A friend of mine was snorkeling at Ricketts Point in Melbourne at the weekend when he was circled by a 3 to 4 metre shark. He thinks it was a Bronze Whaler but not absolutely sure. It was so close he could have touched it. He stayed completely still until he was sure it had gone and then he slowly edged his way back into shallower water where he promptly shat himself! I was going to do the womens tri this weekend but not now.

This follows the disappearance of a snorkler/diver a few weeks ago in Black Rock and there is some suggestions of a shark attack!

Obviously it was,nt a Great White, ............mm

i think i might be a bit too concerned by this part of the shark rather than what type it is!

I wouldn't let a shark sighting stop you from going in the water. People are in the water with sharks all the time without knowing. Great White sightings are very common in SA and it doesn't stop people from swimming!

Just heard on the radio this week,apparently on average 20 people per year in Australia are victims of shark attacks!

20 is nothing when you think how many people use the water each year

Agreed, I'll just stop bathing until the 20th is reached and then I'll get into the sea again.

I make it a policy to never go in the water unaccompanied . . . always go swimming with someone else . . . somebody much fatter.

That's not that many considering how much time people spend in the water each year and the fact that most Australians live along the coast. Remember 'Shark Attack' doesn't mean they were killed, they could have minor injuries or even just have their surf board or boat attacked.

Hey you lot,don't shoot the messenger!I'm just repeating figures I heard on the radio!I have also lived in Australia for more years than I care to remember!And yes I once too had a close encounter which was very scary!

I didn't think I really was 'shooting the messenger'? I was just trying to bring a bit of reality into the discussion. Personally I'd be more worried about the yearly road tolls and heart disease than Sharks.

There was a report in the paper yesterday saying shark attacks are on the increase but only with smaller bites (as if that wasn't bad enough!) and less people are dying. Since we've been here there have been a couple of bad ones reported but the people have survived and only lost a limb - that surfer girl comes to mind. Maybe the emergency services are on the ball more now so that people are rescued and got off to hospital quicker.

Isn't it something to do with less fish out at sea so they are coming closer to land?

I haven't seen any in Oz yet but have snorkled with 5ft Reef Sharks in The Maldives which freaked me out the first time I saw one but it just swam deeper and didn't come anywhere near me - phew!

I would imagine more people die from falling over drunk than shark attacks too.

Theres lost of species of sharks that very rarely attack humans and will just swim past us, they are only really interested in eating fish and marine life, most sharks only attack people if they are either starving to death or mistake us for seals if we are wearing black wet suits for example. People taste dreaful to sharks and we have too many bones which they choke on. Thats probably why even though millions of people swim and surf in the oceans of OZ every year only around 2 are eaten.

falling over drunk would definitely be a better way to go