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From the Managing Directors Pen; What an incredible privilege to work with these magnificent animals on a daily basis. To be able to share our passion with many visitors all over the world and to play even a small role in an endless effort to educate as many people as possible about the importance of the preservation and conservation of these highly misunderstood animals. In addition to shark conservation and education, we also keep ourselves busy with various other community projects on a daily basis, in order to contribute further to those greatly in need. See our weekly blog-roll for more specific and updated information on these. Since our company is fully BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) compliant, we also facilitate and participate in Skills Development and Training Programmes, in order to empower HDI?s (historically disadvantaged individuals) in specific areas of concern. Our directors firmly believe in creating jobs in order to fight poverty in our community. Educational School Talks; White Shark Ecoventures Research & Educational Trust Fund; Great White Shark Protection Foundation; Our company directors were the founder of the Great White Protection Foundation, where we protect sharks globally. Due to our passion for these animals, we promote shark preservation daily on our tours and actively participate in documenting valuable research information which is forwarded to government departments and researchers globally. The touching and feeding of sharks on our tours are strictly prohibited and both the safety of our passengers as well as the animal takes the highest priority on our daily operational tours. Co-founder of the shark diving industry; MD involvement in global conservation; During the war in Iraq in 2003, IFAW deemed Mariette as the only person qualified enough to enter the war stricken area of Baghdad. There were hundreds of highly stressed, abused, injured and war stricken animals at Saddam Husain?s palace and the Zawra Park Zoo. Her expertise with marine, rapture and water birds, as well as other animals such as bears, lions, tigers and smaller predators, made her the ideal candidate for this very difficult task. After her initial assessment of the severity of the situation, she selected and deployed various other specialist members from across the globe to come out to assist her with her tasks in this war stricken red zone. Again due to her experience, Mariette was involved in 3 major oil spills around the South African coast line, namely the Apollo Sea, Cordigliera and most recent Treasure Oil Spills. Here she was the Logistical Co-ordinator for IFAW and was deployed to built facilities and to rehabilitate and clean more than 33 000 African Penguins. Due to her expertise in the field, she had a very high success rate with all 3 of these projects. The MD of our company is actively involved in the lobbying of species for international CITIES listing and have participate in various campaigns opposing canned lion hunting, large predator breeding programs, illegal ivory trade and culling of elephants. Mariette was instrumental in the lobbying of Great White Sharks to become listed on CITIES and was the Executive Committee Chairperson for SANCCOB for two consecutive years. Mariette has also designed the MH feeding box and pen divider for SANCCOB, for marine birds which are kept in quarantine. Both these inventions were specifically designed to ensure that stress is reduced to a minimum, when handling the birds. Hundreds of oiled and injured African Penguins are also transported on an annual basis, from Gansbaai to Cape Town. Birds are delivered to a rehabilitation centre (SANCCOB), where they are cared for an rehabilitated, before being set free again into their natural environment. Mariette was the founder of the Great White Shark Protection Foundation in 2001 and is still the chairperson for this foundation. She wrote the constitution for the WSCD Industry and invited operators to join the Section 21 registered Foundation. Due to her efforts and input, she managed to ensure that the WSCD industry was accredited as a responsible industrial body in the non-consumptive sector with MCM (Marine & Coastal Management) and Government. Mariette has also been nominated to be appointed to the Robbin Island Portfolio Committee, as the nature conservation portfolio member. In parliament, Mariette was nominated to serve on the National Minister for Environmental & Tourism Affairs (Fishing Industry Task Team), as the non-consumptive representative for the WSCD, mariculture and scuba diving. Here she performed the task as advisor to the Minister and spokesperson for the vnon-consumptive industries.    |