Shark Attack Perth

[IFocus]

Sadly it looks like 51-year-old man may have lost his life to a shark attack at Port Kennedy.

No doubt the media will be all over this

His family have made the statement that they don't want the shark killed, good on them that takes courage.

I surf regularly just around the corner hopefully it may drop the crowd level but I doubt it.

Shark attacks used to be very rare in the southern part of WA but some thing changed about 7 to 10 years ago and we lose some one regularly in very close.

 

[tech/a]

Hell you have to be un lucky!

We have a 16 ftr hanging around Moana Seaford and spotted at Grange.

Was 30 mtrs from shore last week with police called to remove crowds.
I run along the beach most mornings and still see the odd one swimming a k or so parallel to the beach and 2-300meters out.

Shark bait!

 

[Wysiwyg]

Never saw a shark, even in summer with the salmon schools around.

 

[chops_a_must]

Our fisheries must be in ordinary shape if they are coming 5-10 metres off shore...

 

[knocker]

Sadly it looks like 51-year-old man may have lost his life to a shark attack at Port Kennedy.

No doubt the media will be all over this

His family have made the statement that they don't want the shark killed, good on them that takes courage.

I surf regularly just around the corner hopefully it may drop the crowd level but I doubt it.

Shark attacks used to be very rare in the southern part of WA but some thing changed about 7 to 10 years ago and we lose some one regularly in very close.

Sad. But it does make the sport more exciting

 

[travwj]

Pretty unlucky indeed. SW WA does seem to be having more attacks lately. Attacks are still very rare, but i must agree with chops...the fisheries must be in a pretty sad state for sharks to be re3gulary spotted in close to shore. Good to see the family want the shark left alone, after all when we get in the surf we are in their world.

Trav

 

[It's Snake Pliskin]

Our fisheries must be in ordinary shape if they are coming 5-10 metres off shore...

Sharks swim in limited depths of water at any time. One was recorded doing a trans continental swim from Australia to South Africa.

 

[It's Snake Pliskin]

Sadly it looks like 51-year-old man may have lost his life to a shark attack at Port Kennedy.

No doubt the media will be all over this

His family have made the statement that they don't want the shark killed, good on them that takes courage.

I surf regularly just around the corner hopefully it may drop the crowd level but I doubt it.

Shark attacks used to be very rare in the southern part of WA but something changed about 7 to 10 years ago and we lose someone regularly in very close.

This is what happens when humans get too far to the left. The right comes back to bite!

Whales are in record numbers and are a hazard for shipping.

The Great White Shark is protected and is growing in numbers. More attacks. (also higher population of humans that are more daring)

Crocodiles in the north are growing in numbers and hunting humans in areas.

How long are we to excuse our own existence?

 

[chops_a_must]

Sharks swim in limited depths of water at any time. One was recorded doing a trans continental swim from Australia to South Africa.

Yes. It's very shallow out there in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

 

[IFocus]

This is what happens when humans get too far to the left. The right comes back to bite!

Whales are in record numbers and are a hazard for shipping.

Snake this is wrong whales are not in record numbers, the food chain is no longer there to support the numbers that once roamed oceans surprised by your comment.

The Great White Shark is protected and is growing in numbers. More attacks. (also higher population of humans that are more daring)

Again I think wrong, issue is not numbers of great whites but numbers of their food source.

Google fishery's, here in WA the minister for fishery's just over turned various bans on fishing (Moore = pick) when clearly there is a problem.

How long are we to excuse our own existence?

More chance of dying on the way to the beach.........

 

[nick2fish]

This Great White in this case was a monster and did not look like he was struggling to find food to me. (obviously a bit peekish)
It seems to me that there is nearly one death a year in WA (southwest) in the last four.
Great Whites eat seals and probably because their own population is increasing ,resulting in tradition hunting areas becoming overcrowded, they are now being pushed into areas less productive.
There is a seal colony near Rockingham and a human diver/surfer can closely resemble a seal.
If a great white is hungry he may just fail to tick all the boxes
Anyways I challenge the theory that great white species is in decline

 

[IFocus]

Great Whites eat seals and probably because their own population is increasing ,resulting in tradition hunting areas becoming overcrowded, they are now being pushed into areas less productive.

Great white population increasing how? fish stocks are in decline.

Anyways I challenge the theory that great white species is in decline

Nick interested on what basis you believe this

 

[nick2fish]

Are seal populations in decline as well?... because that is the great white preferred food source.
The great whites and seals have this in common... they are both protected.
However the seal still has a number of species above it in the food chain, the white shark none.
In Sydney yesterday a great white tipped a Kayaker into the water and circled while the man was rescued by some fishermen.
If a species is in decline you hardly expect to see more of them than usual do you ???

Also interested in what bases you feel that their population is in decline.

Because of general fish stock decline??? The white is top of the food chain and therefore has multiple food source options.

They have even been documented hunting together recently, so baby whales maybe next on the list.

 

[doctorj]

My condolences should anyone that knew him read this.

Atleast it looks like the poor sod died doing what he loved - he was recently on the cover of the Western Angler.

