Another Shark in Perth area

[Maples]

The big difference with this attack was the behaviour of the shark. Where the majority of gws attacks are 'one bite' tastes, this took half of him, and then came back for the other half. The dive community in W. Aus definitely think this is relevant! If we were still diving there we would be using a shark shield, never felt the need before - certainly not that far up the coast.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Thnx for sharing

 

[ozzydamo]

There appears to be a lot of sharky activity, especially in the last 2 weeks.There was a couple of near misses last week
1. 2 spearos got a close visit from a white pointer a little further north up the coast
2. A surfer on a perth beach was approached by another pointer a few days later.
3. Also the shark detection units along the city beaches detected a tagged pointer travelling up & down within 500 m of the local beaches.

Then unfotunately we had the attack at the weekend.
My opinion is there are more whales travelling up the coast these days and hence more sharks. For example last weekend there was a large Southern right whale less than 50 m from my local beach. I have never seen a large whale so close to shore.
At the moment white sharks are protected but i fear 1 more attack and the cull will start

Look, I'd go the other way- I claim that the bio-mass reduction in the overall food chain is creating this problem- so the real reason is overfishing, shark are working the area that commercial fishers haven't effected so terribly.....
Hungry sharks do rash things....divers beware, these critter aren't pets, wild and deadly- hug the bottom if you see one(like a triggerfish would).

 

[Bali Diver]

@ferris213 yes on average around 15 incidents a year in Australian waters,resulting in 1 death.So it is strange and alarming in one area of Australia 5 deaths in last 10 months as well as other incidents.What are shark shield devices.

Think the area covers 200 miles of all incidents,which is not a large area for a white pointer and will not be good for tourism and the image of sharks.

Also as Maples states the behaviour of the attack is strange also and i did not think that white pointers were seen that far up north at wedge island,what is their territory usually on west and east coast southern waters

It is said that surfers are mistaken for seals/tutles etc.. i would think if that was the case there would be more incidents.

Is there shark cage diving in the Perth area

It all very sad and i hope we can find some answers.

 

[Kevster]

There is a lot of discussion on our local dive website "wadivers". Some insteresting stuff you may want to check it out.
The Shark Shield produces a unique conductive field that surrounds the wearer. Sharks are sensitive to this field and when they approach too close to the wearer, the field causes muscular spasms in the shark, that result in the shark feeling discomfort.
. They cost approx $800. Some surfers,divers & swimmers are now using these.

White shark sightings range from Albany all the way up to Exmouth (perhaps 1500-2000 km). The 5 fatal attacks in the last 10 months have all been within approx 200-400 kms around the Perth area.

White sharks have been tracked all the way from the Neptune Islands in South Australia. They travel along South Aus, then all the way up the WA coastline to Exmouth before heading back South. Some other sharks have been tracked travelling from S.Africa to WA. it has been reported there is not a residential population of whites in WA(not sure i believe this) and therefore there is no shark cage diving here. Generally South WA is known to be sharky, (from Albany to Margaret river).
I would like to think the fish population around Aus is not being overfished compared to elsewhere in the world so i do not think that is the reason for the increased attacks.
Check out the following link

http://underwater.com.au/article/id/7395/

 

[ferris213]

Is there shark cage diving in the Perth area

I read last week that the WA government had announced they would not allow shark cage diving in the state. They said they had not had any applications yet, but they were letting everyone know that they weren't going to let it happen. I would link the story but I can't remember where I read it.

Does anyone know if there is evidence that individual sharks can learn to associate humans with an easy source of food?

 

[Bali Diver]

@Kevster very interesting,thanks for links,can you give me direct link to wadivers.did not realise they went as far as exmouth.As for shark shield,never knew about that,interesting bit of kit.pretty clever really.

It really is strange all these incidents.it's really hard to say why.could it be the same shark,who knows or a sick/old shark

---------- Post Merged at 06:05 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 05:55 PM ----------

I read last week that the WA government had announced they would not allow shark cage diving in the state. They said they had not had any applications yet, but they were letting everyone know that they weren't going to let it happen. I would link the story but I can't remember where I read it.

Does anyone know if there is evidence that individual sharks can learn to associate humans with an easy source of food?

yes thats correct WA will not allow shark cage diving in the state,if anyone apply's.

 

[DandyDon]

This article Live sheep exports blamed for WA shark attacks | News.com.au has some logic. If they are shipping live sheep, then many will die - it happens, be thrown over, and attract sharks.

 

[Kevster]

This article Live sheep exports blamed for WA shark attacks | News.com.au has some logic. If they are shipping live sheep, then many will die - it happens, be thrown over, and attract sharks.

yep, i also read this, but it is total nonsense. These guys are trying to ban live exports from Aus and are trying to jump on the shark attack bandwagon to justify there case. It makes no sense. I know it was reported to be a factor in the shark attacks in Egypt a couple of years ago, but it is VERY unlikely to be a factor here in Aus. These live export ships load up in Fremantle and head to the middle East. Very unlikely they will be dumping sheep at the START of their trip. Also most of the attacks/sightings are no where near the route the ships take, (even assuming the currents could sweep the dead sheep). 2 of the attacks occured approx 100 km south of Perth, another one 200 Km north of Perth. These ships head North West as soon as they leave port. This story is crap IMHO.!!!
.


Here is the link for WA divers forum. There are normally lots of sharky related posts here, as there are regular sightings throughout the year by fishermen, divers, spearos..
West Australian Divers • View forum - General Discussion

and a link to the cull/dont cull debate.
http://www.wadivers.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8136
At the moment these sharks are protected but i fear 1 more attack and the cull will start. What is dissappointing is the number of local water users who seem to pro cull.

 

[DandyDon]

These live export ships load up in Fremantle and head to the middle East. Very unlikely they will be dumping sheep at the START of their trip.

It may well be bunk, but have you ever handled sheep? Yeah, they'll start dying before they finish loading, and get dumped as soon as they are far enough out.