[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: While searching South Africa's sardine run
for the cape's missing white sharks,
the team have landed in the middle of an underwater battle.
As the spinner sharks charge in, they scatter the sardines.
This makes it easier for them to pick off
strays separated from the pack.
But the chaos also makes the conditions
more dangerous for the team.
How was it?
Amazing.
But it's pretty murky down there.
Yeah.
It's kind of sharky, too, right?
Yeah, we should probably get on the boat.
Do you hear the "Jaws" theme music?
NARRATOR: Using the paragliders as scouts and Alyson's
hydrophone, the team continues searching the sardine run
for the next five days.
And while there's multiple reports
of white sharks in the area, none of the sightings
match Alison's database.
In the five days that we've been filming here,
almost every day, we've had the reports
of a white shark sighting.
During the dive, we had a massive amounts of food
in the water, a massive amount of sharks, but very poor
visibility.
And then just as quickly as the sardines arrived, disappeared.
And since then, the white sharks have pushed off.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: The sightings in both Umkomaas and The Cape
have led the team to a dead end.
But then a few days later, they get incredible news.
We just got a ping from Bear.
We can't believe the direction he's headed now.
He's on his way back to Mossel Bay.
NARRATOR: The signal from Bear the shark has come back online.
And it looks like he's bringing the team full circle.
With the expedition nearing its end,
the team doubles down on Mossel Bay
and they're trying new strategies.
Andy will focus on deploying an underwater surveillance system.
ANDY: All right.
NARRATOR: While Alison is searching
the bay using her hydrophone.
Now I've just put the hydrophone into the water
to have a listen and see if we can hear any sharks
with acoustic tags in the area.
All the animals we did in Gansbaai
start with an ID code 62.
So that's what we're looking out for, anything with a 62.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: Just a few yards away, Andy
is dropping in his first BRUV.
ANDY: Bombs away.
So we're dropping our bottom BRUV.
It's basically a Dropcam.
It's got multiple cameras that can record for a long time.
And the idea is to get as many ID shots as we can.
CREW MEMBER: We're on the bottom.
A BRUV is essentially a Baited Remote
Underwater Video station.
They're low tech, but they give you a high tech result
because sharks are often willing to come right up to a BRUV,
check it out, show both sides of the animal, maybe bite it.
So you're getting tons of data without even being underwater.
CREW MEMBER: OK.
Just let it go like that. That's fine.
All right. Fine.
These batteries in these cards should roll for at least two
or three hours.
NARRATOR: While the bottom BRUVs roll for hours recording sharks
along the ocean floor, Andy has devised another way
to ID sharks in real time.
All right, Cristo.
So this is our floating BRUV.
It's essentially going to be running recon for us
under the boat.
And it's got a live feed, super high resolution.
Hopefully, this will get us a few more ID shots.
BRUVs away.
Hopefully, it doesn't get bit.
That looks like a shark down deep already.
I'm going to go check the live feed.
OK. Cool.
I'll just keep an eye on it, yeah?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ANDY: Oh, it's looking good.
Whoa, we got a shark!
It's got, like, some blue marking on it.
All right.
He's coming again.
All right.
He's turned off.
He's coming in from the left.
Oh, it's a different shark--
no, two sharks, two sharks!
Oh, this is perfect.
All right.
It looks like we got another one coming in.
Oh, it's a big male.
Oh, this sharky is huge, man.
Wow, this is incredible, man.
Sharks like this size are not normal here.
This is a massive male.
You see it out there?
Yeah, yeah.
It just passed on the left hand side there.
But there's one-- one right behind the BRUV.
Coming again.
Whoa, whoa!
Oh, [BLEEP].
Dude, he's hitting the camera!
Pull it up. Pull it up.
CREW MEMBER: Watch your feet. Watch your feet.
Watch your feet.
ANDY: Whoa!
Oh, it looks like he bit the cable.
Oh, [BLEEP].
I really wasn't expecting that much action on this thing,
let alone for the whole thing to pretty much get destroyed,
or the cable, at least.
But I think we got some great ID shots.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: The photo IDs could confirm
if any of the sharks currently in Mossel Bay
are members of the missing cape population.
But there's another way to search for them.
So the hydrophone's in the water.
If there's a white shark in this area from Gansbaai,
we'll get a number on the screen and we'll start
to hear a series of pings.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: The team scans the bay with the hydrophone for hours,
searching for a signal from any of the missing cape sharks.
OK, we've got a really clear ping here.
6272, that's my shark!
CREW MEMBER: Holy crap!
OK.
We've got an ID here on a Gansbaai tiger shark.
That is fantastic!
NARRATOR: The team now has evidence that one of the cape's
missing sharks is nearby.
ALISON: This shark is one that I'm really familiar with.
he's called Mini Nemo.
And actually, we've watched him grow from a really small animal
of just a few foot in length to being over 12 foot wide shark.
So the Holy Grail would really be if Mini Nemo rocked up
and we could get the satellite tag in to him.
That was incredible.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: Because of the hydrophone's limited range,
the team wants to get a satellite tag on Mini Nemo
to track him over greater distances.
I'm so excited!
NARRATOR: With evidence that Mini Nemo is nearby,
they quickly get to work to lure him in.
CREW MEMBER: There's a-- there's more than one.
ALISON: Don't recognize him.
Whoa!
NARRATOR: A sat tag on a cape shark
could provide the most valuable data to date
on the missing population.
CREW MEMBER: No, it's not this one.
ALISON: It's another one, orange on its nose.
NARRATOR: But instead of drawing in Mini Nemo,
the bait attracts Mossel Bay's aggressive juveniles.
ALISON: That's not him.
Watch out.
Oh!
CREW MEMBER: Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Wow.
ALISON: What was he going for?
CREW MEMBER: Where's Max?
ALISON: Max?
[WHISTLES]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh, the adrenaline's pumping now.
NARRATOR: Even though the team fails to get a sat tag on Mini
Nemo, there's still a chance that the long lost
shark has appeared on one of their underwater surveillance
cameras. - OK.
ALISON: We got some great footage.
So now what we're going to do, we're going to pack up.
We're going to head in to see if we
can find any of the missing cape sharks through photo ID.
So here we have all the photo IDs of every single shark
we saw on this expedition.
Look at the fin IDs and see if we can recognize any,
either from above or below.
NARRATOR: After comparing every shark they
encountered against Alison's database,
they make an incredible discovery.
CREW MEMBER: What's that?
Is that a tag?
ALISON: That is an acoustic tag.
And that is one of mine.
CREW MEMBER: Gansbaai?
That's a Gansbaai shark.
Oh, wow.
NARRATOR: Although not Mini Nemo,
this tagged female is even further confirmation
that some sharks from the cape have come to Mossel Bay.
Look at that. You can see it.
It's Rosie.
That's amazing.
I mean, we first saw her in Gansbaai in 2014.
She's now a very large female.
- Wow. - Perfect.
That's excellent.
Really cool, hey?
What this does is it actually gives me some hope.
Because right now, we've really been at a loss
as to where our sharks have gone.
And even though this is not conclusive,
we can not confirm that the cape sharks have moved here.
It's certainly encouraging to see
there are large males in Mossel Bay
and there are white sharks that I recognize.
My word, guys, I must say, we've been
really lucky on this expedition, to get one at that size?
CREW MEMBER: Yeah.
ALISON: Look at him, the largest white shark
I've never seen in Mossel Bay, certainly
are record size satellite tags for Mossel Bay and possibly
South Africa, as well.
That's incredible.