Shark deterrent summary

l can only say they were a few feet longer than the 2.7mtr one that jumped into Terry Selwoods boat at Evans last week, bloody hell , cant imagine the horror. The drumline contractor at Evans tagged and released 3 in one day 300mtrs off the main beach recently , recorded lengths of 4.2 mtrs, fuk i bet he wishes the were dead too!!!

l can only say they were a few feet longer than the 2.7mtr one that jumped into Terry Selwoods boat at Evans last week, bloody hell , cant imagine the horror. The drumline contractor at Evans tagged and released 3 in one day 300mtrs off the main beach recently , recorded lengths of 4.2 mtrs, fuk i bet he wishes the were dead too!!!

I still like the idea of the dead shark repellent , I mean it kills two birds with one stone, to make the product the companys will need a shitload of dead sharks. win/win

Position Vacant,, Product test pilot for shark safety devices, must be able to swim,, fast if necessary. apply within.

Yeah tubes and they will even throw in one or two 'free diving /swimming trips' out to the Neptune Islands....well maybe only one .I can hear the phones ringing from here.

Just a minute ,, we have Grant Hackett on the line

2 more at Evans today.

NSWDPI advise 2.55m F White Shark caught at Main Beach, Evans Head using SMART drumlines. Shark tagged & released 1km offshore.

NSWDPI advise 3.3m F White Shark caught off Main Beach, Evans Head using SMART drumlines. Shark tagged & released 1km offshore.

Does that stretch of coast still have aerial shark spotting ?

I'm pretty sure they are running weekend aerial patrols and daily patrols in school holidays.

Endless supply of 'rare' white pointers...........102 and counting

"The commonwealth legislation around white sharks is designed expressly to increase their numbers. The ethics around a policy of deliberately increasing abundance of an apex, ambush predator into heavily populated coastal areas where high ocean use is a function of culture, recreation and the economy has hardly been touched upon.
But it should be."

Nailed it, freeride .

Seems that they tagged 5 whites today at Forster....
https://www.facebook.com/Dorsal-Northern-NSW-Shark-Reports-6655449235491...

Some pics/footage of the Evans head jump in the boat Great White
shannon_ryan_ insta
Anyone know what would have happened to body of this Shark - taken by Fisheries ?

I think they took it away for an autopsy.....

Well when there done they can bring it back ...and test the rotting shark flesh theory ?

that makes a lot of sense.......Evans is crawling with whites at the moment so there'd be nothing to lose.

Another 2 tagged today Evans and Ballina
FFS how many are out there !

thats 8 tagged between Forster and Ballina in the last 2 days.

Just shhot the fuckers ffs!!

I would say that they've only tagged a small percentage. Those smart drumlines could hardly be considered intensive as far as "fishing effort' goes.

FR. "The ethics around a policy of deliberately increasing abundance of an apex, ambush predator into heavily populated coastal areas where high ocean use is a function of culture, recreation and the economy has hardly been touched upon.
But it should be."

how ironic, that exactly what the shark said too.

Another attack in WA.
http://www.smh.com.au/wa-news/surf-live-savers-close-bunbury-beach-after...
The shark was more interested in the bodyboard than the surfer. Maybe the plug made the board look like a fish with a black eye floating on its side from down below? Whatever it was, the shark remained focused on the board. According to the story the shark kept going back to the board even after taking a bite.

For a 4m shark that looks more like a gentle investigation than an attack.

I was in the water at the time less than 5 metres away from me, the shark was not at all interested in the rider more the board he swam around the board for about ten minutes after we all got out of the water pretty hairy take care out there

Speculating here but,,Looking at the board it seems like the tear on the bottom was probably caused when the shark hit him the first time at speed with its mouth open, it then appears to have taken 2 bites to the side of the bodyboard. "Attack or Encounter?" either way, thats one lucky bloke.

Heres a 5mt beast in Mexico : Dorsalwatch

Its also been reported that he was "bumped off his board" . , If it isn't sensationalism with the media ,its absolute denial. I understand there's a difference between an encounter and an attack , but a spade is a spade here. The shark in question had serious intent in my view, and had it connected with the surfer on its first run I imagine the ending to this story would have been a lot uglier. Great whites are well known for charging prey at speed and mistiming the first hit,, and a charge is not a gentle inquiring nudge. Its picked a target, and its shoot first ask questions later at this stage,,fortunately in this case the shark was focused on the board after the initial impact, probably more so because it was part of the visual stimulus that prompted it to "attack" in the first place.

I'm no shark apologist , but neither am I ready to deny that .....sharks just want to have fun !

Seriously , not all encounters are attacks and there is no credibility to be gained from rooting yourself to either camp.

