Stephen Swanson's Curriculum Vitae

Stephen Swanson

Born

16th September 1966, South Africa

Passport

RSA

Home

161b Clive Road, Lansdowne, 7780, South Africa

Tel

+27 (0)73 141 4551

E-mail

Web

www.sampla.org

My life-long interest in South Africa’s marine life and research began as I grew up in the fishing and boating environment in Cape Town. As soon as I matriculated, I approached the South African government branch – Marine and Coastal Management and applied for the vacant position in their Top Predators group and was awarded the position of Chief Oceanographic Research Assistant (CORA).

This posting, I held for 19 years, and fulfilled my life ambition to observe and study the marine life of Southern Africa. During this time I traveled throughout the region nationally and internationally with our core research group conducting experiments and research on many of Southern Africa’s marine top predators and seabirds.

Career highlights

Humpback whale survey - Mozambique

In 2005, I worked on a humpback whale transect survey in Mozambique and the land based northward migration survey at Cape Vidal (Kwazulu Natal) where I recorded the highest number of whale and other cetacean sightings during the survey.

Fur seal and seabird census

I’ve frequently traveled to Marion Island in the Southern Seas for Antarctic fur seal and seabird census. These involve the attachment of satellite-linked transmitters to monitor movement to and from their feeding grounds.

Heaviside’s dolphin

The live capture and release of a successful project aimed at the conservation, behaviour and evaluation of the status of South Africa’s only endemic dolphin, the Heaviside’s dolphin. These dolphins are highly elusive and requires extraordinary skills in capturing them by using head nets and tail-grab techniques.

Cape fur seal

The management of the Cape Fur Seal populations, including Namibia, with particular reference to their breeding, migration, population growth and investigating the commercial fishing industry’s concern as to what impact their feeding behavior have on our heavily targeted fisheries resource. The ongoing capture, restraint and removal of plastic pollutants from entangled adult fur seals, to ensure their historic survival in the Cape Town Waterfront harbor area that is plagued by ever increasing pollution problems.

African penguin

Leading a team of official and volunteer personnel that successfully evacuated thousands of oil-soaked African Penquins from Robben Island after the Apollo Sea ship disaster in Table Bay.

Great white sharks

In 2004, in a ground breaking research project, I had the honor of placing the satellite-linked transmitter on “Nicole”, a 3.6m great white shark that migrated from Gansbaai South Africa, to Australia and back, which was a personal highlight for me. This resulted in the most significant research discovery of my career to date, and was published in the esteemed journal “Science”. Having been the only person to ever capture great white sharks for research purposes, in a pioneering expedition in Mossel Bay, one particular female ventured along our coastline to Maputo Bay (Mozambique), returning a few months later thus confirming their nomadic movement patterns.

In 2005, I resigned from Marine and Coastal Management with the aim of furthering my career as an independent researcher and eco-tourism provider. Since this change, I have gained contracts with National Geographic to capture and fit satellite-linked tags to great whites off Guadalupe, Mexico, and managed to capture a 5m shark weighing a whopping 1.4 tons that resulted in it being a fitting climax to the documentary “Ultimate Shark”, viewed internationally and on local television networks in 2007. My life-long interest in the marine environment is testimony to all my achievements and I’m proud to be one of the founder members of a newly established research company “The South African Marine Predator Lab” (SAMPLA).

Education

  • 1985 Senior Certificate, Savio Adult Educational Centre

Qualifications/Skills

  • Qualified Skipper A1 – 1 Ski boat class
  • First aid at sea certified
  • Post master, general radio telephone marine certificate
  • Specialist Tour Guide (Marine Environment)

Awards

  • Certificate of Merit for Recognition of Outstanding Service to Animals - Awarded by the SPCA
  • Readers Digest “Heroes for Today”

Employment

Institute

Marine and Coastal Management, South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, 1985 – 2005

