With a global move away from the term “shark attack,” we felt the campaign name needed to shift and evolve to better represent what the campaign is about, which is to shift negative perceptions and spread awareness about South Africa’s diverse shark and ray species, their vulnerability, as well as drive their increased protection.
However, sharks and rays are in trouble globally.
69 of these are endemic to South Africa, meaning they are unique to our waters – and something we should celebrate and be proud of.
However, sharks and rays are in trouble globally.
Shark Attack is a campaign underwriting a 3-year project (Shark & Ray Protection Project) made possible by the Shark Conservation Fund with a goal to improve the protection of threatened sharks and rays in South Africa.
The Project interventions include knowledge improvement, increased legal protections, support and training for effective implementation of conservation measures, and advocacy and awareness to spur citizen action as well as to support decision-makers.
The Shark Attack campaign hopes to inform the public and ocean users about the imperiled status of sharks and rays, recovery actions required and highlight the benefits of non-consumptive and sustainable use.
Everywhere else on this website, you will see chondrichthyans simply abbreviated to sharks and rays, because all these different species (sharks, rays, skates and chimaeras) are often grouped together in colloquial-speak. However, it’s important to know how scientists distinguish these groups, and that there is wider diversity in the class Chondrichthyes than what you might have thought.
Rays differ from skates in that many of them have venomous stinging barbs on their tails for protection. Stingrays are a kind of ray, but not all rays are stingrays (for instance, there are also electric, butterfly, round and manta rays, and guitarfishes and sawfishes). Rays have longer tails and one lobe on their pelvic fin while skates have a shorter tail and can have two lobes on their pelvic fin, one of which can be used for movement. Rays give birth to live young while skates lay eggs.
They are diverse in their anatomy (how they look and function) and the numerous ecological niches they inhabit (what they do and where they live). Globally, there are over 1300 species of sharks and ray that come in various shapes and sizes, with different diets, and roles to play in the delicate ecology of the ocean.
They are like puzzle pieces that keep an intricate web of life in balance. Some (the top and meso-predators) do the eating, helping to control populations of fish around them. Many others are eaten, fulfilling a different role lower down on the food chain, and yet more (like gigantic whale sharks and manta rays) hoover up tiny plants and animals called plankton. These “predator-prey” interactions are an integral part of natural selection, ensuring healthy ocean ecosystems.
With the health of our oceans so dependent on this diversity of sharks, rays, skates and chimaeras, it’s easier to see how our survival is linked to theirs.