 

[skint]

Are seal populations in decline as well?... because that is the great white preferred food source.
The great whites and seals have this in common... they are both protected.
However the seal still has a number of species above it in the food chain, the white shark none.
In Sydney yesterday a great white tipped a Kayaker into the water and circled while the man was rescued by some fishermen.
If a species is in decline you hardly expect to see more of them than usual do you ???

Also interested in what bases you feel that their population is in decline.

Because of general fish stock decline??? The white is top of the food chain and therefore has multiple food source options.

They have even been documented hunting together recently, so baby whales maybe next on the list.

There are so few shark attacks in Australia for the data to be even remotely statistically significant. it is also important to be mindful of the importance of species at the top of the food chain. For example, when a lion in Africa makes a kill, it feeds large numbers of species from birds, hyennas, microbes that replenish the soil, and a great many other species. In other words, a vital component in a finely balanced ecosystem. Sharks serve the same purpose in the ocean. Similar to many large, land dwelling predators, they also reach a reproductive age only after many years, and breed infrequently. A classic candidate for the endangered list. This, from the Australian Government's website:

Biology and Ecology
Great White Sharks are large, rare, warm-blooded apex marine predators. It is estimated that they mature at 12-18 years for females and 8-10 years for males. Maximum length is 6.4 metres, though specimens of up to 7 metres may exist. Great White Sharks reproduce only one every two to three years and produce between two and ten pups per litter. Further information and references on the biology and ecology of the species can be found in the White Shark Recovery Plan.

Distribution
The Great White Shark is widely distributed throughout temperate and sub-tropical regions in the northern and southern hemispheres. It is most frequently found off Southern Australia, South Africa, northern California and the north-eastern United States. In Australian waters the Great White Shark's range extends primarily from southern Queensland, around the southern coastline and to the North West Cape in Western Australia. Further information and references on the distribution of this species can be found in the White Shark Recovery Plan.

Population status and trends
Despite a general scarcity of data on the Great White Shark's population size, there appears to be an overall, long-term decline in abundance of Great White Sharks in Australian waters. Globally, there has been a reported decline of between 60-95% in Great White Shark numbers in the last 50 years. Detailed information and references on the population status and trends of the species can be found in Australia and Madagascar's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II nomination. Read the Great White Shark CITES nomination.

Threats
The main threats faced by Great White Sharks in Australian waters include interactions with commercial and recreational fisheries, shark control activities, trade, tourism and tag and release activities. Detailed information and references on these threats can be found in the White Shark Recovery Plan.


And from Wikipedia:

Conservation status
It is unclear how much a concurrent increase in fishing for great white sharks had to do with the decline of great white shark population from the 1970s to the present. No accurate numbers on population are available, but populations have clearly declined to a point at which the great white shark is now considered endangered. Their reproduction is slow, with sexual maturity occurring at about 12-15 years of age, the population, therefore, can take a long time to rise.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (C.I.T.E.S.) has put the great white shark on its 'Appendix II' list of endangered species. The shark is targeted by fishermen for its jaws, teeth, and fins, and as a game fish. The great white shark, however, is rarely an object of commercial fishing, although its flesh is considered valuable. If casually captured (it happens for example in some tonnare in the Mediterranean), it is sold as smooth-hound shark.

From April 2007 great white sharks are fully protected within 200 nautical miles (370 km) of New Zealand and additionally from fishing by New Zealand-flagged boats outside this range.[35]

 

[awg]

Dont know how many Great Whites were around in the past, but a couple of years ago, some beach fisherman started catching them of the beach at Stockton NSW.

They were reeling in quite a few each day, up to 6ft long.

method, paddle a surfboard out into the break, drop a salmon bait, surf quickly back in.

they were trying to break the world record for weight of a beach caught fish. (They almost did)

their success attracted national media attention, and some follow up research.

(the fishermen got banned)

the research found large gatherings of juvenile Great Whites in the gulf.

lots of guys surf there.

at my local break, there is a point that the young guys surf.

I have spoken to locals who reckon they are mad and that 50 yrs ago, that point was "boiling with sharks" and that it is a natural habitat for female Great whites to give birth. I personally would never go there.

just last week my son reckons something grabbed his legrope and gave it a hard yank

 

[nick2fish]

Biology and Ecology

Population status and trends
Despite a general scarcity of data on the Great White Shark's population size, there appears to be an overall, long-term decline in abundance of Great White Sharks in Australian waters. Globally, there has been a reported decline of between 60-95% in Great White Shark numbers in the last 50 years. .[35]

Cheers Skint

If data is scarce now just how scarce was it 50 years ago ???
What are they comparing data too?
One fact is there are more great white attacks now than 50yrs ago, though of course humans are using the sharks domain in greater numbers and frequency.
But if you looked at a photo of Bondi Beach in the 60's it was pretty crowded
and also the scene of some shark attack activity.
Anyway I am not advocating a cull just questioning assumptions
Cheers

 

[It's Snake Pliskin]

It seems GW'S are being sighted more off NSW.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=663153

Al McGlashan claimed his crew found an average of 16 2-3m long great whites per day

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

I have noted an association between those episodes of tiresome people who try to save beached whales and shark attacks.

Both have increased over the last 20 years.

You cannot interfere with nature and expect no response.

gg

 

[Wysiwyg]

The ocean ... the last great frontier ... thank hadron we can`t breathe underwater.