A tagged great white shark (called Nicole, by
researchers – after shark loving actress Nicole Kidman)
crossed the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Australia and back again
in just nine months. The act of tagging a great white is something of
an achievement; several people need to hold the creature still while
the satellite tracker is attached.

The conservationists were investigating how far great
whites swim, to see what protection measures might be needed to save
them from extinction. Great whites were once thought to keep to coastal
regions, but this was a trek across a vast expanse of open ocean. The
journey was very direct, not some aimless wandering and the stay near
Australia was only brief.

The researchers say the fact that they saw a shark make
the journey at all – after observing only about 20 animals – suggests
it is common behaviour. Their concern is that such migrations make the
great whites vulnerable to long-line fishing. It is already known that
lesser sharks do get captured and killed this way.