Claims Making

A lot of claims making concerning chumming has been done lately. This has arisen as a popular new topic because of the recent shark attack on a young body boarder in our waters. This occurred “coincidentally” during the time of a National Geographic research project fro the TV series, Shark Men. The shark men crew previously warned locals of the 5 tons of chum that would be released in the water daily, while they were researching and documenting our great white sharks. And they admitted to the 30l of chum put into the sea the day of the fatal attack. Communication Department, City of Cape Town, 2012. Report and Review of Events at Kogel Bay “Caves” After Great White Shark Attack. [online] Available at: http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/MediaReleases/Pages/ReportandReviewofEventsatKogelBayCavesAfterGreatWhiteSharkAttack.aspx [accessed 21 April 2012]

The current claims being made are whether the National Geographic, Shark Men team is to be blamed for the incident, referring to the amount of chum being used during the time of the attack. The media clearly ignited this flame by immediately letting the public know that the chumming permit had been withdrawn from the Shark Men crew.

This little piece of information that had been set off by the media created a very suspicious view on the situation and therefore, people would feel more strongly against the Shark Men team, blaming them for the incident.

This happens to be the constructed part in the news of these natural disasters. This obvious when we realize that chumming issues have been around for years now but no one had really taken much notice of them. Fisherman and tourist boats not obeying the regulations, making more evidence and reason to blame the action our local shark scares on the chumming.

The most recent attack has had a huge uproar about the chumming; when it is has been a problem for quite a while now. The only reason people are making so many claims is because a foreign group of people has infested our shores with chum. Getting the issue more media coverage, appearing more in the newspaper than any other shark attack. When our local fisherman or tourist boats do it very little people are aware of it. This is because the media’s attention is not on it, leaving it to be an issue smaller than another environmental disaster.

If there hadn’t been an international TV series crew chumming our waters, no one would have made claims stating that it was the fisherman or shark cage diving boats. But this particular incident ranked high and got a lot of media attention.

The main people making these claims are the ocean environmental groups in cape town, the local surf community, the Shark Men crew and the companies that run the shark cage diving boats.

The groups gathering their income are claiming that it isn’t scientifically proven, while the local surfers and environmental groups protecting the ocean claim that losing a life would be enough proof against chumming the waters, each competing for legitimacy and support behind their cause.

Even though there are people defending the Shark Men team, no one can really argue with a life being lost and therefore the Shark Men team seemed to be the ones who were framed.