Man dies after being bitten by shark on NSW Mid North Coast
A man has died after a shark attack at Tuncurry Beach on the NSW Mid North Coast.
Emergency services were called to the beach, just north of Forster, about 11:20am after receiving reports a man had been bitten by a shark while surfing.
According to lifesavers, the man was on a surfing holiday with friends.
Superintendent Christopher Schilt said the man had seen the shark before it attacked and he had tried to alert other surfers.
"It's believed that when the attack occurred the man did actually see the shark and called out to try and warn others and, very heroically, his friends were able to bring him back in to shore after he had been attacked," Superintendent Schilt said
Photographs of the bite are currently being analysed by shark scientists from the Department of Primary Industries who will try to determine the species and size of the shark involved.
NSW Police said first responders found the man, believed to be in his 50s, with "critical injuries to his upper right thigh".
The Mid North Coast Council has closed beaches from Black Head to One Mile at Forster for at least 24 hours.
Brian Wilcox from the local Surf Life Saving branch said the attack was "unprecedented".
"I can't recall ever having a shark attack in this area," he said.
Mr Wilcox said a number of sharks had been spotted in the water since the attack.
"The process for Surf Life Saving now is to keep the beaches closed for 24 hours.
"We've already had a drone up in the air to see if we could spot some sharks in the area.
"There were a couple of sharks spotted, whether they were the one or not, who knows," he said.
The Department of Primary Industries is deploying SMART drumlines at Tuncurry Beach.
Any sharks caught will be tagged and released 1km from shore.
Surf Life Savers will continue to conduct drone patrols around Tuncurry Beach for the next few days.
Water users and beachgoers are advised to follow the NSW SharkSmart Twitter feed or download the SharkSmart app for the latest information on shark movements and sightings.
Comments
Shit.
RIP mate.
Devastating news...
RIP.
Poor bugger. Hoping for strength to his family and friends.
I’ve been thinking about this since I saw that first real South swell and the cold snap. Water dropping in temp a bit and saw my first whale yesterday. They all point to the same unpleasant conclusion in what is now my annual season of perpetual semi-dread amongst the beautiful line ups around here.
Is that due to the Whites following the whales up the coast blowin?
Rip to the poor guy.
Yep. Not too sure it’s just the whales they’re following or whether everything is riding the same currents and cold water North. Same difference I guess.
The whites are there all year round, and it does seem the numbers are steadily increasing given the anount of drone vids and stories form the region over the past 3 years.
Feel for the guy and his friends and family.
the drones are new in the last 3 years........ not the sharks.
Yeah no good at all. Rest in peace and thinking of his family and friends.
Seems it's been a while since the last one. Is that correct..? Feels that way.
A few weeks or months of being carefree in the water now snapped back to that familiar sense of dread.
RIP old mate.
Pointer season runs pretty much late May to early December where I am. Give or take a bit and there’s always exceptions, but that’s when I really tune up my shark scope. They’re always around and crew get touched up anytime but that’s the main bracket of shit.
Most recent was Andrew Sharpe who passed away from a shark attack near Esperance in early October 2020, I believe?
A fatality at Port MacDonnell in late January 2021 was a suspected shark attack, although findings suggest he experiences a medical episode long before the shark(s) arrived.
RIP old mate
There's been plenty of activity around. Weekend just passed bait balls everywhere and I sighted one small-medium sized shark and my mate another the following day. A 2m white also breached in front of crew just before we started our surf the day before as well (unbeknownst to us).
Remember when you’d never heard of a pointer breaching in Australia? I saw my first one at Red Bluff in about 2011( ? ) It looked like a little submarine bursting out of the water. Very obviously not a different type of shark or a whale. No one believed me.
Yep, never heard much of this occurring but now there are plenty of accounts. Social media might be the reason we hear about it now though.
And wasn't it first captured on film in a doco from South Africa?
Have you seen the footage of the Orca smashing a dolphin mid air....the height that thing gets is insane...it looks like for a moment its juts suspended
https://www.9news.com.au/world/killer-whale-orca-hunting-dolphins-launch...
Jeez! Huge as well.
I remember Blowin that it used to be thought they didn't go that far north as it was too warm, that's proven to be another myth same as they don't like breaking waves or shallow water
A mate used to work on the shark boats here on the Sunshine Coast in the 80s.
The two biggest GWS he witnessed were ironically either side of summer, when water temps were really warm (My memory says up to 30 deg).
Both GWS were caught off Sunshine Beach, close to Noosa, Both well above 4m.
Many of our thinkings around these creatures are flawed, based on what we want to believe.
They are killing machines! If not, then they wouldn't have survived as long as they have (with Crocodiles), very efficient apex predators.
Main problem a logical man finds is that their most obvious food source - baby whales- has become much more commonplace last few decades.
The fact that the main attack zone is the most easterly zone where whales come closest to the coast during migration, doesn't require Einstein IQ to figure out, pokes me in the eye!
Attacks will be south of Byron early whale migration season (pre July)as whales follow the coast north to have their babies, and North of that point post turn around as these creatures head south after calving en mass up north.
Sincere RIP and thoughts for this surfer's family and friends. I cant imagine what they are going through. Hopefully they can find peace.
No one needs to go through this traumatic experience.
Remember that beast off Nusa Penida ( Lembongan?) a couple of years ago? Water must’ve been around the 26 degree mark there.
Sad news. Condolences to old mate, his family and friends. Bit of a wake up call, that the seasons are changing. Been surfing some different spots lately due to the banks being good, and plenty of East swell. Spots generally considered super sharky, and usually no one around. That relaxed joy looks like giving way to edginess now.
You been getting over my way at all?
No, bit closer than usual though.
Yeh, I’ll often drive along that stretch in my tinny and see nice peaks from the back with not a soul out for kilometres. Hit it sometimes by anchoring out the back and paddling in after I’ve seen it good whilst fishing the day before. For some reason it happens to be a prime place to spot large fish (aka Noah’s Arks ) basking on the surface. They seem to make a habit of just chilling there and getting a few sun rays.
A lot of activity around there ATM too. Big schools of bonito just beyond the break, pushing right into the gutters. Might have a flick for them tomorrow, they're primo in the smoker.
Was there Sunday and a bloke was with his drone waiting for the mullet run which is late this year. He said he has been seeing 3 or 4 whites around the area hanging out waiting for the run most days.
RIP old mate. Lot's of activity around the Coffs Coast lately.
Man, that is devastating. Pretty much a year since that succession began with poor Rob at Salt.
A beautiful clear morning with a small south swell down there, according to a contact in Forster. Common knowledge that the Crowdy -> Seal Rocks stretch is especially sketchy.
Such a shame. Thoughts & prayers go out to the deceased, I hope he finds some perfect runners up in the sky.
Faaaaark he we go again...attacks on surfers may become an habitual behavior for some of these sharks...time to remove Bulls/GWS of the protected species list FFS.
or just move to indo where the entire coastline has been stripped bare of any sea life, RIP to the bloke.
Bullshit. I’ve seen dugongs at ulus.
Yep, RIP to old mate. Devastating for his family and friends.
First white was caught up here a couple of weeks ago.
Killer whales(Orcas) spotted around here on Mon.
Hope that keeps them away for a while.
Devastating news. Any fatality is tragic and being a small coastal town everyone knows everyone here and waiting for the name is gut wrenching.
That's terrible, poor bugger, RIP.
Just been up that way on a trip and had the feeling a few times, especially down the end of the banks near the gutters. Was surprised one morning to watch a bloke surfing alone out on the bank over a big 300m long and 75m wide gutter while I was worming (with a pipi, not a stink) one day. No way I'd be out there.
Sincere condolences to the family and frlends of this poor fella.
RIP mate.
" The surfer, 57, is thought to have been visiting the area from Sydney’s northern beaches, and was in the water near the Tuncurry breakwall, surfing with two mates at the time amongst a group of other surfers.
Tuncurry Beach, at the mouth of Wallis Lake is renowned as a schooling area during mullet season, and while there were large schools of fish in the water last week there were no fish around this morning.
A local surfer who was in the water at the time said the man spotted the shark and warned the surfers nearby, before turning and paddling toward shore.
Reports from the water have the shark attacking from behind, with the attack continuing for at least a minute.
By the time the surfers nearby were able to get to him, he’d suffered serious injuries to his upper leg. They got him to the beach and applied a tourniquet, but his injuries were severe.
The shark was believed to be a juvenile great white. NSW Department of Primary Industries experts are studying photographs before issuing an official ID." {sl}
Fuck that’s heavy
Those are some pretty horrifying circumstances.
This is one of those subjects in the forums we don't want to read about but somehow they pop up when the memory of the last attack has slightly faded away.....
R.I.P mate and condolences to his family and friends...
Tragic news. He warned everyone before he was taken himself. A hero.
RIP mate.
Totally, what a hero but so sad.
Poor bugger.
Feel for his family and friends; hope they're being looked after.
RIP.
Incredibly sad news. RIP mate.
