Close encounters out Esperance way
"If you're going to get chomped then you're going to get chomped - there's nothing you can do about it."
So said WA surfer Andy Johnston after getting buzzed by this three-metre great white shark at Esperance last month.
A small crew of surfers were surfing West Beach around 11am when car horns sounded from the nearby carpark signalling imminent danger. The rest of the crew did what they needed to do, dry docking themselves on the inside reef, while Johnston thought otherwise and stayed in the line up.
"I'd rather try to hold my ground against it and not freak out and make a commotion," he told a reporter from the Esperance Express afterwards.
"It seemed just curious and I didn't want to give it a reason to chase me so I tried to behave casually and keep an eye on it. But I didn't know it came up quite so close as I was paddling into the wave to come into the beach with the other lads."
Johnston briefly came to the reef briefly before returning to the water to surf the break alone.
He said he didn't think the shark posed a threat. "I probably have a higher risk of breaking my neck on that reef than the shark causing me harm.
Two weeks later, Sean Pollard was attacked by a great white at Wylie Bay less than 10 kilometres away. Pollard lost an arm and his other hand from the wrist down.
Read full article in Esperance Express here.
(All photos Frits de Bruyn)
Comments
fcuking hell.....nutz. Clear water, sunny day. That thing wanted a piece of him.
Those waves sure as hell don't look worth dying for.
I dunno, judging by the last photo I reckon that Noah coulda had him easy enough if he'd wanted.
Agree that the waves don't look worth getting munched for though!
exactly what i bloody thought. jesus.
Same thoughts, wouldn't of hung around with that thing in that surf.
Yeah and I remember as grommets when the shark alarm went off and we'd stay out as others rushed toward shore. "Pansies" we'd say, "there's nothing to worry about."
It could've had him...exactly.......it was coming in for the final approach before turning away.
It was sussing him out with a view to attack.
That bloke is nothing short of lucky it aborted the attack at the last moment.
Maybe it was just one of those friendly sharks that wanted to catch a wave alongside him?
I think it was the reggae shark.
https://m.
Yeah they must be desperadoes surfing that rubbish...and dodging white pointers.
shoulda shoved his board toward it to spook it out
2nd shot... Pectoral fins are pointing down, he was ready to have a crack for sure
One lucky dude
Dunno about 3 metres, though...
looks like the shark was looking for a pat.....sharks usually come from deep when they attack......and if you have seen the speed they can generate just before they hit their pray.....spectacular......are you sure this shark hasn't been domesticated??
Freeride if it wanted a piece of him don't you think it would have attacked him? What was stopping it? He surely wasn't.
It was sussing him out, that's all.
"I probably have a higher risk of breaking my neck on that reef than the shark causing me harm.
I have a few concerns about the stats around shark attacks. While just about everyone in aus is exposed to the risk of a car crash through a year, how many people are consistently out in the surf, in small groups, in exposed areas?
The ladies from the local CWA would be incredibly unlucky to be attacked by a shark. The odds are a little different for regular surfers, divers, spearos. But hey, keep thinking its a one in a 10 million chance....
The more people in the water the higher likelihood of an attack. So reduce the number of surfers and you inherently reduce the number of attacks. Its for your own and everyone else's safety that YOU stop surfing.
Eat all their food and they will chase what ever is left on the menu.....
Both solid solutions!
More salmon, more pinnipeds, protected status = more GWS.
Bring back the death penalty I say, if we keep the shark nice and full on murderers and rapists (and maybe the odd politician) we should all be able to surf in peace
He was very lucky not to be "tasted"
That thing is showing an awful lot of interest in him.
Don't agree with the theory "more people in the water higher likelihood of an attack". All the recent (WA at least) attacks have been at isolated beaches with very few people in the water, some attacks the person was alone. I have viewed some large sharks (assumedly whites) from elevated dunes go out of their way to avoid beaches with a fair number of people in the water like 20 to 30. Surfers in the water were unaware of their presence and the sharks wanted it that way. If you want to reduce risk then surf with others.
Most of the attacke on surfers are at relatively low speeds from shallow water. Where do you surf where the water is deeper than say 6m. Footage of sharks attacking at high speed are usually chasing a decoy, seal, dolphin. They don't need to chase us down at 40 clicks.
The juvenile shark, looks 2m?, in these photos wouldnt have been game to approach a pack and Andy definitely increased his chances of being bitten by staying out alone. If it was adult with a little more size and confidence it wouldve been another fatal attack for sure.
