Sharks | 60 Minutes Full Episodes
In a Nutshell
Great white sharks vanished from Cape Town's prime hunting grounds around 2010 due to predation by orcas (notably Port and Starboard), who surgically remove their calorie-rich livers, displacing sharks via fear despite stable overall populations; human factors like overfishing prey and lethal shark nets exacerbate the decline, sparking debate on conservation priorities. In contrast, protected great whites are rebounding in Cape Cod and Nova Scotia, tracked via tags revealing migration patterns, seal-driven booms, and rare human attacks, while diver Mike Rutzen demonstrates their curiosity and intelligence through cage-free swims, urging myth-busting to combat finning and promote ocean balance. Key takeaway: targeted protections work, but novel predators and human impacts threaten apex species, mirroring whale recovery successes.
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Coastal waters around Cape Town, South Africa, teemed with great white sharks. About 10 years ago, carcasses of great whites began washing up on beaches with livers missing. Now, great whites are hard to find. Scientists and conservationists feud over the culprit but agree great whites that cruised these waters are gone.
Ocean off Cape Town was the best place in the world to see great whites. Plenty of smaller sharks to hunt and tens of thousands of seals on Seal Island nearby. Early mornings offered sights of great whites flying out of water.
That was unbelievable.
Chris Fallows, photographer and naturalist, saw 250-300 different great white sharks a year until over a decade ago. His images are among the most breathtaking of the natural world.
It's a sight you never forget. I still kind of get that tingly feeling to see the most spectacular shark on Earth now flying out the water. It was truly incredible to see.
In 2010, reporters saw great whites and tens of thousands of visitors came yearly for cage dives. They dove without cage in chummed water. A 15-foot great white swam straight toward them.
That's a big one. This is amazing. It's coming right toward us.
Sharks are curious creatures.
Sharks circled constantly. Extraordinary to be close to massive predator.
How's it going? That's just unbelievable.
Wow. And I'm so happy I'm back up.
A few years after that dive, sightings dwindled, tourists stopped coming. Today, you would see nothing.
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