Faark just saw the news on tv. . It's always a shock to hear of a fatal attack. RIP.
Reports of a 4.5 metre shark in the area as well.
I believe tides and timing were discussed here at length last winter. Mid outgoing tide being the consensus for 'at risk'. Low was at 7am, high was at 1pm.
I used to see the Forster smart drum line ping almost daily on Dorsal. Did they stop monitoring or setting baits there?
Drum lines elsewhere from the far north coast (Ballina, Evans etc) were only a six months or so trial.
The Forster /Tuncurry drumline were way ahead of the pack in terms of fish caught per time in the water.
The receivers are dotted up and down the coast, and yes, the Forster/Tuncurry receiver is way up there.
Hard for punters to get a handle because the DPI website is WAY out of date. Eg the tagging data is current as at June 2020.
stopped the trial I believe.
RIP mate
You left as a Hero
Dorsal pinged twice yesterday but has been pinging all month
I used to see the Forster smart drum line ping almost daily on Dorsal. Did they stop monitoring or setting baits there? Have had a ping show the same time i was in the water there.
RIP mate.
Just been talking to a few people and heard a rumour they were filming a fishing show nearby and burley’d the water to attract fish to film.
Jeez you’d hope not.
Hmmmm...
Did a cam rewind on a competitor's site at around 11am, showed the rivermouth adjacent to the breakwall had 3 tinnys in it - one of them was outside the mouth and in close proximity to where the crew would have been sitting.
If you did your homework you'd see that it's a C&R lure only Kayak Bream Fishing Tournament. Estuary only and definately no bait or burley. Condolences to the family at this sad time.
U know how us humans wait on the beach to catch mullet u reckon our grey finned friends might just wait in the same easy spot to catch them too. Rumours suck
Rumours getting around faster than a blackboard sponge in Mrs Hardings Year 8 Art class aye Mullet..
That's all that is mate, a rumour. Just spoke to my mate who is the camo for Guesty's 'Reel Action' show. They were snapper fishing 15km north off Old Bar (Guesty on his ski, my mate filming from Guesty's boat). They were coming back in up the beach at the time his friends were literally dragging him from the water. You might've seen Nine News ran a witness interview with him.
9news saying two 4.5m whites have been spotted patrolling the area all afternoon, and authorities potentially linking them to the attack.
Tragic. RIP and condolences to all his family and friends...
RIP mate. 'Any sharks caught will be tagged and released 1km from shore'. That must be a huge relief to local surfers, FFS.
Some drone footage of the mullet run , fishos , sharks , in that area around this time last year.
Thanks for posting that mate.
It’s easy for me to relapse into a regrettable internal discussion about wanting to cull sharks every time I hear of another poor person dying from an attack.
Videos like that remind me nature doesn’t stand a chance.
you call people who do that to an entire school of mullet 'fishos'? fucking morons more like it.
p.s. note hungry shark left out the back at the end going 'what the fuck?'
Right on Wallpaper!
Humans......ya gotta wonder sometimes.....
agreed mate, they're just greedy bastards.
Hi mate,
... they're Commercial Fisherman.
I'm just over an hour north of Forster and, every Mullet Season (last few weeks till now), you'll find similar scenarios unfolding – primarily on stretches north of river mouth groins/breakwalls – Tuncurry being a perfect example.
They MUST be licensed, can only operate within certain timeframes and, the catch is (or should be) detailed with DPI & Fisheries. All non target species and living by-catch (rays / small sharks / turtles etc) must be safely returned. Sure, there may be unethical fishos out there – but heavy fines can, and are imposed if otherwise. The use of the fckn jetski isn't a good look!
RIP old mate and my condolences to the family.
no longer sustainable
time to get another job
Wow, didn't know they did this, fishing, not quite!
Disgusting. Humans are f&%#$&% terrible.
Yep. It’s hardcore fckd and it does my head in. But I’ve known more than a few people who work in the industry and they love it. Great lifestyle whether it’s Southern WA Salmon or East Coast. It’s months on the beach in tune with the elements.
It may be sustainable but that doesn’t mean it’s not absolutely devastating to the biomass and fish stocks all the way up the food chain, particularly when the fish are specifically caught BEFORE they spawn, which is about as stupid an idea as you could ever have and really belongs in another era long gone. I reckon this industry won’t be around for that much longer. Sooner or later it’ll get spotted by the new style of Green city folk moving to the regions and they’ll shit their pants.
But the beach betters are just another ( weak) link in a chain of destruction of our sea life at every stage of the life cycle. The wetlands and estuaries are polluted and developed, the near shore is netted, trawled and trapped and the offshore has the fck gutted out of it by long liners and purse seiners.
If you eat bream from a co op you’re complicit, if you eat tinned tuna you’re complicit, if you love a wild caught prawn trawled you’re super complicit and if you eat beef or dairy( toxic runoff) or any monoculture non-organic veggies or fruit or live on a waterway or drive a car etc you’re complicit. If you own a pet you’re complicit.
I’m all of the above so I’m complicit. It’s fckd.
Grow your own and catch your own as far as you can.
Mullet fishing is a lot more sustainable than you might think . The vast majority of the spawning population isn't caught. That's backed by the DPI and various researchers in NSW.
https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/commercial/fisheries/ocean-hauling/be...
Did you actually watch that? You're somehow trying to justify that....whatever mate....
We....the human race are doomed, end of story.
I thought the beach haul blokes were a bit more sustainable than that. It's not just about the spawning population, it's about the ecosystem and the other species which clearly form part of the complex interactions involved in bait balls/spawning/aggregation.
Taking every fish like this is completely fucked.
Yep. Prolific breeders, healthy populations.
Rated as a "better choice" on goodfish.org.au, with obvious caveats.
Still, I've heard the price per/kg sometimes doesn't even cover the freight down to Sydney, and it's not too long of a bow to draw to say that white shark left out the back with blue balls after its lunch and dinner is dragged up the sand is more likely to have a sniff at something it usually wouldn't.
Also, once our pelagics and reef fish become less available, bet your bottom dollar we'll all be eating smoked mullet while we still can.
Anyway, my point was, it is powerful footage. Thanks for sharing.
https://www.australianpurenatural.com.au/products/mullet-roe/
Fucken value add right there. Artisan me up, I'll pay the postage.
That catch is not indicative of the volumes that go uncaught.
And I'm one of the 'morons' who's done this for a living. Heard all the rapist anti fisho stuff before so I have a thick skin. Goes with the territory . go ya hardest
Mate if you feel like it I’d love to hear how you guys determine which schools you target and which you let go?
Is it just determined by weather conditions, tides, day/night etc, and the schools in between good conditions get away? Are catch limits a small fraction of what’s out there?
Beach hauling looks brutally efficient, so what’s stopping the industry smashing the population? Good fishery management?
I'm not the PR dude for the fishery by any means but I will address how it works from my own experience in another thread shortly , cheers
Again, thoughts go out to Marks' family and friends
Yep, sorry for the digression.
ya done it for a livin did ya
well was this prior to the latest artistic method
i too have fished for a living
but never to slaughter everything
and believe me i have seen mullet schools from the fourtys to the destructive sixtys
its time brother to end beach fishing our annual migratory fish
mullet are not the only ones
at 81 i am totally disturbed at that video
its sad
but i know now i lived the golden years
Feel like maybe if we let the sharks get their full feed they wouldn't be chomping on us so much.
Nasty video.
From a quick google search:
"Once the fish are pulled out, fish buyers load them into cages, put on them on ice and take them to Kempsey where they are shipped off to the larger fish sales and distribution companies. Much of the catch is exported to south-east Asian markets. "Everything you see on the mullet is used. Nothing is wasted."
Why would you want to eat mullet? Terrible eating fish
Mark, When was the last time you ate one? I target them with line and lure off the beach every Autumn. They are delicious.
That's putrid a whole school gone in an instant. It's out of wack and it's plain for all to see here.
walking down to the beach yesterday morning around 9ish noticed a school of salmon almost on the beach they were that close in,waited for a while until they swam off but the thought was planted ...again....RIP mate hope Hueys kind to you and gives you pick of the sets.......
here we go again
RIP mate. Lots of fish activity in close and solid dolphin presence in the lineup at heavily populated south coast spot this morning. watch out for each other, peace.
Two large sharks patrolling the beach. Not quite something that can be ignored.
North NSW was surfing dreamland for decades. Now it is up there with traditional scary spots like Cactus.
Maybe turning and paddling away after seeing the shark made him the most interesting target. That awful decision we hope we don't have to make.
First trip to Forster last week with family.. actually surf there at tuncurry on Friday morning .. can’t believe the news today.. RIP ol mate .. it’s definitely put the wind up me ..
Sounds like another one where it was not a single bite, spit and leave alone if it went on for a minute.
Same as Rob Pedretti at Casuarina, same as Mani Hart-Deville at Wilsons.
all featured prolonged and multiple attacks from the shark.
Clear water, 11am.
I've noticed you tend to comment with a time of day and water conditions under most of these reports FR. Are you seeing any patterns?