I reckon goofyfoot's right: if it wanted him, there's little you could do to stop it. Sharks use their ampullae of Lorenzoni on their snouts to detect prey in the water from electrical impulses. Compared to a free-swimming fish or the smooth movement of a seal, a surfer flailing around in the lineup must put out the kind of electrical signal that's irresitible to a shark: something that's in trouble, and would make an easy catch. Once the shark came up on this dude and could see that it was biggish, and not a recognisable meal, I reckon it probably had second thoughts about it. Maybe if the water was murky old mate would have been 'tasted'.
I had a shark come straight at me in pea soup murky water at red rocks (between Anglesea and Torquay) back in June. I'd been alone in the water for about 15-20mins chasing a few more waves. When I heard loud sloshing and caught a glimpse of fin coming at me I thought this was it but for some reason a jumped off my board - my instinctive reaction was to use my board as a shield - it turned away as soon as I was off my board and thankfully a set was coming right at this point in time so I GTFO'd. So yeah I think they think twice about attacking when they realise you aren't the usual menu. I don't reckon it was a coincidence that the shark turned away when I hopped off my board.
I was a lucky close encounter when surfing with a mate who was attacked a few years back.
The conditions, in hindsight, were perfect...cold water, murky green colour full of plankton, water running out of the lake that's not always open, first surfers in the water in the morning. We were paddling out after catching consecutive waves and I was first to where we were waiting. I sat up on my board, my mate still laying down, was shoved off his board from underneath. The water would have been around 2-3m deep at max. He was all of 3m away from me, when I heard him squawk and turned to see him falling backwards of his board and a dorsal fin going down next to his board. The shark never came back for a second shot as far as we could see. It could well have been underneath or just gone on its way spitting out a mouthful of foam and glass?!
The fellow from the CSIRO whose name evades me at present,,,someone Bruce...came up took measurements and compared the bite pattern. It was a 9-10ft (3m) juvenile white. Teeth were around 20-25mm long from memory, bite mark about 380-450 wide. Not big enough to inhale you but plenty big enough to do plenty of damage if the board hadn't been in the way.
Our conversation re-iterated to me that the sharks aren't random, they are extremely intelligent and only attacked in this instance to taste what was available. Finding it unappetising it didn't bother any further. Why it chose my mate over me, when my legs were stable and sitting down in the water is anyone's guess? A mystery but I'm nowhere near as game these days...dawn patrols on my own aren't so easy!!
We live in an area that has a small seal colony not too far away, though it's only just come back in the past couple of years after decades of being gone due to fishos killing them. The sharks are known to congregate 50-70km south of here. The risk is there, but we rarely hear of close encounters.
Not sure this helps, but I respect them in their territory and figure the odds are slim but you can minimise them by observation and weighing up the waves versus risk?! My mate is a surf-photographer and journalist so he has had to face his fears to a greater degree than me by floating around line ups shooting...guess we both figure the odds are low to encounter the same again?! Doesn't stop you thinking though
He went to the shore-side (shallower water) to make sure it was deep enough, then looked to attack towards deeper water. I reckon on close inspection he realised it wasn't your average meal. Two long legs sticking out can't look normal. Maybe that's part of the secret? If the water's clear make yourself look as un-marine-like as possible.
Could go the aggressive route and try hit him with your board, but then you're most likely gonna end up OFF your board, and in the water with him...
They can have WA, fuckn scary shit!!
I live and surf in a white breeding ground if that was me I would be the fuck outa there! Not worth taking the risk of it taking a sampler bite!
They said on the news tonight that this event happened 2 weeks prior to that last attack down there. If true I wonder if this was one of the GW the fisheries caught n killed.?? Doesn't matter either way I know, just curious.........
So pristine around that neck of the woods. If it's your time it's your time.......
I can't find it but anyone remember that video from South Africa a few years back. Old mate paddlng into a wave and two GWS had a swipe at him as he was paddling in.
Eerily reminiscent of the way this GWS came in for a final approach as bloke was paddling in. Seals use waves to come into shore...wonder if that is a common atttack strategy from GWS.
Be interesting to know when GWS change from primarily fish diet to mammal diet and how they learn to hunt much bigger prey.
This one -You tube- Double shark attack south Africa
Haha, I'll be shocked the day you post a link Udo. If you just past the URL it turns into a link without you needing to do anything. Easy as.
This one, and these fellas look a little bigger than the Esperance one.
yep that's the one.
Thanks.
Far out if that dude in Esperance was lucky, that dude in the SA attack vid should clearly of won lotto by now......
