The island is situated South of Danger Point, very well known for the wreck of the Birkenhead with the loss of 445 lives back in 1852. The adjacent Geyser island with its large Cape Fur seal population is a natural chumming area to attract the Great White shark.

Dyer island is a marine bird sanctuary and the islands are now protected by law up to 500 meters from the shoreline and only boats with permits may enter this region. Since July 1998 shark cage diving is controlled by Cape Nature Conservation in this marine sanctuary. All permit holders are now subject to a fee of R400.00 per week for operational time. At this stage it would appear that there is lack of control since some operators would obtain a permit using a suitable registered boat and afterwards operate with a much smaller unregistered craft even without toilet facilities. This situation is being monitored by the law abiding operators and await the authorities to take the necessary action.

Dyer island is situated about 12km from the harbour of Kleinbaai (small bay) and is used as the closest entry harbour to reach Dyer island. The island has several buildings and it is occupied by a ranger of the Cape Nature Conservation, a government body. the island has been declared a sanctuary to protect the hundreds of thousands of marine birds, including the Jackass penguin and the 2nd rarest bird in South Africa, the African Black Oyster catcher. Dyer island was named after the black African American who arrived here in 1806 and started collecting guano (bird droppings) and penguin eggs to sell for a living. Today the Jackass penguin is a protected specie and some people are of the opinion that the Cape Fur seal actually attack and kill penguins. It can be proven that on Geyser island, adjacent to Dyer island, a few penguins live amongst the seals and are not threatened in any way.

Dyer island is about 20 hectare in size of which about 4 hectare is is taken up by buildings and adjacent no-go area for the birds. Cape Nature Conservation is now planning the construction of a jetty suitable to bring tourists to Dyer island and construction has already started. It has been established as that where penguins are present and man has been in the area the penguin colonies have decreased in numbers. The penguin colony at Dyer island have already decreased by about 75% since statisticts have been held. The question is: Has man's presence been responsible for this decrease in numbers?

How would the newfound tourist industry sparked off by an organization who wants to conserve nature, affect the ecology of Dyer island?