Position

Chief oceanographic Research Assistant, Top Predator Group

Selected Scientific Writing

  • Oosthuizen, W.H., Meyer, M.A., David, J.H.M., Summers, N.M., Kotze, P.G.H. and Swanson, S. (1997) Variation in Jackal numbers at the Van Reenen Bay seal colony with comment on likely importance of jackals as predators. S. Afr. J. Wildl. Res. 27(1): 26-29.
  • Elwen, S.H., Best, P.B., Meyer, M.A., Thornton, M. Kotze, P.G.H. and Swanson, S. (in prep) Should I stay or should I go? The range and movements of Heaviside’s dolphins (Caphalorhynchus heavisidii) using photo ID and satellite telemetry. 12th SAMMS Symposium.
  • Olsen, E., Bjorge, A., Drapeau, L., Kotze, D., Mauritzen, M., Makapuli, N., Oosthuizen, O., Reynolds, D., and Swanson, S. (in prep) Foraging behaviour by Cape fur seals along the South African coast. 12th SAMMS Symposium.
  • Draueau, L., Bjorge, A., Kotze, D., Mauritzen, Meyer, M.A., Makapuli, N., Oosthuizen, H., Reynolds, D., and Swanson, S. (in prep). Spatio-temporal characterization of the ape fur seals foraging grounds relative to environmental conditions in Southern Bengulea ecosystem. 12th SAMMS Symposium.
  • Mauritzen, M., Bjorge, A., Drapeau, L., Kotze, D., Meyer, M., Makapuli, N., Oslen, E., Oosthuizen, H., Reynolds, D., and Swanson, S. (in prep). Foraging behaviour by Cape fur seals along the Namibian coast. 12th SAMMS Symposium.
  • Stewardson, C.L., Prvn, T. Meyer, M., Swanson, S. (2001) Suture age as an indicator of physiological age in male Cape fur seal, Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus (Pinnipedia: Otariidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
  • Olsen, E., Mauritzen, M., Kirkman, S., Oosthuizen, W.H., Mukapuli, N., Meyer, M., Kleophas, T. Swanson, S. (2002). BENEFIT project: “Monitoring and evaluation of Cape fur seals in Southern Africa in relation to commercial fishery operations”. Field-Work report 2002, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
  • Bonfil, R., Meyer, M.A., Scholl, M.C., Johnson, R.L., O'Brian, S., Oosthuizen, W.H., Swanson, S., Kotze, D. & Patterson M. (2005). Transoceanic migration, long-distance return migration and local movement patterns in the great white shark. Science 301:100-103.
  • Johnson, R. & A. Kock. M.N.Bester, L.Compagno, S. Dudley, C.L. Griffiths, T.Keswick, P.G.H. Kotze, K. Laroche, M.A.Meyër, W.H.Oosthuizen, S. Swanson & L Jacobs. (2006) White shark cage diving – cause for concern? (2006) In Nel D.C. & Peschak T.P.(eds) Finding a balance: white shark conservation and recreational safety in the inshore waters of Cape town, South Africa: proceedings of a specialist workshop. WWF South Africa Report Series – 2006/Marine/001
  • Kock A., Johnson R.L., Bester M.N., Compagno L., Cliff G., Dudley S., Gennari E., Griffiths C.L., Kotze D., Laroche K., Meyer M.A., Oosthuizen W.H. and Swanson S., 2006. White shark abundance: not a causative factor in numbers of shark bite incidents. In: Finding a balance: white shark conservation and recreational safety in the Inshore waters of Cape Town, South Africa. D.C. Nel and T.P. Peschak Eds. WWF South Africa Report Series - 2006/Marine/001.
  • Elwen, S., Meyer, M.A., Best, P.B., Kotze, P.G.H. Thornton, M., and Swanson, S. (2006) Range and movements of female Heaviside’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus heavisidii), as determined by satellite-linked telemetry. Journal of Mammalogy, 87(5):000-000.

Selected Scientific Conference Presentations

  • Johnson, R.L., Oosthuizen, W.H., Bester, M.N., Meyer, M.A., Swanson, S. & Kotze, D. (2004). Habitat utilization of the white shark in South Africa, using acoustic telemetry. In Abstract of workshop: Conservation Research of Great White Sharks. 20-22 January (Wildlife Conservation Society, New York)
  • Thomson, R., Oosthuizen, W.H., Kotze, P.G.H, Swanson, S., Reynolds, D. Estimating the survival rate of Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus). Abstract in 13th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals.

Media Productions

Year Program Producer Role

National Geographic
2007 Sharkville Obsessively creative Scientific talent
2007 Ultimate shark National geographic Scientific talent

British Broadcasting Company (BBC)
2003 Animal Camera BBC Natural History Scientific Talent

SABC
2001 Acoustic tracking the great white 50/50 Team researcher

Independent Distribution
2007 Tracking the Great White Shark Global Ocean Service Writer/Scientific talent

References

  • Dr. Ramon Bonfil (Research scientist)

    Shark Tracker

    ramon.bonfil@gmail.com

  • Mr. Ryan Johnson (Marine scientists)

    South African Marine Predator Lab

    University of Pretoria

  • Mr. M. Meyer (Principle Oceanographer)

    Department of Environmental, Affairs and Tourism

    meyer@deat.gov.za