Young Andy has a cooler head than most of us probably would in that situation.
Walking the walk for sure.
Key word in the story being "buzzed", not attacked.
Being a stealth predator, (with GWS anyway) you would generally wouldnt see it until your in its mouth, unless it is checking you out.
Unfortunately for the checkee, that may involve teeth, as they dont have the luxury of hands or a protruding tongue to taste you with.
My understanding is that not many are eaten, and typically die of shock and blood loss, a tragic case of mistaken identity. Whereas a tiger may gnaw on a tin can or fishing float.
End of the day, i take my hat off to the young fella, well played sir. Hell of an environment to test your beliefs vs public hysteria
Still think it was an extremely bad call call on Andy's part and he lucked out.On the up side Andy's the man I'm surfing with in W.A.
I had seen a black object, of similar size, loitering around me on the mid north coast of nsw back a couple months ago. I though it was a massive turtle at first cause it was swimming so slow and was just hanging just below the surface. As it got closer it looked more like a shark/dolphin shape. It kept coming closer, i bailed in shore. It swam right through a wave a couple mins later right where i was sitting. Never came up for breath like a dolphin. So i'm guessing probably a shark. I mean, if it was, there is no mistaken identity, this things are deliberately coming in and sussing us out and attacking us. Somethings got to be done if the number of attacks continue on a scale where it is obvious its no longer just a statistical abnormality, but is in fact a rising trend. Screw all you greenies and I don't want to hurt shark attitudes, sometimes i think these people would be happy for our oceans to be as dangerous as taking a swim in a northern territory river. They are happy to brush it off and say, "surf at your own risk.". This is BS! The only reaons any one of us can walk around our street safely is because living creatures that are a threat to us have had, or continue to be killed or managed. Its such a hypocrytical viewpoint.
Hey Sempo, mate is your story & this Esperence one your absolute proof that there is no such thing as mistaken identity?? How can you be so certain, that's a huge call. If your theory is correct why don't all shark attacks end with the victim being consumed? I'll tell you why, mistaken identity........
And your call that we should somehow surf without risk of shark attack, that's BS mate!! Or if you accept some risk, what is it?? Should we close down surf spots or beaches where people have drowned?? Ofcourse not!! Why, because entering the ocean is a risky pastime for humans. Do you drive a car? Why? Are you concerned about the risk of doing so?
By the time they get that close there's relatively little you can do. Eerily beautiful water - in my WA experience the water was dark: greeny opaque and I didn't see it until it broke the surface coming slowly at me. I'd just kicked off a wave too. Was alone. Lost my higher mind function and paddled in quickly (tried to be quiet in the paddling as I pictured it under me scanning me). It seems they cruise to conserve energy, and that might give us time to get ourselves out of harm's way if we can detect them early. Years later I was devastated to hear someone was taken in a vicious attack at the same spot. There's another reef out that way I like and the water seems black...
Well, it's now snapper season/summer season and the sharks come in. Maybe to breed. I wonder if any of this is territorial? You know, to just get anything out of the way as "this is my beach". And there was a real attack 2 weeks later... (Once out there working, I climbed the granite hill near the attack site, looked in over small waves breaking on a very inviting lineup, and couldn't help but think how raw it would feel to be out there.) In summer I certainly shift my choice of surf spots, favouring time with the kids at very clear beachies where you can see for ages. The difference between seeing one bask out the back, and when it goes out of its way to check you out is very stark too.
One thing for sure, it's an adrenaline filled sport down on that stunningly beautiful South Coast of WA. All the complaining of crowds/different craft/hipsters on warm water coasts - I have a solution, but it'll send chills up your spine.
Hey Velocity, love to hear your solution!!
Shirley Durdin -Terry Gibson -Cameron Bayes- Jevan Wright -Geoff Brazier-
Peter Clarkson-Nick Petersen-Brian Guest-Doug Chesser-Jonathon lee-David Barrowman-Bryn Martin, a few I can remember without searching.........all attacks in areas of high food stock seals fish, all taken by GWS and fully consumed......to dig deeper and get the full stats MAY show that around 50% of humans attacked in Aust were fully consumed.......Any one got the time to trawl through the records.....mistaken identity......shouldn't that only equal a very very small % ?
Why would mistaken identity only represent a small %?? Haven't trawled through the stats either but there's been a number of attacks (fatal & non fatal) that the body isn't fully consumed. Even 50% is still a questionable % if you don't believe in mistaken identity I would of thought.......for example what would that 50% represent? Shark too full, not that hungry etc.....it's still all a mystery really...
