Almost one in four of all fatal great white attacks

happen here.

In other parts of the world, the most dangerous time

to enter the water is at dawn or dusk, the times when

white sharks typically hunt.

But these waters are different.

Investigators have identified that the majority

of the attacks on the Western Cape take place during the day.

This surprising anomaly could be the key to solving

the mystery behind the attacks.

Mike Barron is a marine biologist living in Cape Town.

For the past two years, he's been

studying the oceanic ecosystems of the Western Cape.

Mike believes part of the answer lies

in an incredible aspect of South Africa's marine ecology.

MIKE BARRON: So today, we're going to drop down

and I'm going to monitor one of my favorite places to dive.

It's a really amazing, magical place.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: These are South Africa's kelp forests.

Each strand of this giant seaweed

measures up to 40 feet tall and grows in dense clusters

stretching over 600 miles, Creating

a vast, underwater wonderland.

MIKE BARRON: All the different complexities

of life down there, and it's a fantastic

area to dive and research.

NARRATOR: The kelp forests are home

to all manner of oceanic life.

But there is one species that lives here

of particular significance when it comes

to sharks, cape fur seals.

MIKE BARRON: White sharks are often

seen patrolling the edges of kelp forests

looking for the cape fur seal.

NARRATOR: Until recently, it was believed that great whites

patrolled the edges of the kelp forests at dawn and dusk,

but rarely ventured in.

The sun's low position in the sky

was thought to help them pick out

the silhouettes of unsuspecting seals

as they exited the forest.

But in 2019, a study emerged that turned

traditional thinking about great whites' hunting patterns

on its head.

MIKE BARRON: In 2019, researchers were conducting

a study on great white sharks.

They attached some cameras to the dorsal fins,

and the footage that came back was very unusual.

That actually found that these sharks were moving into quite

dense forest areas, and even hunting

seals, which previously we thought

was not happening at all.

NARRATOR: And most importantly, the sharks

were seen to be hunting during the day,

not just at dawn and dusk.

MIKE BARRON: This new revelation in shark research

means that all the way through today, wherever there's kelp,

there's potentially white sharks cruising

around, looking for their seal.

NARRATOR: South Africa is one of a few countries

in the world that has natural kelp

forests right on its coast.

MIKE BARRON: Kelp grows all along the beaches

here in the Western Cape, right from the intertidal zone

and very highly populated beaches as well.

There's lots of people swimming, surfing,

and diving in the forests right along the coast.

NARRATOR: This means that every day at any time, the sharks

are patrolling the coastline of the Western Cape,

looking for seals, in the exact same waters used by people.