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The government must step in and act as the rate of shark bites in WA increases “year-on-year” a marine biologist has warned in the wake of the state’s third fatal attack this year.
A man was “mauled” onlookers said, by a large shark while he was swimming just 50 metres off Sorrento Beach, north-west of Perth on Friday morning.
Witnesses reported seeing the man be pulled below the surface repeatedly, before he disappeared. Lifesavers raced to rescue him but were unsuccessful in locating him.
His death comes three months after 35-year-old Daniel Turpin was killed by a 4.5 metre shark while spearfishing about 10 metres off the coast of Michaelmas Island in King George Sound, near Albany.
Weeks earlier Steven Mattaboni, 38, was bitten by a shark while spearfishing at Horseshoe Bay, off the coast of Rottnest Island and earlier this week 56-year-old Mel Ismail survived an attack in Geraldton while out surfing.
A marine biologist says climate change is driving a rise in shark attacks off WA’s coast.
“There’s a lot of changes going on in the ocean right now with the climate changing,” Laurence Chlebeck from Humane World for Animals Australia told 9 News Perth.
“We know that those sort of climate systems are having an impact on the oceans and that could be changing currents, changing where prey is available for animals like this. We just don’t exactly know, but it’s going to have an impact at some level.”
Chlebeck said WA could learn from other states if we want to make the water safer.
“In New South Wales, we’ve seen a large investment in non-lethal alternatives,” he said.
“There’s a whole new drone surveillance program. Queensland, another state where this kind of thing occurs, they’re they’re getting into the drone game as well, and it can be really, really effective. As long as you know the drone is in the air and providing that surveillance, it can give an extra eye in the sky.
“It’s not going to eliminate the risk completely, but for people that are using popular beaches during popular times on the weekends, school holidays, this can be a really effective added layer of surveillance.”
Hunting and killing a shark that has preyed on a person is not an effective way of tackling shark attacks going forward, Chlebeck said.
“That’s more of a retributive act rather than something that’s going to effectively reduce the risk,” he said.
“Killing animals, whether it’s a cull to reduce the population, even that’s not really going to help that much either because these animals that are complicit in these types of incidents are highly migratory and culling to reduce risk is predicated on an idea that you can reduce a local population.
“[But] when these animals are travelling the entire length of the west coast of the continent, reducing a local population isn’t going to do that much because there’s constantly more animals moving in and out of that area.
“On top of that, the methods by which we would reduce a local population-fishing, netting, all of these things attract sharks and stimulate feeding behaviour. So we risk doing the exact opposite of what we’re what we’re setting out there to do.”
Chlebeck said it’s better to learn ways we can change our own behaviour, including making better decisions about when to get in the water and using effective personal shark deterrent devices.
In 2020, a shark net that was installed at the site of Friday’s fatal attack was taken down and never replaced after it failed to withstand the elements at the beach, and had broken apart over time.
Chlebeck said shark netting can be effective, but they to be an actual barrier that forms a complete enclosure separating marine wildlife from swimmers and ocean users.
“Sometimes they’re not perfectly suited for high surf environments, so we need to look into new technologies and better ways to anchor those complete enclosures because those are fantastic,” he said.
“That’s a great way to reduce the risk. The shark nets that are used in New South Wales in Queensland that are 500 meters off a beach that are only 150 meters long. That’s a fishing net. Those are extremely ineffective at reducing the risk. They entangle wildlife that draw sharks closer in.”
Chlebeck said the WA state government could learn from measures implemented in both Queensland and New South Wales to effectively reduce the number of shark attacks.
“They’ve done a really great job lately at introducing new non-lethal alternatives, things like the drone surveillance,” he said.
“[But] if I was the WA government, I would increase that rebate that’s given on the effective shock deterrent products. These are scientifically and independently tested. These are not just snake oil salesmen. There’s actually good scientific research that went into these devices, and they can reduce an interaction rate by up to 60 per cent and that could mean the difference between, honestly, life and death.”
With 9 News Perth and Hannah Murphy
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