My condolences to the family and friends. It's a shocking loss of life of someone so young.

I don't think culling sharks is the answer as has been said the ocean is their territory and we all know the risks when we go in.

The question I think that needs to be asked is are we overfishing? Are we slowly destroying and taking away their natural food sources and the sharks are coming closer and hungry looking for food. If so then this is what needs to be addressed

king of the point said...

Intrested to know if the helicopter / plane did a run up and down the coast

To see if there is a shark? According to news.com.au (www.news.com.au/national/western-australia/surfer-taken-by-shark-north-of-perth/news-story/c192660d4e28dccc660935a69213282a) the shark has been around for days (if you can trust the internet news):

* Local surfers at the beach had noticed a large shark in the vicinity in the previous four days. They had jokingly nicknamed it Brutus.

It's a tragedy but I can't stop thinking:
they knew (not sure if the guy knew but looks like "locals" did) shark was there but still went in and now everybody's upset that the sharks are after us.

Spamboy said...

Subsonic said...

What about shark nets? swimmers have a safe zone to swim in, no sharks have to be killed.

shark nets would work on some Metro beaches like Cottesloe or Scarborough just like they do over east.

That's what I was thinking. Ma and Pa can take the kids for a swim at the beach in relative safety. There was a shark attack at Cottesloe some years back where the GW came right in, the attack occured a few metres from the shoreline in amongst a whole bunch of swimmers.

The rest of us kids are big n ugly enough to take our chances with knowledge of the dangers along the rest of the coastline.....

Condolences to those involved.

Subsonic said...

What about shark nets? swimmers have a safe zone to swim in, no sharks have to be killed.

Shark nets do not provide a barrier to keep sharks out of swimming areas. They are there to depopulate the local area of large sharks by killing them. They function the same way as baited drumlines. While they do kill a number of other species, they have been a very successful measure on East coast beaches, keeping the number of large, dangerous sharks at low levels. I am surprised they are not used around WA's metropolitan beaches at the very least.

ikw777 said...

Subsonic said...

What about shark nets? swimmers have a safe zone to swim in, no sharks have to be killed.

Shark nets do not provide a barrier to keep sharks out of swimming areas. They are there to depopulate the local area of large sharks by killing them. They function the same way as baited drumlines. While they do kill a number of other species, they have been a very successful measure on East coast beaches, keeping the number of large, dangerous sharks at low levels. I am surprised they are not used around WA's metropolitan beaches at the very least.

After a little research, I see what you mean.

Surely its possible to design a net specifically to keep sharks out of an area, as opposed to entrapping and killing them though? Make the holes small enough and the sharks won't see it as something they can swim through? It wouldnt be miles of beach it had to enclose either, just a few hundred metres.

poor relative said...

My condolences to the family and friends. It's a shocking loss of life of someone so young.

I don't think culling sharks is the answer as has been said the ocean is their territory and we all know the risks when we go in.

The question I think that needs to be asked is are we overfishing? Are we slowly destroying and taking away their natural food sources and the sharks are coming closer and hungry looking for food. If so then this is what needs to be addressed

don't they eat seals?
Reckon that cage diving could be making them less naturally timid of humans

Don't they roam the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Aus and back again?

They don't hang about, they cruise.

Heaven help us if this bad individual teaches his mates. He (or she) is rogue.

Ban cage diving with great whites.

sn said...

Why on earth dont a lot more skindivers, snorkellers (and by extension) windsurfers, surfers, or anyone who could be classed as potentially being tomorrows shark poo- carry a 12 guage smokey?
(official name "powerhead")
Our Western Australian firearms act permits you to possess one as long as its made to comply with the regulations and is stored and licenced as required.

This is about the only case where self protection is accepted as a legally valid reason to need a firearm.

The way I see it- a 12 guage is a bit more effective than poking a shark in the snout with your finger.

YMMV

you know that sounds like a good idea. 50 surfers out at trigg all with smokeys could fix a few problems.
RIP to the bloke who got taken but all these knee jerk reactions make you wonder if we are really evolving for the better.

sign the petition people, i'm off to get a new knife!