Throws the avoid dawn and dusk to be safe, surfing theory in the bin.
As well as sticking to clear water.
RIP old mate. That dread sure kicks in again. Be aware and be safe.
Condolences to the family, they must be devastated.
As noted above its now Great White season again and those beautiful clear water days at mid morning are the prime time. Based on the last couple years there is likely to be another two people killed in shark attacks on the Mid North and North Coasts before the Shark season finishes. Drones won’t change that.
Water users are advised to download the shark smart app..???? Thats the response from NSW fisheries ..your fuking kidding ...
Beach Haul crew at Boat Beach, Seals have been waiting for a football field size school of mullet to come around from Treachery for days. It's been kept in the gutter along the southern headland of Treach by a large school of sharks made up of nurses, bronzies, bulls and whites, the biggest white estimated to be 5 metres. Looks like the baby whites we were getting used to have grown up. Time to strap a short stick on when going for a surf.
They are saying after looking at pics of Bite was a 4.5 m GWS
Drum lines have been deployed.
A 4.5m shark is a few inches shy of 15ft and a white that size would weigh around 1 tonne, give or take. It's got to be a mature shark and in no way could be a juvenile.
Poor bugger didn't stand a chance.
"At first the shark was believed to be a juvenile great white. NSW Department of Primary Industries experts studied photographs before determining the shark was a 4.5-metre white – the full adult version."
RIP old mate. Was foiling Spooky Sunday arvo by myself and saw large GWS. Paddled straight in, have seen hundreds of sharks in my time and always wary of them, even white tip reef sharks.
This guy in Malibu has a cuddly view of these wild animals, scary how close they must be more than we realize. Stay sharp and paddle in if you get Spooked.
Thanks for sharing this.
I'm thinking ignorance is bliss.....hate to think how often they're around and we can't easily see them. His other vids are pretty confronting as well.
Watching that, appears the kid and the adult on the ski knew there was something/shark right there?? Why did they hang around in the water for so long for it to keep coming back for another look?!!
"Brian Wilcox from the local Surf Life Saving branch said the attack was "unprecedented".
"I can't recall ever having a shark attack in this area," he said."
Huh?
2015 Dave Quinlivan was attacked on his surf ski at Black Head.
2016 Colin Rowland attacked at Bulls Paddock.
Pretty embarrassing statement to be honest been a few more in the area as well as those two. They have their place in the community, but I’m not so sure if the clubbies the most ideal ones to be offering opinion on to much that happens outside the 70 m between the red and yellow flags around the area.
Be a good idea to pack wide rubber band, physio exercise type with a stick to twist in wetsuit.
Built in tornaque in arms and legs, kevlar mesh in wetsuit not a bad idea ...
RIP. What a brave bloke! Condolences to family and friends. I thought my paranoia of sharks of late was just in my mind but after reading the posts I’m not alone. Mullet everywhere in the mid north coast area of late (is mullet season) The missus walking the local beach has come across somebody leaving we think cow guts with knife cuts in liver parts on the beach at home. We hope not chumming for sharks but don’t know what else it could be for? Big sharks at treachery, I hope there aren’t dickheads doing that shit, not fucking cool.
So a 4.5 m GWS savages a human being in a minute long attack that was clearly full of intent and the attitude of "people in the know" is what?...."Oh well we go in THEIR oceans"....FFS!!!....When will sanity prevail?.....why leave this thing in the ocean so it can do this again to someone else, get rid of it!
yeah, if there are hundreds of whites getting tagged up and down the east coast then why aren't we seeing a lot more attacks..it could be just a few rogues that have learnt we are easy prey..take them out if we get a chance, like they do problem crocs up north
Terrible. RIP and condolences to the fam.
Far out. Thoughts with all involved. Really sorry to hear this.
Just yesterday there was a news report with some guys getting circled in their boat by a white up the sunny coast (I think). Made me think that they must be around again.
Surprising how unprecedented this is given the previously recorded regular activity in that Forster zone.
Again bloody awful. Hope it’s not another winter like the last.
It’s a shame that it comes across as gruesome and invasive of privacy wanting to know the exact details of what transpired.
Did the shark come in slowly and stalk? Did the shark position itself prior to the attack? Did the actions of others deter the shark in any way? Did the shark intimidate others? Did the actions of the victim trigger the shark to begin or desist from its attack? Etc.
Answers to questions such as these may sound ghoulish but I’m more interested as it may help devise strategies for others to deal with encounters such as this one. Obviously it’s unlikely that any hard and fast rules could ever be determined from individual situations but the more information we have the clearer the picture of what we are dealing with becomes. Unfortunately this is something that any of us may have to deal with.
No disrespect intended to the victim, friends of family. Apologies if this suggestion causes more harm.
From an article about the attack in today’s SMH :
“Macquarie University behavioural ecologist Culum Brown said....
“There’s a lot of hysteria about the shark population getting out of control – they’re definitely not. White sharks are listed as vulnerable for a reason: their numbers are declining.”
FFS.
yep, here we go again.
Their numbers are declining.
They have no interest in us.
An attack is an :"interaction", where they cautiously investigate us and let go.
It's getting pretty hard to take.
Far as the official education and guidelines go about how to avoid attacks.....total BS.
I agree, we need to band together and share our own knowledge.
Try and find something that works.
Read this last night, got a text shortly after.
Know the guy well.
Very hard to believe.
Was unconscious by the time the boys got him to shore.
RIP mate.
Fact is that small GW s eat stingrays fish etc and really are not looking at bigger prey till they reach 8 foot plus thats why all these vids filmed from drones are showing small 5-7ft juvis stooging around in the shallows looking for rays etc....but a GW grows about a foot a year roughly so all those small GWs that have been tagged over the last couple years and there are hundreds of them on the east coast alone will be big sharks in a short time and big sharks need and hunt bigger prey....would love to know if anyone has done research on the dolphin populations on the east coast to see if or how much of a downturn they are having....so if nothing is done and they contiue to breed no will be surfing in 20 years time....and no im not condoning a slaughter of sharks as it seems that GWs are the problem.......government needs to throw some real money at this and get a deterrent up otherwise it will look like the daintree with beautiful beaches with no one in the water in years to come.
They (the sharks) seem reasonably intelligent. I think perhaps a 12 gauge to the head of a few might spread the word fairly quickly. Until someone comes up with a better idea I'll run with that as first option. Yes its not politically correct or left leaning but Im over it. I'll happily take the spray from all those that disagree. When fire ants invaded our parks we had no issue killing em for the greater good of public safety. And they weren't killing us.
This is a rotten rock/hard place issue that seems to rest on changing the status quo within the management and/or scientific and/or political community.
The legislation and the current science pretty much dictates that numbers are low, and for the foreseeable future the GWS will remain on the protected species list. I've seen conflicting studies about GWS numbers and recovery but haven't done the proper homework to present it here.
If the authorities are essentially failing the surfing community and not throwing enough resources at it, is there some way surfers and other regular water users can establish a "citizen science" approach to this? The only thing that I think would change minds is some reasonably solid evidence-based information.
I'm also thinking that Surfing Australia etc should be on the front foot about this. I know they don't represent recreational surfers or have an explicit direction around environmental issues, but if not them then who?
I fully support GSW conservation as a necessary apical predator but fully oppose what I see as a hands-off and negligent approach by government etc. Managing anything in the marine environment is a combination of difficulty and chance, but there needs to be some change in this. On that note, we need to be careful what we wish for, as if government sees liability and risk getting too hard to handle they often reach for the bluntest tool in the box.
From Surfing Australia's constitution:
(f) at all times act on behalf of and in the interest of the Members and surfriding;
(g) represent the interests of its Members and of surfriding generally in any appropriate forum in Australia and internationally;
But then there's also this:
(h) actively support the preservation and conservation of the environment, and join with or affiliate with bodies or organisations concerned with the conservation and preservation of the environment;
And not once has Surfing Australia - at least while under the control of Andrew Stark or Chris Mater - attended a protest or liased with campaigners, but still, it's all there if people want to press the matter.
Well done. I only went through the strategic plan and there's nothing in it that you could confidently hang your hat on about any of this.
I wonder what Tennis Australia or Cricket Australia would do if there were maulings and deaths occurring at ovals and courts around the country.
Spooky, time to get with the program and support ...
"Save the Fire Ant"
They are an endangered species in Australia. They only bite out of curiosity and mistaken identity.
We must protect them and study them more.
I had a Fire Ant nest in my vegetable garden, after getting stung a few times I accidentally poured one litre of petrol down the entrance hole then accidentally dropped a lit match.
Here is more drone footage from the drone operator Tubeshooter linked to.
Shows a shark getting caught in and then released from the mullet net.
https://www.standard.net.au/story/6756048/when-thousands-of-mullet-and-g...
As a kid I poured some metho down a nasty ants nest and lit a match. Then thinking the flame was a bit wimpy and then had gone out, I poured some more metho on. The stream from bottle to nest caught fire and the bottle shot up like a rocket out of my hands spraying metho all over a banksia tree nearby which all caught alight creating a massive flaming bush that thankfully went out quickly.
