Shark's incredible journey from Gansbaai to Indonesia

How a satellite tag resurfaced in Southeast Asia - after an epic swim of more than 38,000km

- By Ed Stoddard

A female white shark that had been satellite-tagged off the Western Cape coastal town of Gansbaai was caught and killed by longline fishermen in Indonesian waters but it would take years for the shark’s fate to emerge.

The shark, named Alicia, had travelled an astonishing 38,000km by the time her satellite tag stopped working 1,000km southeast of Madagascar, according to scientists who have reported their findings in an article to be published in the peer-reviewed journal Wildlife Research.

From there, Alicia made her way to Indonesia - the longest recorded migration of the species and the first time that a white shark from South African waters has turned up in Southeast Asia.

"This report marks only the second recorded trans-oceanic dispersal event for the species from South Africa, highlighting that despite extensive research, much remains to be learned about white sharks' dispersal patterns in the southern hemisphere," the authors write.

"The movement between southern Africa and Southeast Asia surpasses the 11,000km dispersal recorded for another sub-adult female white shark (named Nicole) from Gansbaai, South Africa, to the west coast of Australia."

Sheer happenstance

This shark tale almost sank through the mesh of his-tory into the murky deep, but through sheer happenstance it improbably surfaced into the light of scientific discovery.

The shark’s first transmission from its tag was recorded on 5 June 2012 in South African waters. Its last was sent 22 months later, in April 2014, 1,000km southeast of Madagascar. After that, there was radio silence, the shark’s fate unknown.