Ben Farmer
A new $170 million holiday resort in South Africa is embroiled in a row about how to prevent its guests from being attacked by sharks.
Marine scientists have lodged a complaint about the possible use of shark nets off the beach by the country’s first Club Med resort, located north of Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province on the east coast.
Experts said the nets would kill large numbers of sharks, as well as dolphins, rays, turtles and birds, Bloomberg reported.
Sharks, including great whites, are a major part of South Africa’s marine ecosystem, but local authorities have failed to find a solution that protects both swimmers and wildlife.
Between 2012 and 2021, there were six fatal shark attacks in the country, while 23 non-fatal bites were recorded, according to the International Shark Attack File, which is affiliated with the Florida Museum in the US.
Scientists argue that nets are an outdated method that entangle and kill sharks, rather than acting as a barrier.
They say they have offered alternatives, such as using drones to assist shark spotters, but these were “dismissed out of hand”.
Ryan Daly, a scientist with the Durban-based Oceanographic Research Institute, helped write an assessment of the impact of nets at the site.
He asked: “Why don’t they consider modern practices used in places like Australia, where lifeguards use drones to check on dangerous rip currents to look out for sharks?”
The Indian Ocean beach next to the new Club Med Tinley Manor is public, but is expected to be used by as many as 1000 guests per day when the resort opens later this year.
KwaDukuza municipality will have the final word on whether to install nets, and said a decision had not yet been made.
“We trust the transparent, science-led process being undertaken by relevant authorities and independent experts to determine the most balanced and responsible solution, and to provide safe swimming for not only local, but international travellers to the country,” Club Med, the French resort company, said in a statement.
“The commitment is to prioritise both public safety and marine conservation – protecting people and protecting the environment are inseparable responsibilities.”
Enrico Gennari, a director at the Oceans Research Institute in Mossel Bay, said no protection method, whether nets, spotters, or drones, was completely effective.
While drones are effective at spotting great white sharks and tiger sharks, they are less reliable for detecting deep-swimming bull sharks.
However, he said nets harmed sea life.
“Are they dangerous? Yes, because they are designed to be dangerous,” said Gennari. “They are designed to kill sharks and unintentionally kill other marine species.”
The scientists said that in 2025 alone, similar nets and lines killed 416 sharks off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
Shark strategies vary
Different regions in the country have pursued different strategies to deal with sharks.
While KwaZulu-Natal has used nets, at other major tourist beaches, such as Muizenberg in Cape Town or Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route, swimmers rely on shark spotters.
Spotters scan the waters off beaches and alert swimmers when a shark comes near.
South Africa’s six fatal attacks between 2012 and 2021 compare with 20 fatal attacks in Australia over the same period, three in Hawaii and eight near Réunion, an island off Africa’s east coast.
Globally, 60 people were recorded as having been killed by the fish. Great white, tiger and bull sharks are the most dangerous species.
Conservationists say such low figures illustrate that sharks pose little threat to humans and have been unfairly demonised.
“Sharks are in all the world’s oceans, but shark attacks are extremely rare,” says the World Wildlife Fund. “In fact, you are more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a shark.”
The Telegraph, London
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