Mike Rutzen and Dr Sara Andreotti will share with us their views on responsible shark management, marine conservation and the threats to the ocean, as well as the findings of their recent six-year study on the imminent extinction of the great white shark.
Mike Rutzen is a conservationist, nature documentary maker and great white shark behaviourist, who has spent more time free diving with great white sharks than any other person, and is one of only three people able to read and respond to great white shark behaviour.
He has co-authored a number of peer-reviewed scientific articles in local and international scientific journals, and has given numerous presentations at international conferences and scientific meetings. He recently undertook the largest ever scientific field research project on great whites ever conducted around the South African coastline, with Dr Sara Andreotti of Stellenbosch University, which established there are only between 353 and 522 sharks left in South African waters.
Mike devotes the profits from his business, Shark Diving Unlimited, to great white shark conservation. He is one of the co-inventors of the ‘Sharksafe’ barrier which he hopes is the eco-friendly solution to preventing negative encounters between sharks and people. He also educates the public on great white shark conservation through educational nature documentaries and his expeditions, which have taken him to some of the most inhospitable and remote places in the world.
He will share with us his views on responsible shark management, marine conservation and the threats to the ocean.
Co-presenting with Mike will be Dr Sara Andreotti, a marine and molecular biologist currently enrolled as a post-doctoral researcher at Stellenbosch University.
Further information and venue details from Yvonne Steyn.
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