Never told my parents....
Based on this performance what should we be making of your aquatic shark baton idea, frog?
After sleeping on it I still think it is a pretty practical self defence option.
see here:
&t=69sbut a bit harder in this situation:
That would be the longest 4 minutes of your life.
Wow, haha, lucky you didn't get burnt!
Some reasonably solid evidence based information ... there's been a huge increase in attacks and fatalities around OZ and particularly NSW over the last five years ...youd have to assume thats reasonably solid information
7.am Hookup
https://www.dorsalwatch.com/report/index.html?id=25186
Wasn't there also an attack at Minniewater around September / October 2020? I haven't seen anyone mention that one, and also wasn't there a fatal attack at Kingscliffe last year sometime too?
This is dreadful news and very sad to hear. IMO it was only a matter of time before there was a serious attack in this area with the no. of pings received from tagged whites on Shark Smart and Dorsal apps showing up, often on a daily basis. Interesting also that the first migratory whales have been spotted this week heading north and it has coincided with a fatal attack......as well as the reports of the mullet run / bait balls happening around the same time of year too.
I used to surf this area all the time back in 90's to 2000's, often during really sharky feeling times too but you would never think twice about it back then being a frothing grom....now it's getting to the stage where the risk is very real.....
I also think this BS being spread about numbers declining....is...total BS and I think they need to get up the NSW mid north coast and start reporting on 'actual' numbers
There is a vast amount of information and research out there. On such a large coast, with a migratory population, we have to accept that the reason no magic solution has emerged is because there is likely no solution that is politically acceptable that will enable us to surf when and where we like in safety. Not every problem has an answer. Or in this case, an answer we like (see Reunion Island for one "solution").
RIP, just horrendous
Saddened to hear this
RIP .
Really sad news, lots of action in the water in the Illawarra too, saw 3 sharks in 2 days about 4 weeks ago, smallish (6ft) charging through the fish in the breakers dorsals and tail fins out of the water - definitely not GWS though.
what about a drone set up with an alarm that goes off when a shark is recognised in the immediate
area ....so before you go out send your drone up above where you plan on surfing and it stays above that spot ?.....does anyone know if this has been done or can be done or have a attachment on you that the drone follows above you......just throwing ideas out there
I've got a mate who builds/programs surveillance drones... I'll ask him if it'd be possible/practical to make something like that.
Idea has merit but Battery life would be your main issue simba. Most of the retail DJI drones have a 20-25 flight time. I think it’s a matter of time before something is implemented at popular beaches where there’s a SLSC club or similar, probably thru a tethered drone or surveillance balloon.
RIP buddy..
1020 fisha plenty.. be careful out there friends of the ocean.
Revelation 6:8, KJV: "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."
I reckon an easy addition to the Shark Smart buoys would be a flashing light if a tagged shark is detected. Maybe lasting 5-10 minutes but at least you know there's one around when you're out there instead of finding out on the app after you get out (which I don't have and am not interested in).
Simba apparently drones aren't very useful at finding sharks with one of Stu's mates operating one all last summer and only seeing a couple at a known sharky area.
There's probably ways of improving that... polarize the lens correctly to kill the glare factor and train a pattern recognition algorithm properly (you'd probably want to train it both on shapes & movement patterns).
Murky water would be a problem though.
Pops dirty water wouldn't help but ive seen heaps of drone footage where small whites come into inspect surfers and they dont know theres a shark less than 2 meters away.....remember Wilkos footage recently where he was unaware and the water was dirty ......yes couple of good ideas on polarization and shape and movement....someone who knows if this is possible would be good to have a discussion with......
I've flicked my mate a message - from what I understand he mostly does defence/surveillance stuff... hard to get much detail out of him on what he's working on due to nda's, but he'd at least have an idea of what's easy/hard/impossible; he might even be tempted to develop something if its practical and there's a market.
Craig ...maybe he should try in winter time......
True.
Yeah good idea Craig. Some sort of flashing light warning system, or even a warning sound of some sort that could be loud enough to be heard up the beach etc.
The light on the buoy is a great idea Craig. I'd like to see more buoys placed. I'd like to be able to access better data on what the buoys are picking up - is it the same shark hanging around etc.
Love surfing the mid north beachies, often alone or with a mate. 10 yrs ago never thought twice about it.
Suggest investing in a rpela or shark shield.
Same, they used to provide the tagged shark number etc but now it's useless knowing another shark has pinged if you can't tell it's a new one or the same one over and over. Let us access the data. Freedom of information enquiry?
Recommend the Surf LIFE SAVING association get involved in communication and education. They do a great job educating re rips. This could be extended to danger signs for shark presence( ie after rain,cloudy water, mullets and how to detect them ( eg sea gulls above ). Also the elastic band attached to wetsuits a great initiative - restricting loss of blood quickly obviously a life saving solution. If everyone slips one on our wrists before a surf would be a start. So sad for family and friends. I can't imagine what they are going through. Devastating.
Kill em all and make it hurt, nice and slow, sshhhhh
Another hook up on the Drumline - 2 in 3 hrs
"Brian Wilcox from the local Surf Life Saving branch said the attack was "unprecedented".
"I can't recall ever having a shark attack in this area," he said."
Huh?
2015 Dave Quinlivan was attacked on his surf ski at Black Head.
2016 Colin Rowland attacked at Bulls Paddock.
I heard that on the radio.
Whats thats clueless clown doing as a spokesman?
These are the people supposed to be in charge of beach safety and he's got no idea about the shark situation on his patch?
Fcuking hell.
Spot on, Freeride.
Those two aren't the only incidents in the area. Know of many close calls around the palms. Whites frequent that area, heaps of drone footage on youtube. Have seen them smash fisho's kingys and jew in the channel and around the walls. Was only a matter of time before someone got hit.
Drones are already fitted with polarising filters.
problem is any shark not swimming in shallow water on sand is invisible, even to the best drone.
Smart drum lines at the very least give us real time info about shark abundances, and seem to offer some protection when caught sharks learn to be more cautious about the near-shore zone.
My personal response to white sharks: Surf for shorter periods of time.
No outer banks.
No shitt surf.
Choose moderate or even major crowds.
Surf Points with high vantage and spend 15/30 minutes surveilling with polarised glasses.
Keep very high level of vigilance in the water and get out if see/feel anything suss.
If circled or swooped, don't paddle away. Keep eyes on shark.
Invisible due to not enough light penetrating the depth of water? And/or simple camouflage against rocks/reefs?
I wonder if there's any other tells/secondary effects you could train a computer to spot - things too subtle for a human eye but still there - patterns of swirling water, boils, other surface disturbances? Changes in angle of incidence of light at some low intensity due to movement of water at a given depth? Maybe not enough to say "yep that's a shark", but enough to give some kind of confidence interval?
Doubt it.
a shark in deeper water in cruise mode is not giving out many signals.
But yeah light penetrating in water: soon as that shark swims out off the shallow bank into deeper water it's invisible. And that problem compounds with increased water turbidity/decreased visibility.
Personally I think drones are of extremely limited use. Slightly better than nothing.
yeah fair enough.
I agree that drones are too limited to be able to change the risk of surfing where we want to surf. Surfer based deterrents seems to be only way fwd.
RIP old mate.
Problem with that is there arn't any smart drum lines around here or pretty much the whole coast and learning about a shark in your vircinity after your surf is not going to help while your out there surfing......but agree with your other points
I reckon you're dreaming if you think anything you do changes your odds of getting attacked by anything other than a negligible amount.
If you choose to go in the water you roll the dice, best just to relax and enjoy the surf, or not go in at all.
I tend to agree.
Easy for me to say though coming from a state (area) that has so far, touchwood, not had any attacks for a long time
Tassie?
Victoria
Good advice. I ride a longboard instead of my shorty if im feeling sharky.
Cant find any fatal attacks on boards over 8ft.
The greenmount one was the biggest board(mid length twin)
https://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/surfers-board-snapped-two-shark/
Wow, thanks Udo.
Still not fatal, probably saved her being on a 9ft log. If they same thing happened on a 5'10....
Four have been tagged at Forster/Tuncurry so far this morning, plus multiple receiver pings.
And a SuP stalked by a 3m at Crowdy head
back in numbers
Dude surfing Tuncurry at dusk just a couple nights ago. Eery.
* timestamp not working, start at 7ish minutes. Apologies for the shocking music.
Would be hard not to paddle away in a hurry from a 4.5m great white, no doubt he got a good look at it, not like standing still if you come across a snake.
Here is a self defence idea.
Buy a short telescoping collapsible baton (plenty on the market already - about 6 inches long retracted and 2ft long extended) add a wrist strap a grippy point to the end and attach to a belt. In an encounted situation, you could whip out the baton flick it to extend to give you a means to push the shark off if it gets too close or comes at you. This may sound futile but check out a few spear fisho shark encounter videos before you laugh and watch how they can stand their ground because they have a hard object rather than soft hands to push the shark away as they retreat.