Don't forget anyone who disappears without an attack being witnessed is missing presumed drowned.
Wonder how many of them ended up in the jaws of a shark.
U beat me to it .....
Hmm, Tom and Eileen Lonergan.
A recent study and thoughts on why by Taronga
taronga.org.au/sites/default/files/.../Shark%20Attack%20Theories_1.pdf
udo, not all of those you mentioned are conclusive cases
the other consideration is the amount of times we are all watched without realising it
i guarantee that's more frequently than you want to know about
killing them is not the solution, for our sake as well as theres. They keep the balance in the ocean and keep fish dna/stocks strong by eating the weak/stupid (Darwinism)
thats not a greeny rant, kill bees no polination, bats lost huge impact on crops, plankton gone game over
Humans dont have wings or fins, go figure.
The world has got so many other priorities than shark attacks (with due respect to victims and family), but damn it makes for interesting discussion.
apex predator populations cannot be increased without adequate food source and habitat .manage these properly then leave the predators alone to do their thing, management starts with the basics. we have an unbalanced system, too many people, taking 100,000s tonnes of fish from oceans everyday. If commercial and recreational fishing quotas arent severely reduced then what can be gained by having an overpopulation of apex predators?
Unless they plan to manage their food source to match this guess whos going to fill the void! The greens and fisheries in my opinion are managing this incorrectly. Fishing, particularly commercial, will never be reduced to required levels. too much money in it! Solution?
Reintroduce commercial shark fishing quotas and manage as the rest of the system is. Maybe some very restricted big game fishing for whites?. Industry, jobs, tourism, conservation and less attacks on people?
This has been my thoughts on this issue as well, I'm with ya all the way on this one. I've asked the question on this website a few times who/what manages the population of Mr GWS...we do and they are thriving because we are not. I'm fucken over the shark lovers who say you can't touch them and the tough guys who say don't be a nancy boy and just surf with them. The fuckers are everywhere and need to be thinned...bring back the shark licences.
A little sensational Daltz, we're not talking about wiping the GWS out just reducing their numbers. Yes they do keep the balance in the ocean but we need to keep their population in balance as well through management of their numbers. No pollie will pass this though as the greenies and shark lovers will howl the loudest and get their way again as per usual.
Fisheries state they are trying to achieve sharks numbers above 40% of their prefishing biomass. They also admit they have no idea what current shark populations are. How can they estimate what prefishing numbers were? They cant. The number of shark sightings and attacks in last 10 years suggest populations can recover very quickly. Much faster than say the seal or whale populations their main food source. You have mammals which have offspring possibly once every few years being preyed on by sharks able to have multiple litters of up to a dozen pups. This is a different situation to most other systems where the apex predator(say bats from example in a previous post) has few offspring but preys on a species(the insect eating the crops) which reproduces quickly in huge numbers, the case in most terrestrial systems. Insufficient predator numbers can quickly lead to massive overpopulation and this is where the weak/sick individuals of the prey species get to reproduce and lead to a less healthy species. On the flip side of this an overpopulation of predators has the ability to also weaken the genetics of their prey. A seal population for example which cannot grow and breed with neighbouring groups will have diminished gene pool, inbreeding due to isolation from overpredation and elimination of entire populations is a real threat. Overpredation doesnt just eliminate the weak but the strong also.
The systems cannot be managed in the same way. Whites have become a trophy species for fisheries and conservation. They are one of the most impressive animals on earth and because of this will never be hunted to extinction. But allowing them to achieve numbers beyond what their ecosystem can support is not the way to go. Manage the system not the species.
It was pretty amazing, speaking of crowd solutions and with all respect to the victim, how uncrowded the surf was around Byron for a month or so after the attack.
Mid May at the Point and I watched a big shark, looked like a white in the ten-12ft range, cruise right up the outside of the break, within ten metres of the surfers. No-one saw it. They were looking into the glare. I didn't yell out.......wouldn't have made any difference.
What a fucking monster GWS that was off the W.A. coast today, feeding on a whale carcase then circled a boat for a look. GIRTH !
Udo .
Girth = "submarine " or combi van sized white .....
I'm not sure which of those " took " Harold Holt but , you know there are so many " theories "
To give you some idea how easily a shark can detect the presence of a living creature from a distance, I'll relate this little story.
I was fishing from my boat in Lake Macquarie near Newcastle, at the hot water outlet from Eraring power station. There are several power stations that use the sea water in the lake to cool their coal fired generators.
