Originally Posted by ABCDiamond

Some comments from todays paper on the subject:

Amity Point fisherman Miles Scott, owner of Fresh Local Seafood at Amity Point, said locals had long been concerned about sharks.

"We've been waiting for this for a long time. We've always thought someone was going to be taken here.

"I'm a crabber and at this time of the year massive bull sharks come over the bar.

"It's nothing to see 10 or a dozen bull sharks under our boat when we are crabbing and they are really aggressive – they are not like normal sharks."

Rod Farrell, who owns Amity Point Waterfront Cabins, said the woman had been swimming in a channel that locals avoided.

"We're forever telling little ones and tourists not to swim late in the afternoon or at night, especially in the summer," he said.


http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au...55E902,00.html

Originally Posted by huey

"It's nothing to see 10 or a dozen bull sharks under our boat when we are crabbing and they are really aggressive – they are not like normal sharks."


Bull Sharks have a notorious reputation for attacking in very shallow water ie waist deep.They also are known to hunt miles upstream in rivers and are generally considered the most dangerous to humans.


Huey
:scared: :scared:

Originally Posted by Rich and Angie

OMG this is so frightening.... but we are in a different country now and should I suppose start to think about where we are and look out for things like this.

I had a dream last night I got bitten by a huge snake, I haven't even seen one yet but will be keeping my eyes wide open from now on!

My heart goes to the family though that have lost their girl. Its tragic.

Ang

Originally Posted by Rich and Angie

OMG this is so frightening.... but we are in a different country now and should I suppose start to think about where we are and look out for things like this.

Originally Posted by 232Bar

Problem with sharks is they have to bite it to see what it is. That's why you see them biting the cages on the wildlife shows - they aren't attacking it as such, they are checking to see what it is. Unfortunately, the only way to check if it's a diver is to bite it, which doesn't often turn out good for the diver - but hey, we go into their world we have to accept it's theirs and on the whole, humans kill a damn sight more sharks than sharks kill humans. Shark feeding encourages attacks as well, same as any animal it comes to expect food when a certain activity happens ie. divers in water, food is present so you put adiverin without food the shark wonders what's going on. Not saying this was the case this time, but it happens. Pavlovs dogs syndrome basically. Most sharks are benign if you leave them alone (and I did say most - don't start throwing loads of 'quotes' about Bulls, Tigers etc).

Originally Posted by phoenixinoz

:cool:

Ayup sunshine. Hows it goin? Hope you are feeling OK and not too warn out with the pregnancy and looking after the other two.

Happy new year BTW:)

Yep.....I've seen footage where great whites have been opened up and they've found car number plates and tyres inside them etc. Some sharks are obviously not fussy eaters:cool:

That's the thing that shocked me Larissa, the fact we very, very, very rarely hear of sharks in these waters except maybe the odd school of them seen up on the Gold Coast. It's inveitable that they are out there of course, but we forget or at least don't remind ourselves.....hence complacency. It's especially important to be mindful in places like Stradbroke island cos the beaches seem so calm and tranquil and clear and not deep at all.

These waters contain sharks and thankfully attacks are rare, but they do happen:(

My mate's husband captains one of the ferries that goes accross the island. His licence also allows him to captain private boats up the Brisbane river.

He mentioned that some years ago his "first hand" was tying up the boat when an empty cardboard box got caught on the ropes and it flicked the box into the water [Brisbane river]. He said he and his first hand nearly shit themselves when, within an instant they saw a shark come up and grab the box. It happened so fast that they couldn't beleive it. Like he said, we know there's sharks in there, we just never think about it.

BTW.....I don't think they know what kind of shark did it yet do they? I gather they have cordoned off the area and are still looking.

Poor kid. Poor parents:(

And Im dropping my son off there today:cool:

Originally Posted by Larissa

Thanks Phoenix, I am feeling so much better now and the other two are behaving ( well, most of the time!).
Try not to worry about your son, at least they will all be *much* more aware of the danger and will be less likely to take risks... although a shark going into such shallow water, that is a concern isn't it. (Sorry I meant to be reassurring but failed abismally!).
We had a hammer head shark sighted off one of our Perth city beaches, there's a spotter plane and I think they are going to try to divert it out to deeper water, but I'm not sure how they would go about that or whether it would be effective.
Take care and Happy New Year too!

Originally Posted by phoenixinoz

That's exactly right Ang.

I suppose we get complacent and stop thinking after a while. Then again, I suppose we shouldn't let things get out of proportion either as there's more chance of being in a car accident than there is getting eaten /bitten by the wildlife out here.

I for one need to be more aware.....and be less complacent about things here:o

Originally Posted by Stitch

We visited friends in Sydney and the kids were playing out back (in bare feet) as they would in the UK. It took a wee while and then I suddenly realised that it wasn't the UK and we need to think differently. Shoes on from then!

Cheers

Ginny