In the George Greenough stories of his 5 or so encounters he had line of sight and some time on his hands after seeing the sharks but no means to fend them off if they had moved in. With a baton in your hands you could defend yourself to some extent in a reasonable percentage of attacks as your retreat and the psychological boost to confidence of a go to "weapon/tool" would be huge.
Your board is a potential defence tool but is hard to move quickly and accurately. Your hands are soft and tend to end up in the sharks mouth.
Whereas with a baton you whip out the stick, flick it out to extended where it locks in place and face the thing with a plan and a defence tool - the human arm is pretty quick and mobile and could be poking left, right or backwards in an instant. Obviously a lot could go wrong in such an encounter but I have watch plenty of videos where a hard object such as a spear or camera was used to push away sharks very successfully.
Need to be rust proof.
Might even get one for a couple of spooky long paddle out spots....
Perhaps you could have one made in carbon fibre or something?
Every 4 or so months council does baiting for wild dogs in my area (Coolum) No tag and release, not relocated and definitely not rehabed. Just left to die in the bush. Why do they do it? So local wildlife, stock like sheep and goats, those stupid rat dogs people let sit on their laps when driving and cats that are let to roam and eat our wildlife, from getting ripped to shreds. No one raises an eyebrow. And thats mans best friend whos gone off the rails. Its CULL TIME FFS. The way Australia is now the chances of them banning going in the water like RIsland is closer than you think!
Fishing in 50 metres plus of water today -Blue/ Purple and 25.5 degrees - butting up to a current line of green water 24 degrees and had something XXL lurking under the boat in the burley trail. It was either a Japanese mini submarine or a horsing big shark. I’m guessing it as a shark cause it ate what I suspect was a good wahoo. Going off the sounder I’d estimate its length at about 4metres of fish pilfering pest.
Not too many species of shark get that big. Could’ve been a hammerhead I suppose.
Blowin, not sure of your location, but how far offshore....maybe 10nm?
A few years ago I skippered a 34' day fishing charter boat out of 1770 and we had this massive Tiger shark hanging with us for a good hour as we did our bottom drifts across a pretty good spot..... less than 5 nm from the river mouth
Not saying it was a 30' shark, but the striped bastard made the boat feel like a 14' Quintrex tinny...
Point being....the large, smart and crafty buggers are going to haunt us for a long time yet....
About 1.7 nautical miles I reckon.
My boats only just over 12 feet long. I’m not the biggest predator out there by a long shot. Wouldn’t bet the house on being the smartest either after almost coming to grief today as a result of stupidity ( which I put down to lack of sleep).
"almost coming to grief "
Please share, I love a good yarn.
Might even learn something that saves me from a shocker in my 14 footer one day.
Got a double hookup and my lines crossed. Stood up to elevate one of the rods to clear the lines, reached down to the tiller and gave it a bit to drag the lines away from each other. Big lumps of swell and chop where I was fishing with the way the current stands up on the bottom, hit a lump of water whilst looking backwards at the lines and went arse up still holding the accelerator. Boat gunned hard forward whilst I rolled to the side of bottom of the boat causing the boat to pivot and almost did the boating equivalent of catching a rail. My gunnel must’ve been a few centimetres from going under as I did a couple of pivoting donuts with all the weight on one side. The unsecured shit in my boat rolled downhill making it yaw even more.
Luckily I just managed to grab the tiller as I was getting flogged and kill the revs which immediately righted the tub. Fckn close call. I almost went from stoked on a hook up to nearly in the drink, which would’ve sank my boat and maybe after the prop had done a number on me. Not something you want to be doing anywhere, let alone where I was fishing.
I’d only just taken off my kill switch lanyard too. I’ve had a few mates go over and the boat kept going without them. Sounds like a cnt of a sport. I was only a bit over 3kms offshore but there was a walking speed current heading straight SE. Good luck swimming against that even if you don’t get turned to sashimi by the prop.
Proper wake up call. Could’ve been so heavy. Lucky I just got bruised up and gave my shoulder a fair belting which I’m hoping isn’t too serious.
On call last night and only ended up getting a few hours sleep. Felt like I was drunk from fatigue but the day looked like it was going to be a cracker and I’d already hooked up the boat and loaded the gear. Plus that warm current kicking inshore was hard to go past. Shouldn’t have put to sea really. Don’t fck around with the big bad ocean. Like my mate said to me this arvo - “ The ocean will always find a weakness if you give it the chance.”
Lost the fish. Landed nothing but stinking Mac tunas despite having plenty of opportunity and the fish coming to the party.
One of those days...but I survived!
Amazing day on the water apart from my shortcomings. Looking down into those oceanic blue currents is like staring into outer space.
Now I’m cooked.
Jeez! Yeah lucky call there, amazing how quickly shit can go pear shaped.
Close Call Blowin.....that 4m fish pilfering pest you mentioned might have had more than a wahoo to play with....
The old 'stupidity bug' bites us all at some time or another..
I remember going fishing with XXXX in his boat about ten kms offshore from the Bluff one night. The wind picked up and the sea got pretty ugly. I asked him where he kept the safety gear in case shit went South.
“ You don’t want to be floating around out here in a life jacket” was his reply.
Brought to mind how we’d rowed his little tender out to the mooring on our way out and a shark had bitten the oar as we were stroking. Inspiring!
Still better than the night he went out with Karl and they lost the oar for the tender so they poured petrol over their fish smelling hands before they hand-paddled the tender back into shore from the mooring. You’re keen putting your hands into that particular stretch of inky black ocean at night.
Great story, maybe funny in hindsight.
Would've looked fucking hilarious to a casual observer.
Yeah there's a few different ways to have a shit time in a situation like that, prop, swimming for your life or getting friendly with sharks, take your pick.
Kill switch lanyard is a no-brainer but jeez it's easy to be complacent or to just forget for a moment.
This attack highlights how little we know. I read a report about the correlation of water temp and GWS attacks on the WA coast stating 18-20c was optimal temp. This attack blows every myth out the window. Warm water over 20c, ebbing tide, mid morning clear sky and waters.
Wishes are with the family.
Seems we can't help but create theories to make ourselves feel like we have some control. Stupid, human ego thing I guess - but I must admit I get sucked in to thinking about it. I thought the tide was on the way in.
Rising tide, about mid way in.
not a great deal of tidal amplitude.
2 days before first quarter moon, so neaps.
Yeah, the WA correlation between water temp and attacks is either definitely wrong in totality or just wrong for east coast.
Tadashi was fatally attacked in Feb in probably 23-24 water.
same with Same Edwardes. Attacked at Belongil in Feb in 23-24 water.
Lucky to survive with major injury.
edit: saw your post below nextswell. agree on the myths thing.
You’re correct Dawn, mid incoming tide, my bad. A lot of holes in all the myths though. A lot of activity in the water at the moment. A 4m white cleared the lineup in my area this morning just north of Coffs.
How far north?
20 mins
A similiar Sized Shark was spotted Monday at a local beach, guessing same Beach, North of Coffs by a handful of mullet fishers. Fish wouldn't come around the headland cause of the shark.
Sun / Glare angle around attack time
Near highest part in the sky and nearly directly north. Doesn't look to be a factor?
Going by information on my shark app Tuncury-Forster is easily without question
the white pointer capital of the east coast. Way ahead of Ballina Lennox Head or any other place along the coast. RIP buddy sad day for you family and friends.
On a side note my local remote reef break was visited by a very large white today just
cruising around for hours he was a big fella but didnt ambush anybody. Some guys went in others just kept on surfing.
He had been a Qantas pilot for 21 years.
Heavy and sad news, condolences to his family and friends.
Very sad to hear of this. RIP and condolences to those close.
From above, FR and Tango talking, how about hydrophones as opposed to drones for screening? BD and I were talking about this in one of the shark threads. It's a noisy ocean out there, and individual species can emit distinctive sounds. Algorithm to detect GWS tail fin movement, with the turbulence on the stroke change cavitating and giving away a sound? Multiple hydrophones will allow triangulation of location. Then offshore buoys with flashing lights, or flashing lights on shore.
There seems to be a great chasm between the scientists and the local ocean communities. Well and truly time for independent data sets - yes, some anecdotal - to be generated.
Blowin - you need a bigger boat. The joke was on me when the 4m tiger ate my bottom fish in 120m of water off Exmouth...
There's an idea
I can launch my boat anywhere and it’s much easier for just myself and my first mate ( missus) to handle. It’s got to be able to be towed over dunes and launched at remote beaches. It’s nice being close to the water and action. Compounds the experience and makes the fish more rewarding. I’ll go out with mates in their bigger boats and it’s not really any better, just different and more expensive.
Plenty of times and places when I’m out fishing and bigger boats are stuck on the land. The times that big boats get out when I can’t I’d rather avoid cause it’s usually ugly sea conditions.
I’ll spend less on fuel to go fishing than most fishermen spend at the bakery. Averages about $10 in fuel each trip. If you want to get mercenary about it, that means I’ve got to catch about 250grams of fish meat to justify the expense of fishing*.
