South Africa is well known for shark attacks, in fact it has the second highest documented shark attacks on record after Florida, but Jeffreys Bay has been considered by surfer’s a safer break for some time. Viral-Hype investigates if we need to reassess the situation after the recently televised punch up between shark and Julian Wilson.

Yes South Africa can be bitey

It comes in second for both attacks and fatal shark attacks:

Location	Shark Attacks	Fatal Attacks
Florida – USA	717	11
South Africa	241	54
New South Wales – Australia	215	60
Queensland – Australia	182	50
California – Australia	114	10

History of reported J-Bay Shark encounters

Date	Injury	Description
Oct 2013	Fatal	Swimming in the morning 74 year old Burgert van der Westhuizen was fatally attacked by a Great White, biting the victim in half.
Oct 2004	Punctured foot	Surfing early morning while a Sandtiger shark grabbed Wayne Monk’s foot and took him down. ‘I’m lucky. If it had been a Great White, I wouldn’t have a foot,’ said Monk.
Aug 2003	Board bitten, clothing ripped	15 year old Joseph Krone was drifting on his board early morning during a Junior Billabong Surfing Competition when he was attacked by a shark that claimed a 30cm chunk out of his board and some scraps of wet suit.
June 1998	Survived	All we know about this incident is that a Danny Bravier was surfing and that he ‘survived’. Any other info please get in contact.
May 1998	Leg bitten	Jan-Henrick Opperman was body-boarding in the early afternoon when he was pulled under by the leg by an unidentified shark.
July 1989	Torso bitten	Edward Razzano was bitten on the Torso and attended to by a doctor surfing at the time.
July 1989	Board bitten only	Roniel Jacobs’s surf board attacked at 4pm, board bitten but ignored surfer
Feb 1984	Lacerated leg	Henri Melville, chairman of the Eastern Province Rock and Surf Angling Association, was bitten on the leg after a bystander stood on the shark’s tail he had just caught. “The shark thrashed about and closed its jaws on Melville’s leg”

J-Bay has seen a higher share of attacks, including it’s first fatality over the last two years. Is this the start of things to come? Have other factors like chubbing or Great White’s status as a protected species led to an increase in activity in the area? Without further research into Great Whites and their environment the future is difficult to predict. All we can say for certaint is that time will tell whether surfing in Jeffreys Bay is getting more dangerous.

Planning on braving it on the J-Bay break anytime soon? Arrive in style with the Jeffrey Bay T-Shirt.