Sharkniña: How the weather's feeding a baby shark boom along the east coast
Aerial shot of a surfer catching a wave as a bull shark swims by (Photo: Southern Cross University)
Could a weather phenomenon affect the number of sharks along Australia's east coast?
Absolutely, says Bond University associate professor of environmental science Daryl McPhee.
A La Niña event, which Australia is experiencing, is typically associated with wetter-than-average conditions for northern and eastern Australia, particularly in certain months that include summer.
According to Professor McPhee, significant rains often lead to an increase in shark activity and sightings, as swollen rivers and creeks flush food sources into estuaries.
"Particularly in summer, we certainly do start to see more sharks, particularly bull sharks in coastal waters," Professor McPhee said.
"It's a very productive time [after rain] and we see lots of sharks because there's good feed on offer."
Bull sharks are known to breed in warmer months, and are particularly active in estuaries (Photo: Jayne Jenkins )
He said this time of the year was also breeding season for bull sharks, meaning there are many more juvenile sharks about.
"There's mullet moving in and out of the river mouths with the rain and other species. It's also the time of the year for the bull sharks to be breeding," he said.
"So female bull sharks move into the estuaries this time of year during the late summer months to give birth, and then there's lots of small sharks that are growing in those river systems, and over time they will disperse as they grow.
"So you would definitely expect to see more bull sharks this time of the year, adjacent to river and creek mouths."
Popular creeks a bull shark nursery
Professor McPhee said the broadwater around Runway Bay, Tallebudgera Creek and Currumbin Creek were well-known spots for shark sightings and breeding, particularly near any openings to the ocean.
"The first thing that a just-born bull shark does is try and swim upriver as fast as it can to get away from mum, because mum has a tendency of eating the children," he said.
"Bull sharks try to find as much shallow water initially as possible then they start to feed and move around a bit more until they become larger sharks and gently move out of the river systems, but they do move in and out of the river systems as well over time.
The Gold Coast's popular Tallebudgera Creek is a breeding ground for bull sharks (Photo: Dominic Cansdale)
"Most of the Queensland east coast is an important nursery area for bull sharks."
Professor McPhee said the activity should decline by about April to May.
"You expect to see a change in the marine system with the onset of westerly winds, which generally occurs April and May, so that's a period of time where you get a shift," he said.
"You start to get less rainfall and you start to get a shift from a summer-dominated inshore coastal system to the fall-winter system, so there should be large numbers of sharks hanging around with our weather system of tomorrow with the La Niña system.
"The rainfall should be hanging around creek and river mouths for at least a couple more months."
© Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
Comments
And then after May, the mullet and salmon spawning runs, whale migration, stalling east coast current: here come the great whites!
Related: Medium sized bull sharks make awesome fish n chips or grilled steaks
"Professor McPhee said the activity should decline by about April to May."
Doesn't gel with obs and Bull Shark sightings/encounters here which sync with the major mullet runs in April May.
Also, not sure what they mean about "sightings".
In this La Niña year there hasn't been a single bull shark sighting here because water is too dirty/turbid.
Seems like typical lazy mainstream media reporting on this subject.
Not sure chatting with one of the leading experts in the field is lazy reporting, but sure, you tell em FR.
It is lazy sensationalist crap whatever way you cut it.
There's nothing new in bull sharks having more pups in La Nina season. I read in another ABC article that the esteemed Professors 'sighting' observations largely comes from anecdotal evidence from social media.
And how would you wish for observations to me made tubeshooter? Want a team in scuba sitting off the north wall scour holes sending updates 24/7? Should he just ignore the recorded data because its on social media?
Social media posts aren't part of any scientific fisheries data base or stock assessment that I know of.
What i got out of all that jibberish, is that the mum's got a bit of a mean streak!!
Is this a fishing tip? What's the legal limit on baby bulls? Grilled steaks mmm
haha The majority of those baby bull sharks are going to get cleaned up by more than their fat mother. Tiger sharks love em.
Are juvies any good eating?
Wondering just in case we were to jag one.
To be honest I don't know , never eaten one . But most 'pups' and small sharks are OK to eat and generally pretty good.. (unless protected of course).
https://www.sydneypremiumcharters.com.au/bull-shark-fishing-seasons-sydney/
For the sake of karma, I may continue contributing towards a 0-0 score.
Absolutely beautiful ..under 1mt sweet as
QLD fisheries management has made to hard to operate as commercial shark fisherman with reporting closed areas VMS etc so you wont see anybody targeting shark ..There were a hand full of off shore commercial shark netting entitlements ( N6 ) allocated in QLD around 2004 a big reduction from a few hundred which could target shark none are being used its to hard to operate with compliance rules and area restrictions vessel monitoring etc etc ...all to sway ill informed voters and keep the WWF machine happy ....
List of Known fauna species Extinctions in Australia
frogs (4)
reptiles (1)
birds (22)
mammals (39)
other animals (1)
Threatened with extinction (critically endangered)
fishes (8)
frogs (17)
reptiles (9)
birds (17)
mammals (9)
other animals (29)
Endangered
fishes (20)
frogs (8)
reptiles (20)
birds (59)
mammals (41)
other animals (24)
Facts/ Data Source Australian Gov't Website
https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicthreatenedlist...