*Doesn't include $1,000,000,000,000 spent on tackle.
Sounds handy, like it has its own niche. I'm more reflecting on some WA rumours I heard like disappearing fisherman in tinnies maybe being flipped by them.
Without knowing the tech constraints etc that sounds eminently possible to me, VJ. I wonder why the boffins haven't had a crack at it yet?
I fully agree with the chasm concept. In other areas of concern the authorities usually employ extension staff to act as facilitators or the like with the user groups or affected parties. I'm not sure why that approach hasn't been taken for sharks and surfing.
Looking back on those news reports from Salt last year. That white filmed was apparently 3m. Can't fathom anything larger than that, let alone 50%.
Yeh I know it's sad but there is NOTHING you can do about it..Surfed the Abrolhos for years after stacking cray pots and covered in bait .Saw plenty while stacking said pots ,just took it on.To say government should do this and that ,fuck the government. This reliance on government that people feel the need for I can't understand?Tragedy yes but this constant running to government for answers ,fuck them , life is death is life ,the complete circle balance Tuhan mendekati Horas
Hear hear.
Very subdued down here today. I've never seen Tuncurry Beach so quiet. The town is in shock. I've made mention before of the vision I've captured with the drone and I can't help but think that sting rays are a piece of the puzzle as to why they are in the shallows here. The video up further in this thread (with the kid and mum on surfboards) is in California which also has a known nursery of juvenile GWS. I watched that clip, then another from that guys YT and he clearly identifies the whites there are hunting sting rays.
The media have been grabbing plenty of archival clips from a few other drone guys from here which shows plenty of times these sharks have been just metres away from surfers and have shown absolutely no interest and slowly carry on just swimming up the beach in 2 metres of water.
One thing thing that always has me stumped is why are they in that close in such clear water when it appears so barron? Sure the mullet run and other variables hold merit, but I've also got plenty of footage that's 3-6 months after the mullet runs finished with GWS on Tuncurry Beach. After watching that clip above referencing the sting rays it's reminded me of a few flights where I've actually not seen the sting ray, until it darts off and the sharks definitely seem interested and in a few instances they try chase it briefly. There's been days where there's been huge fevers of Cownose Rays and sand rays on Tuncurry Beach and inside the breakwall, mostly in 2-4ft of water. Is it possible these whites that are slowly cruising in a metre of water that is usually crystal clear are searching for sting rays? If you think about it it kinda makes sense. You can be paddling over the top of one in the surf and look down and the fucker doesn't even move......pretty easy target that's made even easier in 20m visibility and a metre or two of water. Why the need to hunt on reefs when there's miles of beach scattered with sting rays?
Is the surfer paddling away the sting ray?
Surfboard = similar shape/colour
Paddling arms = wings of a ray
Legrope trailing = the tail of a ray
Would simply spraying the underside of surfboards in a technicolour, hippie-inspired colour palette be enough to not have us look like a ray?
Is it plausible? who fucking knows, I'm just grasping for anything that can trick my mind into thinking we're somehow closer to a more concrete understanding why the fuck this keeps happening.
pretty sure thats eactly what the juvis are feeding on, sting rays and fish ...but im also pretty sure that small juvi whites are probably not a problem until they get over 7ft and bigger as they need way more food and sting rays dont cut it.....like a 120kg guy needs way more food than a someone who is 60 kgs.....if you know anything about sharks in general is that they get wider and fill out more after the juvenile stage and being solid muscle pretty much takes a lot of energy to propel them thru the water 24 hrs a day....so naturally whales and dolphins, large fish and giant squid etc will fill their diet and a surfer splashing or even a human swimming will look like prey also keeping in mind they are opportunistic feeders and feed when they can.You rarely hear of a 4 to6 ft white attacking a surfer its always 8ft and up.
The shift in thinking we all face is that it is not necessarily the spooky offshore reef or the grey on grey day after rain or on dusk when you are out alone that is where the increased danger lies. It can be on the sunny day, close to shore, with clear water on any tide that a GW can be cruising by and may or may not choose to attack. Those safe feeling days are in reality not so safe in many localities.
Yep that's definitely the reality.
Blown decades of folk wisdom out of the water.
DanK, pretty sure someone mentioned stingrays are even used as bait for whites so they are definitely after them if there aren’t mullet or salmon schooling.
I think the issue at Tuncurry isn’t so much identifying the presence of the Whites, there are shit loads of them there. If there was more drone or chopper surveillance it would just show more close surfer interactions and result in alarms going off every hour to evacuate the water. Over 1000s of km of coastline I don’t think you can prevent those ongoing interactions.
At some point though, some of those adolescent size sharks must become curious/hungry and change into attack mode. I don’t know how that can be discouraged, hopefully Sharks Eyes, maybe odour deterrents and maybe the SharkSmart drum lines catch and release, but that isn’t a permanent solution.
Definitely agree mate. The crew here have just got used to the fact that yes we are one of a few unique spots on the EC where for whatever reason these sharks have chosen to call home. I've lost count of the amount of interactions between these juveniles and surfers along Tuncurry, as well as the Booti Booti stretch where Colin was hit. You hit the nail on the head about the drones/choppers. Yes it will alert everyone but the simple fact is if they did this every day of the year then Tuncurry Beach would never be surfed again due to their almost daily presence. The reality before this attack was that it's just so frequent that we've all just been forced to accept we are surfing with them daily but also holding onto that thought that it's been ok as they've only been juveniles.
The estimated size of this shark at 4.5m and the fact that it had 3 separate goes at Mark has changed the landscape completely.
Persistent attacks are nothing new. Communication of their existence has been overwhelmed by propaganda about mistaken identity etc.
Agree, although it feels pretty new when it's on your doorstep and you've become so accustomed to knowing that what you thought for the last 5-6yrs were only juveniles in the lineup now isn't the case.
Dan is your vid of White after the Kingy frame in the river avail to watch anywhere ?
I will post it mate. I just scrolled back and found this one a few posts earlier which is pretty eerie. Someone commented about never seeing a shark in their life. This is what a GWS looks like from shore level on a near flat clear day at Tuncurry. Nobody out this day. This was September 2019 and almost the exact spot on the beach where Mark was attacked.
Anyone who has access to any online Aerial imagery (Nearmaps, SixMaps, not sure about google earth) have a look at Tuncurry beach on a sunny day when the oceans is calm and flat. You can always (different dates) see Sharks swimming that beach. Surfed it multiple times before becoming aware of the imagery, probably wouldn't surf that beach now.
Also, surfed a few times inside the entrance, the standing wave on south side and on a big swell the little right up near the fish co-op, plus the bar when it's been on. Gotta wonder about any of that now.
R.I.P.& condolences to this man's family. I live in the area & last season(mullett run& whale migration) seen several juvinile GWS whilst surfing the local beaches. A couple of years ago I also experienced a drive by & suspected investigation by a mature GWS who got caught up in my mates (sitting right beside me) legrope(3m+) The water was very murky(creek mouth nearby the bank we were surfing) & we were close to the beach(maybe 3m). A very close call, however I didn't see the shark but my mate did & was totally freaked out! I've been surfing in this area now for over 30yrs & have noticed a significant increase in GWS numbers over the last 5 or so years. I will no longer surf by myself(which I really used to enjoy) & won't surf dawn or dusk patrol anymore(which used to be my fav. times to surf). The solution seems to be your choice, either take your chances to do something you love or stay on land! My behaviours have changed significantly in the surf over the last several years to try & minimise an attack however the church of the open sky is still my saviour & I will continue to take my chances. I do agree though that we should minimise the risk (like rogue Crocs in the tropics) by targeting the apex predator that kills humans. Smart drumlines may have to become perament fixtures in places that record significant pings. The data from a recent trial in N.S.W. is that 90% of GWS move away from the area once they have been captured & released. It will interesting to see how many surfers paddle out @ Tuncurry nxt time it's on.
Attack sounds like a hit and maim - 5 secs later in for another bite
Does anyone know how far out they were surfing ?
Waist deep and about 40m out
Government will never do anything, only answer is allow a cull of great whites which will never happen, there are people out there trying to save the mice from being poisoned in Western NSW lol.
Surf or don't surf, dawn, dusk, mirky water, sunny day clear morning, it's all just pot luck now.
We all think it won't happen to us until it does, like everything bad.
Conversely, I’d be interested to find out how many crew have seen a pointer in the flesh without getting munched and felt elated for the experience. It’s a shame that the term “magnificent and majestic animal” has been co-opted by the anti-humanist brigade in their attempt to elevate the pointers to deity status, because it’s an extremely apt description. Hard to see one and not be impressed. Particularly the first time. Like seeing a Tyrannosaurus rex strolling through the scrub after you’ve spent your entire life reading and hearing about them.
All life is amazing but a huge predatory fish which moves through its environment with the hypnotic and effortless efficiency of a snake is something else.
