CSIRO researchers find shallows off NSW coast home to 250 young great white sharks
Date
January 17, 2014
Up to 250 juvenile great white sharks are living off the NSW coast and spending a lot of time off beaches in depths of one to five metres, CSIRO research has found.
Tagged great whites have been tracked swimming along the coast from Lake Macquarie to Seal Rocks. These sharks are ''abundant along a section of coastal waters in the Port Stephens region'' from about September to January each year, the study says.
The sharks are residing along three beaches: northern Stockton, which is south of the Port Stephens estuary, and Bennetts (also known as Hawks Nest Beach) and Mungo Brush to its north. Satellite tracking showed juvenile white pointers occupied waters from inshore to depths of 120 metres, about 25 kilometres offshore.
''They spend a significant amount of time in the surf zone in water depths of one to five metres, where they are readily observable and frequently encountered by the public,'' a CSIRO report said.
Research in 2010 and 2011, based on tagging and monitoring, estimated the sharks spend ''an average of 36.5 per cent'' of their time off Port Stephens in ''near-shore waters including the surf zone''.
In 2012-13, great whites were recorded spending 20 per cent of their time in the surf zone.
''This study provides further confirmation the Port Stephens region is a key nursery area for juvenile white sharks in eastern Australia,'' the report said.
A CSIRO statement said the ''frequency of encounters between people and sharks can be high'' in the area, but the frequency of attacks was ''very low''.
Surf lifesavers said attacks off this coast were rare, but there had been two recent attacks in the port itself, off Jimmys Beach.
CSIRO researcher Barry Bruce said the objectives of the 2007-13 research were to ''determine the survival rate of juveniles and adults and provide estimates of abundance of juveniles''.
The CSIRO said a new project this year would develop techniques for ''a population assessment'' for great white sharks.
''An assessment is necessary to understand whether the species is recovering,'' a statement said. ''The project will advance efforts to halt the decline of marine biodiversity through supporting the recovery of a threatened species, the [great] white shark.''
The CSIRO program at Port Stephens involved tagging great whites and doing aerial surveys.
The sharks were usually 1.8 to 2.6 metres in length. Some were up to 3.5 metres long. The sharks commonly departed the Port Stephens area from December to January.
......But where do they "depart" to?
Run for your lives people, there are sharks in the ocean!
When they learn to walk, we'll all be screwed ;)
At least it's nearly February, you'll all be safe in NSW as it's only dangerous from Sept to Jan.
Gee I thought it was only FIFO mine workers we were sending there.
Good to see that GWs have sense to head to WA where there are a lot less people in the water then here
I've seen a few diving and I was thinking of getting the power heads out and start a culling
Perhaps the question is whether the numbers of sharks are increasing or whether they have always been there and our ability to find them has improved. I enjoy windsurfing at Jimmy's Beach on a NE seabreeze but after reading this I am not sure if I'll take a trip back there. I don't like the idea of water starting with 3m juvenile great whites swimming around.
I surfed down the south coast of Sydney when i was 12. I remember surfing this point called Sharkies. Just north of Wollongong. Anyway i struggled with the huge paddle and was catching shoulders half way out. Sitting in the white wash and only after a while did i notice the entire bottom of the ocean was alive with hundreds of sharks. Needless to say i legged it faster than the waves
I had a cousin who eventually had a 2.5 to 3 mtr following him a little so the rest all came in. We just went over the hill to the next bay. I stayed on the beach
SO that was 30 years ago, so my guess is they were always their..
There was footage shown on either Today Tonight or A Current Affair few years ago of some uni students doing some tagging at Stockton. Dude on a mal would swim a baited hook out just beyond the break, and sometimes by the time the mal paddler was back on the beach the guy with the rod would be hooked up to 2-3m juvenile GW. The guy with the rod was situated in a chair on top of a 4wd for some reason - dunno why but that footage has always stuck in my head. Just tried a quick google but couldn't find it. It showed some good footage from a helicopter of surfers sitting in the line up with GWs just cruising out of sight around them. Just reminds me of what I heard on a shark doco once, and that is almost all of us water users will have a positive shark experience, that is, whether of not we see the shark, the shark sees us and just moves on
Select to expand quoteMobydisc said..
Perhaps the question is whether the numbers of sharks are increasing or whether they have always been there and our ability to find them has improved. I enjoy windsurfing at Jimmy's Beach on a NE seabreeze but after reading this I am not sure if I'll take a trip back there. I don't like the idea of water starting with 3m juvenile great whites swimming around.
You are going to be fine Moby*
If this is the same research that I saw on a program a few years back, its the surf beach at Winda Woppa, not Jimmy's Beach. I vaguely recall that at the size they are they are targeting fish, and nothing very large at all.
Of course, if you are swimming around for 30 minutes trying to waterstart, I would suggest uphauling that sail!
I have been happy to sail at Jimmy's Beach, even after seeing this doco. Its a brilliant place in a noreaster.
*(please note, no warranty expressed or implied 
)
Ha ha ha most water uses, surfers sailers in newy already new this.
the guys who used to catch the sharks, with the game fishing chair mounted on the
bull bar of the 4wd are the reason why there was a law passed to ban land based game fishing.
they reckon that the sharks would learn that a surf board ment a piece of meat.
that study said that the tagged sharks only hang around for about 70 days & leave.
^^^ no they stay for ever. . Well that's what I tell the tourists...
The ones inside lake mac are a bigger concern.
But yeah the clip was in tropfest and the research tagging program came if the back of it..
But what about the baited drum lines and nets those little sharkys should have been slaughtered by now!
Maybe the drum lines only catch over 3.5 meter sharkys selective slaughter.....but then how are the little ones produced?
I'm confused now
Select to expand quotesouthace said..
But what about the baited drum lines and nets those little sharkys should have been slaughtered by now!
Maybe the drum lines only catch over 3.5 meter sharkys selective slaughter.....but then how are the little ones produced?
I'm confused now
There are no shark nets or drum lines or any other anti shark defences around Port Stephens. Sharks are free to go where they please without the threat of netting or being hooked up.
