Future research directions on the "elusive" white shark

White sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, are often described as elusive, with little information available due to the logistical difficulties of studying large marine predators that make long-distance migrations across ocean basins. Increased understanding of aggregation patterns, combined with recent advances in technology have, however, facilitated a new breadth of studies revealing fresh insights into the biology and ecology of white sharks. Although we may no longer be able to refer to the white shark as a little-known, elusive species, there remain numerous key questions that warrant investigation and research focus. Although white sharks have separate populations, they seemingly share similar biological and ecological traits across their global distribution. Yet, white shark’s behavior and migratory patterns can widely differ, which makes formalizing similarities across its distribution challenging. Prioritization of research questions is important to maximize limited resources because white sharks are naturally low in abundance and play important regulatory roles in the ecosystem. Here, we consulted 43 white shark experts to identify these issues. The questions listed and developed here provide a global road map for future research on white sharks to advance progress toward key goals that are informed by the needs of the research community and resource managers

Shifts within ecological modernization in South Africa: Deliberation, innovation and institutional opportunities

ABSTRACT Sustainable development is now widely accepted as a policy framework in planning and development both internationally and in South Africa. Within this framework, technocentric scientific approaches to environmental management, which are reflective of weak ecological modernization, have dominated environmental practice both in the developed and developing world. South Africa is a country in transition and as a result environmental law and policy have undergone significant reform. However, implementation and practice remains embedded within a weak ecological modernization approach. Through the lens of two case studies reflecting changing approaches and practices within state institutions, this paper explores the shifts taking place in the construction, adaptation and application of policy frameworks and tools used in the drive towards sustainability in South Africa. The research uses critical approaches to ecological modernizatio

Reducing the pathology of risk : developing an integrated municipal coastal protection zone for the city of Cape Town

The coast as a dynamic space is often underestimated. In a few illustrative photographs and with very few words, this bulletin depicts graphically some long-lasting negative effects of inappropriate planning decisions in coastal areas. The unanticipated extent of erosion caused by the migrating Eerste River mouth (Cape Town) has led to the collapse of critical city infrastructure (such as the sewer pump station at the Macassar Resort, False Bay). Risk is essentially transferred from one space to another, as opposed to being reduced

Cape of storms : sharing the coast in the face of turbulent, rising seas

Increasingly stormy seas and sea level rise are beginning to show up the existing fault lines in the engineered, social and institutional strata of the South African coastline. Amidst a legacy of dispossession of black South Africans, privileged access for wealthy whites, and a balancing act of emerging risks, this impressive bulletin and backgrounder asks: who gets to use the coast? A draft policy has been incorporated into Cape Town City’s Spatial Development Framework. Municipal structures are working with provincial authorities to formalise it in terms of the Integrated Coastal Management Act