I highly recommend parking up on a headland in a pointer hotspot and spending a bit of time trying to catch a glimpse of one if you’ve never seen them before. Beats the shit out of watching those attention seeking, yesterday’s news Humpbacks.
In 40 years of surfing Blowin, mainly on the east coast i have never seen a shark, been in the water a few times when clubbys have got us out and a shark alarm once at Nth Avoca probs 25 years ago. 30 years in Coffs and never seen one.
Only shark i have ever seen while surfing was a reefy in the Maldives.
wow, really?
I wonder if you get an eye for it.
We've seen how close even big sharks can get to you without detection.
I wonder if an experienced eye can pick up the movement?
I'm certain I would have seen some of those whites that got really close to people in some of the drone vids.
I bet if you stand up on some of those nice grass and kangaroo covered headlands North of Coffs and watch patiently then you’d see one sooner rather than later.
Hard to pick a spot as the sharkiest I’ve ever been as it gets to a point where you’re seeing them so regularly at many places that it’s sort of hard to discern a difference. Having said that I’d call Norwest Australia as the most predictable place to spot a shark and perhaps Dirk Hartog Island as potentially the best place in that zone.
First time I put the Sea Wok out off the beach from the bay just inside Steep Point and motored about 100metres out and I had three large tigers trailing just behind me in clear water a few metres deep. No bait, no burley, nothing to attract them beyond the boat itself. Just curious fish. It’s called Shark Bay for a reason.
Blowin , growing up on the West coast of Victoria seeing big GWS's was the norm . I was chased out of the water at Portland when I was 15 , by an 18' fucken submarine/GWS , seen a lot over the years down South and always huge....incredible Dinosaurs of the sea. I have spent a lot of my life studying all the Shark stories and Shark week on National Geo is one of my favourite programs ever...learning about GWS's/tigers /Bulls etc......I am in awe of them they are incredible animals , and I feel really blessed to have seen them in the water with me , used to be scared , but now I have an understanding of them...I have fear of Bull sharks because of their unpredictability....but we don't get them down here so not really an issue.....
Nice to agree on this one Blowin!
What do you mean “chased” Brutus? Care to elaborate on that story? Sounds terrifying.
I’ve heard people say they were chased out of the water then when asked for details they admit they saw a fin 30 meters away and paddled in.
Goofy, we were surfing out on the end of a point and we could see this enormous fin and tail fin about 500 m away , so we came in . It then disappeared so I went back out caught a few waves was paddling back out when the boys started screaming , I looked out to the west nothing so I thought they were just having me on.........I kept paddling and wide set came through , so I caught it........the GWS was behind the wave I caught the boys said the GWS went way out to sea , disappeared and all of a sudden it came from the East, stalking me.....came in thru the key hole looked out.....it was a fucken huge submarine, at that time I was terrified .....about a year later an 18' shark was caught out at the same spot , and was a world record.......a friend Pete Johnno had a similar experience 25 years later , when the 15'+ GWS followed him into the same keyhole , his leggie got caught around the sharks pectoral fin and started draggging him out to sea , he jumped on the head and started to punch it in the eye.....he then disengaged his leggie and lived to tell the story......
Yeah wow that’s full on. You should tell more of your stories here Brutus. There’s gotta be plenty to tell
Jeez, yeah great yarns, thanks for sharing!
Surprises me that there’s not more reports of pointers down that West coast of Vicco. The ocean there feels to me like it’s got that Jurassic Park vibe about it in places.
Being in the presence of an 18 foot pointer would be mind blowing.
Can't say it was a pointer, but a mate and I were surfing a reef near Torquay a few years ago and what I am pretty sure was a shark swam between us and brushed my leg. Kicked it as hard as I could and was like kicking a bullock - didn't budge. Then it came up under his board and he paddled off at Mach 2, which I thought I was doing too until I realised my leggie was wrapped around it. The full Mick.
The old man and I were fishing about a mile out one morning in the 80s when a big white did a drive-by behind the boat. The old man was fishing on the transom with 6 inches of freeboard and a wet arse and saw the sense in the grommet requesting he get in the boat. After a couple of passes behind the boat, it came in for a full inspection next to us. We were in a 15'8" Savage, and it was longer than the boat. It looked about 4ft round. I was terrified. I can't imagine what you'd do if you saw one like that in the water surfing....maybe just hope you didn't see it.
Good question Blowin and great perception...Three years ago at 13th Beach on a 1 to 2ft day at biggest....crystal clear water, sitting out 50m from shoreline -- from nowhere, a 3 m + animal appeared right beside me, virtually stationary --- looking up at me! It took me maybe 5 seconds to thought process -- Not Dolphin, Not seal...Not baby whale....shark....it rolled slightly, swam a circle around me....the girth and side fins were awe inspiring in a strange way.....it swam away....about 20 meters....then turned and was swimming straight back toward me --- distinctly remember my thought which was --- this is not good....No time to panic....tiny wave approached... new my best chance was if I could catch it....I did... and prone into super shallows.....The whole time the shark remained deep.... Vivid memories...feel lucky to have not taken a bite but also feel blessed to have encountered such a natural beast..... I don't know what the answers are and I'm horrified for those who get attacked.... strange times.
I'm going to add one more story which I believe is 100% accurate from the person who told me --- An outstanding photographer from Vicco...now lives on Gold Coast told me his encounter at a now well-known reef near Warrnambool....He was water shooting some great surfers from the period....He went under to clear his lens and was looking through it only to see a huge white swimming to him and around him.... about 200m offshore -- he simply was in shock and swam slowly on his back toward shore expecting to be eaten at any second..... incredibly he got to shore unscathed --- crawled up the slight cliff face still in shock --- people walked to him to ask if he was ok as he looked distressed and....he had completely lost his sense of hearing!! -- They got him to hospital and apparently the medics said that can happen under severe shock....and his hearing gradually returned shortly after..... I've never asked for a medical backup if such would be true but I never doubted the story as it was told so precisely! Maybe if said photog. reads this he could tell it again in his own words!
I had a drive-by close encounter with a juvey 2019 winter.
7/8 ft long.
crystal clear water, sunshine, tiny surf.
was surfing rock runners so took me less than 10 seconds to get back on dry land.
it came in pretty hot, circled at close range then went right underneath me in shallow water.
Freeride- I’d hazard a guess and say that you were actually pretty pumped to have seen it after you realised you’d escaped unharmed. Bust a gut to tell anyone who’d listen and relived the moment in your mind heaps of times.
True?
true enough.
I wrote a story about it.
the most rad thing was when it went underneath me, rolled and eyeballed me.
stayed out of the water for about a week, a little rattled. no drama once I went back in.
great shot of a white eyeballing a boat in this weeks Noosa fishing report
https://www.fishingnoosa.com.au/may0321.htm
one thing to be 50km offshore in a big boat and having it charge the boat - would be another thing completely to be in the water with it and seeing that black eye as it rolled to have a look at you!
When it rains lots, as it has recently, it washes off all the dead creatures from the land into the rivers, this creates a smorgasbord as the many rivers purge into the ocean. The high tides helps this food source for the small>large ocean creatures too. The rain and the river mouths play a big part in this. The rivers and runoff feed the marine parks and aquatic reserves. Fishing can save lives but that won't happen. The creature has dominion over man now.
a couple of years ago was in San Clemente , and Timmy Patterson calls me to come down to the pier....more than 10 GWS's all juveniles no bigger than 10' , all feeding in the shallows, probably 3' deep......that the first time I have seen GW sharks smaller than 15'...we actually were only 10' from them as they were feeding on Stingrays , what an amazing creature , and I surfed perfect lowers with Christian Fletcher later in the day , as no-one but him and I would paddle out the back....
all the surfers were in a group next to each other looking out to sea , we saw a clip from the CCTV camera next day and it showed a 10' white breaching at the end of the left .....in about 3' of water....maybe the future is more sharks less surfers....
Fortune favours the brave
Diving at the mackeral boulders north of the julian rocks years ago i had speared a kingy and swam back to the boat to offload it ,my mate was still in the water and tells me theres a big shark coming in and to get back in the water to check it out...viso was 60ft so you could just make out the bottom.Jumped back in with my unloaded gun as didnt have a chance to load it ,as the bubbles cleared i looked past my mate and couldnt grasp straight away what i was lookin at cause about 20 meters away and slowly coming in was a big white made bigger by the fact it was surrounded by cobia.....first thing you see is the black eye and then the white belly and then the realisation it was a fuken huge pointer and heading our way ...well lucky the boat was close as it was a quick jump back in ......as it swum backwards and forwards under the 16ft clark we were in we reconed it was 5 meters ...big and fat but amazing to see and the adrenaline from that was bullshit....lucky to see it near the boat and not 200 meters away ..only one ive seen ....
Epic
https://www.dorsalwatch.com/report/index.html?id=25194
And 4 tagged yesterday at F/T
A couple I've seen now, the first coming right at me as I kicked off a wave Cow Bay area, alone of course, it did the drive by. The second on the local beachies, a little one, coming in at 45 degrees in the face of a wave - I got to see more of this one and thought its shape and effortlessness of movement were magnificent.