Dont swim in dirty water, as they 'feel' prey with their teeth.
Bull sharks are the goanna's of the waterways; eating the dead & sick after floods, storms & land clearing.
Clearing & draining floodplains, wetlands & mangroves (eg. grazing land, cane farms and canal developments) oxidises acid sulphate soils during droughts, resulting in massive fish kills as La Nina floodwaters drop in rivers,..... increasing bull shark numbers in the estuaries on the east coast of NSW.
"Acid sulfate soils may affect more than 260,000 hectares of land. About 150,000 hectares of this land are in agricultural production."
"The largest areas are the coastal floodplains of northern NSW, particularly those of the Tweed, Richmond, Clarence, Macleay and Hastings rivers. Other notable locations include the Hunter and Shoalhaven rivers."
Source: NSW Govt Websites
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/land-and-soil/soil-degradation...
https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/habitat/threats/acid-sulfate-soils
Acid sulphate has been researched and reported about for 30 years.
Taxpayers are about to spend a billion trying to repair land clearing that is affecting the Great Barrier Reef.
Baby shark doo doo doo doo
Made some joke, then I saw a few posts down about a shark attack, then deleted.
"with our weather system of tomorrow with the La Niña system"
I wonder if that was intentional, could be a bold prediction!
Huge gutter and run off at the local. No wonder the alarms are going off
Bring back shark fin soup it works better than viagra.
Non fatal attack at Esperance today. Sounds like the girl was very lucky. Doctors saved her life in hospital. Bitten on torso by 3m white pointer. Same beach that all the attacks happen, Kelp Beds. She was floating 50m offshore in an inflatable ring. Heavy. So stoked she's probably gonna survive.
She was about 200m offshore when attacked but yes awesome news she should be OK.
How&why the f*** would she be out there? Totally crazy
40 degree plus weather and crystal clear sparkling water. But yeah, that stretch of coast these days is a bit of a lottery.
Just read this Ray. This tells a bit of the story....spooky.
"A young woman was bitten near Kelp Beds beach when the pool ring she was in blew about 200 metres off the coast just before midday.
Mr Brown said he and his brothers had been nervously watching her drift for about half an hour prior to the attack and were concerned given the region's reputation for sharks.
"She just seemed to be getting deeper and deeper and deeper," Mr Brown said.
"Then we actually saw a figure under the [pool ring] and we weren't quite sure whether it was a dolphin or what it was.
"Then it knocked her off — we could see the shark's tail come out of the water and into the air."
He said the woman waved her arms and started calmly swimming on her back, with one hand holding her side, returning to shore.
"The shark actually circled the [pool ring] a couple of times and then took back off into the blue."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-07/young-woman-stable-after-kelp-bed...
Woah,so she got out there accidentally,that's scary,like a scene from a movie!! surely thered be warning signs there but like you said,40' temps and crystal clear water.. Then it just left the scene while she slowly made her way to shore,bleeding. What goes on in the minds of those creatures ....we may never know
Yeah it does have a Jaws element to it. I think they've decided to put signs up now. She's so lucky. Imagine the thoughts going through her mind swimming back to shore for 200m. Heavy.
Agree, you are asking for trouble on that stretch
It's impossible to know for certain, but this seems like it might've been territorial? Just a warning bite to leave the vicinity, and she responded in a way that satisfied the shark, so it left? Obviously speculation on my part...
large GWS circling surfers at crescent head late arvo yesterday - Dorsal Nth NSW Shark reports facebook page
We have had large number of shark sightings in Port Phillip bay this summer, in close to shore and mostly identified as Bronze whalers who breed around Mud island. However my son was 30 meters offshore with a mate and swam to a boat, then less than 15 sec after they climbed aboard a white Pointer swam past them in crystal clear water at the surface... it was unmistakable, they estimated it to be 4m in length. A few days later video was shown on social medial of a large White Pointer off Safety beach approx, 5 km away! What is going on down her? La Nina? Tuna?
Heaps of tuna and kingfish around the heads I’m guessing?
That’s nuts about your son, where was it?
I had a small one swim under me at 13th beach recently ( I guess about 4’) and a surf mate and I were chased out of the water at torquay earlier in summer when a bigger one went under him ..have heard of quite a few other sightings around too .. so yeah looking forward to this current weather pattern to p’ off.. and hoping for some actual waves again too
the enviro protection and biodiversity conservation act 99' - is the problem / cull GWS
There are a lot of bullsharks where i live and they haven't attacked anyone with lots of bullsharks in the river and surf spots but no attacks yet, people swim in the river every day even in winter, no attacks...maybe as there are enough fish.
We used to meet up every year at Tallebudgera with family. Swim all day in the creek, surf the backside of Burleigh, or over at the beach behind where the Playroom (used to be) until our shark incident in 2018.
I would say the bull shark (Assumed) that scoped out my 15-year-old from around a metre away was around 8 feet long. It circled him (as he was bodysurfing). I got him on the nose of my longboard and we caught the next wave into the beach prone.
We got to the beach and looked at each other and then realized we had to either walk the bridge back to our families on the Burleigh side of Tally Creek or swim it.
He said to me Dad, how about you swim it back over and I will paddle over on the longboard :)