Brissiegirl

Here is an interesting little story about Bruce the Shark and his mates how they cruise the Aussie coastline
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...55E601,00.html

lynnlovessun

Yikes :scared:

Great article and very intersting - it sounds like the sharks are very intelligent by covering huge areas - I would def like to know more about where they are likely to be lurking!

Lynn

shazfrost

WOW! that was cool!

although Bruce is one Aussie guy im not sure i wanna meet!
"up to 3.8m and weighing 500kg"!!!!!!
(not to mention the razor sharp teeth and roaming abilities!)

Thanks for that!

Sharon

jimtrish

thats a great article, very interesting, glad im off to far north queensland and only paddling in a pool!

wombat42

Its perfectly safe to go swimming in the ocean, sharks don't come near the beach for fear of being washed up on shore and humans are not prey for sharks as we are too boney and taste like shit to them. Most people who are attacked by sharks are divers way out at sea and the sharks often mistake them for seals because of the black wet suits they wear. You are more likely to be struck by lightning while swimming at the beach then attacked by a shark. The only real danger you have to worry about at the beach is drowning. In the rare cases where surfers are attacked they have mostly occoured at isolated rural beaches in SA and WA which are known feeding ground for Great whites.

Ceri

Most attacks are actually in just a few feet of water, it is a misconception by a lot of people that you need to be in deep water - just read any good/well written Australian shark attack book for Australian attacks. You can be just standing knee deep on a beach.. the one up Noosa way springs to mind amongst the many of others like it. Girl was taken by a shark years back, she was in just under waist deep water on one of the beaches. A shark, believed to be of the Whaler family took her in front of many witnesses.

Sharks do come near the shore. I've caught enough of them on the beaches here to know, QLD and in NSW ( stockton is a good 'un). Bull sharks, and the whalers are very, very common around our shore line. Tiger sharks, come close in on the scrounge. Hammerheads are usually in just behind the surf.

Is there anyone here who has been here in Brisbane for a few years? If they have they too will remember the feeding frenzy down on the GC during the surf comp (I've actually got this on tape, recorded it off the news in the evening). Where Whalers, bulls and the odd tiger where in their masses ( hundreds) chasing the fish shoals ( they occur when there is a lot of bait fish in the water) , right up to the shallows, basically in waist deep water. The lifesavers had to get everyone out and try and chase them away from the shallows on jet ski's. The previous year there was another of these mass freeding frenzies up in Noosa. I rushed down the GC to see that one after it was on the news in the evening , took the day off work.. but it was all over by the next day.. I was gutted! The huge feeding frenzies on the beaches are amazing thing to watch when they do occur.

Great whites, I can tell you that this bloke below has caught them from the land when it was still legal to do so, the law changed back around 8 years ago (you won't find pics of those on his site though now for obvious reasons) :

Here is a few pics for you "land based fishing" http://bluemako.customer.netspace.net.au/

I really resent putting up this above link, run by Doug, Mr Hislop's little follower/friend.

I'm catch and release.



Most attacks occur in nearshore waters, typically inshore of a sandbar or between sandbars where sharks feed and can become trapped at low tide. Areas with steep dropoffs are also likely attack sites. Sharks congregate there because their natural food items also congregate in these areas
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/ISAF/ISAF.htm



Attacks are rare ( considering the amount of sharks that around the shore)so I wouldn't worry about it . Most attacks can be avoided in the first place.

If you want to get attacked paddle around in the night on the beach, better still make sure you do it near people fishing where there is plenty of burley
as sharks don't come near the shore

mlbonner

Definitely my understanding of it. For anyone that watched 'Shark Week' on Discovery a couple of months ago, should be their understanding too
Divers are normally okay, they don't look like turtles (thats surfers). Spear fishing (as the guy at the weekend found out) is a dangerous game to play in shark territory!

Thats what they're blaming last weekends death on. Guy was spear fishing near large fish shoals apparently..... not such a wise move when you think about it

Ceri

I know , what a berk. He was also diving near a game fishing boat, I think there was also burley in the water.

He was Blue water diving , which is dangerous.

mlbonner

Hate blue water when diving. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.
Its so lovely down on the reef/wrecks; fantastic fish, animals, coral and "friendly" sharks, you pop back up a bit away from your boat and have to swim over blue water to get back to it, all of a sudden you're worried about whats under you even though you were there for 40minutes quite happily!

wombat42

l'm still going for a swim at the beach tonight.

Ceri

ahh, can I suggest you rub on some tuna oil ( It is so you don't get moon burnt) . This will prevent any attacks

podgypossum

Tragic, but ironic... an 18yr old lad has been taken by a white pointer shark just off the beach at West Beach, Adelaide this afternoon. There is a huge search going on but obviously not much hope held for him. He was playing with his surf board with 3 friends. This confirms that these shark WILL attack very close to shore.

deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

Brissiegirl

I only put up the link as a point of interest... I think Sharks are fantastic.. and it's good that some research is being done on their behaviour etc.

wombat42

He was 300 meters out in the ocean on a surf board tied to a boat, not right next to the shore where most people swim and surf.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_...55E421,00.html

The last person to be killed by a shark at an Adelaide beach was in 1991 and
he too was far off shore.