreements, but I respect the young man and think his heart's in the right place," Ferreira said.

Asked if his "disagreements" with Fallows would lead him to commit arson, Ferreira replied: "I fight my battles on a one-on-one basis. I would never consider doing something like that."  Marine and Coastal Management is conducting research to establish if
the activities of shark cage operators are affecting shark behaviour. -
Environment Writer


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