GreenGriff said...

well we over fish the sharks food supplys with these things

www.communityrun.org/petitions/stop-giant-fishing-trawler-in-tasmania

cant expect them to do much else or get one of these

For self defense of course www.waspknife.com/

jbshack said...
[
Spot on. Killing the sharks could make the situation even worse. If you don't like the odds stay out of the water.[}:)]

How will it make the situation worse?

poor relative said...

My condolences to the family and friends. It's a shocking loss of life of someone so young.

I don't think culling sharks is the answer as has been said the ocean is their territory and we all know the risks when we go in.

The question I think that needs to be asked is are we overfishing? Are we slowly destroying and taking away their natural food sources and the sharks are coming closer and hungry looking for food. If so then this is what needs to be addressed

ARE WE OVERFISHING???

Dude, thousands of tonnes are being pulled from the ocean each day,with no replenishment/sustainability factors involved, and if it continues, there'll be nothing left.

Subsonic said...

ikw777 said...

Subsonic said...

What about shark nets? swimmers have a safe zone to swim in, no sharks have to be killed.

Shark nets do not provide a barrier to keep sharks out of swimming areas. They are there to depopulate the local area of large sharks by killing them. They function the same way as baited drumlines. While they do kill a number of other species, they have been a very successful measure on East coast beaches, keeping the number of large, dangerous sharks at low levels. I am surprised they are not used around WA's metropolitan beaches at the very least.

After a little research, I see what you mean.

Surely its possible to design a net specifically to keep sharks out of an area, as opposed to entrapping and killing them though? Make the holes small enough and the sharks won't see it as something they can swim through? It wouldnt be miles of beach it had to enclose either, just a few hundred metres.

I hope you are not relying on the Wiki article. I thought the idea of shark nets was to discourage sharks from setting up territory around those areas, not specifically to kill them.

A lot of the information on the Internet seems to be very sensationalistic about netting, but I can't find any actual studies.

myusernam said...

They like large fatty animals (high energy) like seals and Whales.

Maybe a link with increasing human obesity?

As for the most common times being dawn & dusk. With us working longer hours & hectic schedules, I know I'm guilty of being out on the water late, or having an early sesh...15-20 years ago I had more time & didn't push it - got out of bed later & was out of the water before dusk.

evlPanda said...

The Great Whites are not dumb. It's taken them a few decades but they've finally figured out there are easy snacks in the surf.

I think you are right. It sounds like they prefer the nice fatty seals, but if it can't find one, or it thinks you are one by mistake, then it would take a bite to find out.

I do think they have a reasonable amount of intelligence though, or at least an understanding of where not to go. By not fishing them near human habitats, they have no fear of humans, and I think we might be seeing the results of that.

Woodo said...

jbshack said...
[
Spot on. Killing the sharks could make the situation even worse. If you don't like the odds stay out of the water.[}:)]

How will it make the situation worse?

GW's especially being low in numbers is throwing out the rest of the ecosystem. So we could see (sorry we are seeing) more smaller sharks, Plague proportions on our beaches. So instead of one big shark we may have to deal with 100 smaller sharks.

Seal numbers are increasing at an alarming rate IMHO. Every time i surf lately there are bloody seals in the water. What eats seals so are we already seeing an out of balance. Did you know a seal will eat about 100kilos of fish a day. So now with increasing seal numbers might we see a huge effect on local fish stocks? There for stimulating the already low fish stock/ no food problem.

Whales are starting to wash up dead all over the world a little now due to malnutrition. In some parts of the world Seal numbers grew so fast and now they have decimated (along with commercial fishing) local stocks and are now dieing as well.
On Saturday i went for look at my local and there was two guys and a seal in the line up. Seals are everywhere and they scare me TBH.

The Sea of Cortex now has Squid that are attacking humans. Funny point is that the local shark fishery in that area was decimated by commercial fisherman.

So sadly we don't know the answer. But we really shouldn't just have a knee jerk one either.

Sadly is though that my prediction is it will get worse still