When you see them on drone footage the tail seems to be going side to side quite a bit and they don't seem to move fast, but when you see them yourself the way they move is mesmorising.
In the 30+ years I've been in the water along the entire east coast of NSW, I've never seen one. Seen plenty of baitfish, dolphins, turtles, stingrays, etc but never a noah. I feel like that time is going to come soon at this rate.
I find that extraordinary.
I had a mate visit a few weeks ago and he saw his first shark in the surf whilst he was here. An 8ft bronzey cruising through a wave. He acted nonchalant about it and then mentioned it about a dozen times in the next 24 hours. Buzzed.
I know right! Don't jinx me! I've surfed some pretty sharky spots over the years and during those grey warm over cast days, earlies, lates, the times you used to be usually wary....
RIP MATE!!! Condolences to family and friends!!
7m boat 60k off sunshine beach Noosa had a white circle and charged in wanting a piece of the shiney propeller. Wasn't much smaller than the boat. Last weekend. Time of year again,....
It certainly crosses my mind whilst I’m in my little tub. Then I see the crew fishing offshore in kayaks and figure that if they’re getting away with it then surely I can...
Wow!!! Lucky it was in a chilled mood!! No burly I guess. What a rush!!!
used to be a little crew of kayak fishos here who would fish the close reefs for snapper.
not one of them still does it.
too many whites.
I found a bloke out fishing on his own in a kayak about 2 kms offshore the other day. Crazy stuff. Just takes a little nudge....( touch wood it doesn’t happen)
guy around here was fishing the mackerel boulder in a tinny and was tight to a tuna.
white circled him, then charged the boat, knocked him out.
he climbed back in, landed the tuna.
went and told the dive boats at Julian rocks, got back to the beach and collapsed.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/lismore/great-white-escape-sh...
FFS
remember this one
https://www.9news.com.au/national/great-white-shark-likely-responsible-f...
Kenny and Davo......those legs weren't going anywhere near fast enough......
Ahh, I should have read all comments,has already been said. Have a joyous winter doing what we love!!
Brutus i think that shark is still there i know a bloke who was surfing there about a year ago and seen a giant black shape while he was on a wave and thought oh theres an orca ...the orca then turned into a giant GWS and nailed a big seal ..he didnt get to the keyhole went strait up onto the shelf ...that place always feels sharky ...there was also a bloke recently in port campbell area that was harassed by 4 to 5 mtr GWS for over 20 minutes pushing him around and nudging him he was in the channel after flicking of a wave so he was wide of the sets he kept pushing his board at it and facing it waiting for a set to come and couldnt paddle back into the zone .... not paddling of in a panic saved him ..he then nosed dive on the first wave and thought im fuked now but got the next one to the beach and celebrated like he just won the lotto ...pretty experienced relaxed bloke i think not panicking saved him but fuk it would be hard not to just paddle of like maniac in that situation
Shit!!! 20mins would have felt like hours freeballing with that thing.
Bears are very different from sharks but some interesting points to note from safety in Bear country advice:
The only predictor of bear attacks in Alaska was bear density but interestingly, the fewer the bears, the more likely the problem if you come across one.
As hard as it may be, you should never run away from a bear if it starts to move towards you.
- surfers have some control over this option but you almost have to rehearse the scenario in your mind to have a hope of following it.
There has never been a single incident in all of North America in which a bear has attacked a group of people who were bunched up (an attack did occur on a group spread along a trail). Bears are risk-averse: They will avoid you if you group up.
- harder for surfers to follow this advice but there are benefits in crowded spots (but what an annoying solution).
Predators don’t run through a checklist of potential responses. They just act.
- over analysing tide, light, season, behavioral studies, data etc. only helps somewhat.
The biggest bit of advice overall was "Don’t go into bear country without a deterrent"
-surfers out in the water are generally totally lacking in this regard. The number one mitigating factor is not getting enough attention.
Shark Shield devices although not 100% effective have to be part of the equation.
But maybe we also need something that it is a tool to help with a sighted encounter situation not just a non stop protection from the unseen.
My shark baton idea (see further up thread above) has some merit.
Maybe some form of device could be developed that creates a short term deterrent i.e. intense noise underwater or short term intense electric field once triggered as an option to deal with encounters where you see the shark first (there are lots of those) - to give you space to retreat.
Not many people in bear country are expecting government to fix things.
when I was in Alaska I stayed with a guy who was right into hunting.
this was grizzly/brown bear country.
he never went anywhere without bear spray, and a .44 magnum.
I'm not sure we should all carry .44s around, though it could eliminate drop ins quite quickly.
Apologies if it's been raised before on other fora, but that idea of the short term deterrent seems to have a lot of potential. Let's say someone has a shark shield-type device with a 3hr battery life, and a noah pops up to say hello at the 30 minute mark. Could you use the remaining 2.5 hours of juice to crank it up and scare the beastie off?
Was the most recent bloke - J.L. - Duck ?
Anyone see pictures of the guy up north in his hi Vis work shirt riding a crocodile, holding a rope that had the Crocs mouth tied shut. Takes surfing to the next level...
Yeah JL
Fuk not sure if its a good idea to carry batons around ....but could be entertaining
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-21/wa-shark-attack-off-broome-in-wa-...
Tiger Shark today
Non Fatal.
I've had a grovel at that beach N of Broome.
This was great to go over again....bit heated at times.
https://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2015/08/11/north-coast-shark-a...
little nibble - little dorsal
https://www.itemfix.com/v?t=2s9azz
If that white wasn't big enough, it's the bigger fish that bit its dorsal off that would have me worried.....
An oldie but a goody in w.a in 2012......takes a bit of jaw pressure to bite thru a kayak......victim says he was surprised that it came from the direction of the beach not deep water......
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/shark-attacks-surf...
Like I've mentioned before, I used to work close to the guys who ran the NSW shark meshing research, and they said most of the sharks were caught on the inside of the net, not the outside.
7.15 am East sunrise glare
Once upon a time in Africa, certain surfers use to pay the local kids to paddle outside the lineup, and up and down the point while the surfers surfed feeling a little more settled knowing one of the kids would surely get hit before them. I see a lot off eshays and town rats to be perfect candidates to make them do it for free at certain breaks here in OZ. But I couldn't do that to one of them let alone a kid.
My point is, could do a trial dummy on a surfboard flounder paddling around a Bouy out the back aways, no bait or burly ( with a camera, hit detector, sirens, bull zapper or something) to let people know there is a hungry, willing to bite anything shark not far away. Probably be going off all the time but it's worth a thought.
not a bad idea freesurfer, could be both a warning signal and a research tool
I think that's a potentially very bad idea which could lead to conditioning of sharks for human shapes.
But I think those surfers paying kids to be bait is possibly the lowest act I've ever heard of. What absolute caarnts. That's fair game for name and shame IMO.
Not if you zap them with a major electric shock, if they have a bite or engaged in some way. Most sharks that are captured and released for dorsal ping, leave the scene in a hurry and don't come back???
?
Tango I'll call that story about the local kids bullshit. I never heard of that in all my years frequenting that area if that's the area I think is being referred to. We used to pay the local kids to sit on the headland as spotters if the water was clear. Most of the locals could hardly swim, let alone paddle a surfboard and make it out the back.
The whole system is out of Whack!! If the GW is protected,so should the tuna, mullet etc..!! Nothing is going to change anytime soon, rape and pillage the sea beyond repair. Shark finning!!! Five or ten people a winter is never going to change a billion dollar fishing industry. Push the quota to pay the licensing, for fat cats that don't give a shit.
Did the Whitesharks ever return to Capetown?
Go to 7:30 remaining in the Cibilic v O'Brien semi-final. Pretty sure Morgan paddled past a shark:
https://www.worldsurfleague.com/posts/473513/rip-curl-rottnest-search-pr...
Yep!
na it was seaweed...you guys are tripping
Thought i saw that too!
Looks like kelp popping up to me
It could be, there was a bit of kelp around the line-up. It's a bit of a saggy looking fin, but it faces back towards what looks like a secondary fin, and there's boils in the water too (although he was paddling across the boily shallow section). I'm leaning towards shark but not sure.
There's the dorsal fin and then the tail. I reckon shark.
For a split second it actually looks like dorsal fin, secondary fin and tail at the same time
Kelp. Saggy, ragged looking, back bit bobs up with the swell / chop like buoyant kelp would. Some big ones probably cruised by unseen though. Unless the WSL secret forces underwater + Charlie, got to them first and wrestled them into submission.
Fark! I was on the phone to a mate watching that and saw it as well, but we were talking about WA and sharks so I didn't mention it for fear of being paranoid. There you go. Kelp or bitey I'm not sure.
So Sonar on boat didnt pick it up ?
Whatever it was tag and release it no questions asked.
Rotto is a stop off for whites travelling up and down the west coast so just another day.
I don't know why I read this whole thing, compelled I s'pose. Now I feel a bit sick.