The hot water being returned to the lake attracts all kinds if fish, and lots of sharks.
The water is extremely murky and warm, you can feel the heat through your feet on the hull. Visibility is virtually zero.
I threw out a live Mullet on a big hook under a float and within seconds of the splash, a fin appeared on the surface about 50 or 60 metres away. It made a direct B-line for the float like a heat seeking missile, submerged just before the float and grabbed the Mullet without hesitation. A pretty impressive display of sharp senses that freaked me out a little.
We don't send out the same vibrations as a struggling fish on a hook, but I still reckon they know we're out there from quite a distance.
For those of you that thought that this bloke from Esoerance was mad not going in earlier etc, what about the clown in the link below off Perth recently.....
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-01/man-boards-whale-carcass-as-fee...
why would someone do that ? stinky slippery climb, looks like a teenager and could of easily resulted in a 'no body recovered' attack ,the boats for sale......ph numbers clearly visible......any one want to ring the skipper.
I suppose we all did stupid things as teenagers but that's up there.......
OK Rabbits68 I will bite with my solution. After reading BB's 2nd post on surf rage. Quite simply - spread out! There are enormous amounts of coast in Australia. Much of it is inhabited by Mr GWS, especially the bight which extends from SW Tassie to S WA. There are incredibly epic waves amongst this space, and I've seen many of them as my work would take me all over regional southern Australia, and quite often well off the beaten track. If you can imagine bands of surfers beginning a real version of "The Search" in southern Oz, piling up cars and escaping the urban crowds, they will find incredible conditions on the day and whole stretches of coast with not a soul out. On mainland and islands. However, the resaon they will get a chill up their spine is some of the surfs in these areas are spooky to say the least. With a very real chance of meeting Mr GWS, and anecdotally the sightings are increasing everywhere... When you hear that places like Eucla were surfed in the 1970's, it seems we have shrunk back on ourselves as (our) population has grown.
With cheap air tickets to Indo, this "search" not going to happen on a large scale.
Whats the latest on those shark repelling tailpads that send out electronic pulses?
Imagine going searching for waves in the bight with a guarantee of no nibbles.
http://repelsharks.com/ I reckon this is the way to go ACB, give yourself a spray down before you paddle out and the sharks will steer clear, although you might not be too popular with the missus when you come home smelling like rotten shark meat ;)
.
That is a big one indeed udo
Good on andy for standing his ground (or water ) .Theres a good story about south african pro surfer greg emslie having a face off stare down with a 4 metre whitey
Cant agree Caml,why tempt fate like that especially when others saw it coming and got out,and if he was bitten someone probably might have gone to his aid risking their life as well.Anyway he didnt stand his ground for that long judging by the photos.
Interesting Velocity. Yes I spent some time from WA to SA along the Bight in 99'. Lots of lonely stretches of water for sure. Surfed some scary places but was younger n possibly not wiser back then. Problem Ive found with getting older I tend to think too much about the unknowns in places like that instead of looking at the pure risks, which are so low it's not worth the worry really.....
http://repelsharks.com/ I reckon this is the way to go ACB, give yourself a spray down before you paddle out and the sharks will steer clear, although you might not be too popular with the missus when you come home smelling like rotten shark meat ;)
Yeah Rabbits I did the younger and not wiser thing myself - lots and lots of surfing alone on the midwest coast, and down as far as the south coast too. Now I'm older with (more) responsibilities I weigh things up a lot more. You're right if you analytically weigh up pure risk it's not as scary, but there are certain places/times of year that I reckon risk jumps a standard deviation or six.
Hat is off to the crew who live and surf these coasts regularly too. Only time I was offered a board to come out and surf by strangers in Australia was down on a lonely day in Tassie - that must be the antithesis of all the crowds and rage and is what surfing, sharing and aloha is all about I imagine. Or fear leading to lessening the odds with 2 tonne fish in the water...
Sad to see another attack today just down the beach. The girl has died :(
Thoughts with her family, friends and the local community. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-17/teen-surfer-dies-after-shark-attack-off-wa-south-coast/8448270
Imagine going for a surf with your daughter - and then she's killed by a shark. Thoughts with the dad, I couldn't imagine what he's going through.
I must admit I've never looked into that coastline in too much detail. It looks pretty foreboding.
Jeezus! Poor girl.
Sincere condolences to dad and the rest of the family.
RIP.
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-18/famous-esperance-pink-lake-fade...