Almost 25 years ago, when Chris Fallows captured his famous photograph of a great white shark breaching the surface at False Bay, off Cape Town, the area was a hotspot for the predators.
Between 2000 and 2015, research surveys identified around 1.64 shark sightings per hour in the area. Around 15 years later, sightings started to dwindle, and by late 2018, great whites completely disappeared from False Bay.
Some researchers blame a pair of predatory killer whales for the decline — suggesting the sharks simply fled — but others, including Fallows point to human behavior such as overfishing and the use of shark nets.
Whatever the reason, for Fallows, the loss was personal.
“[My wife and I] could not have fought harder to save those animals,” said Fallows, who travels the world with his wife Monique photographing wildlife. “We truly poured blood, sweat and tears into chasing poachers with our boats, getting huge numbers of people to sign petitions and forcing government to effectively have special meetings to consider the massive pressure that was being put on them [the sharks].”