This shark could have ripped the bodyboarder to shreds . He / she could have ripped the bodyboard to shreds.

You ever see a dog play with a ball ? Or any animal play with anything ?

Don't get me wrong .Pointers EAT people , not just attack them , when the mood strikes. But I personally reckon this was a bit of curiosity / playfulness.

Brazier @ Abrolhos, Ford @ Julian rocks and Armstrong @ Tathra for example , were a little less playful and a lot more feeding.

I'm pro drumlines and even in favour of killing the odd big one however it's still pretty clear that a lot of people are still stuck in the Jaws mentality where sharks are mindless killers that hunt humans (acknowledging that occasionally they do stalk humans).

I disagree that the shark in this case had "serious intent" - it hasn't even come close to biting through 4 inches of foam.

Having said that, if a shark "investigates" a person it's still going to be ugly but I'm hoping that at some stage we can leave a little hysteria out of the discussion.

apex ambush predator.

20 kilo jew can tap a lure like a bream or it can pull the rod out of your hand.

white sharks can do the same: taps, nudges, bumps, exploratory bites, slow speed bites, high speed bites etc etc etc.
there's a whole range of behaviour.

missed attacks. Anyone who's ever thrown poppers at GT's or slugs for tuna or even seen tailor going for a lure knows most fish miss. Thats just a physical reality of water displacement....the weight of the fish displaces enough water at speed to move the lure out of the road.

I guess what I'm saying is it doesn't matter what we call it or how we interpret it......we'll never know a sharks intent unless it eats a poor bastard in front of us because sharks don't have a big enough brain to communicate their intentions.
It's enough for us to know they are an opportunistic apex ambush predator and they do what other opportunistic ambush predators do.

Freeride , the fella was stationary on his bodyboard in clear water.

Whilst you might only feel a tap from a fish doesn't mean it hasn't hit it at speed and with intent . In fact I'd say the Jew would be moving at the same speed as the lure , or slightly faster , so the take is a grab moving towards the fisherman with little to no weight associated with the hit .

I've never seen a fish miss a stationary target in clear water. I've seen fish take their time about a dead bait but that's not what occurred. It was a target with a strong steady heartbeat that was approached slowly enough for the fella to roll off the board.

The shark then ignored a living , thrashing prey item fleeing with all the associated triggers that really should compel a feeding predator to strike.

Didn't happen.

Instead the pointer fluffed around clumsily mouthing a tasteless , odourless floating bodyboard. For ten minutes.

Ever seen fish such as dolphin ( mahi ) , trevally even tuna fucking around and doing mock runs on debris particularly on the edge of current lines ? I'm sure it happens anywhere really, just that's where I've seen it a lot. Sometimes you'll see activity and when you investigate it's just fish fucking around like any other animal such as a cat with string or a dog with a ball. They know what's up , they're just playing.

I'm on your side on the shark issue , but I don't believe every encounter is a threat to human life.

Minor body injuries from contact - Surf Board Chomped
Shark Attack File : Aug 1977 Philip Horley.

All good comments and fair enough,, disclaimer,,, Ive actually have had a few "encounters" with our much maligned friends , and gladly we all departed company without injury,, I would say that there are way more encounters than attacks, As I stated I was only speculating, but its common white shark practice to behave like that and given the "intruders" testimony I,d say that shark in particular was switched onto the hunt. I think the data on such "incidences" needs to be recorded correctly, The fact it wasted its time with the board is irrelevant, they often shadow prey they've just bitten, and if didnt like the taste first time why hang around for a more few goes.

I don't disagree with you Blowin......Like I said, we can't really know a sharks intent. Investigative behaviour? Mock run for attack? Not really switched on because it just had a feed? Who knows.
I agree every encounter is not a threat. Most aren't.
There's been so many sightings, circlings, bumpings around here.
Juvenile/sub-adult whites; very curious, maybe switching from fish to something bigger and wanted a trial bite?
Maybe it's been shadowing turtles and wanted to make sure the boogie wasn't one of them.
Who knows.

Freeride , you don't have to tell me about their presence.

I've had a few solo surfs around your area and further South and I'll sometimes find my head swivelling like a freaked out Linda Blair , searching for that king missile coming to take me out in a flurry of foam and blood.

But so far it's just a bit of anxiety induced wee that stains the line up on those occasions ....thank fuck.

thats what they want you to feel blowin, dont give them the satisfaction......oh hang-on, that comment was meant for the islamic extremist (er reform) thread. ;).

A little bit of uninstigated Wee is a lot easier to hide in your boardies out the back at Iluka than it is whilst waiting for your boards at the carousel at Bandung airport.

very clever.

As for that tear and delamination in the bottom of the board? , I,m betting a shark couldn't do that to an unladen boogy board , thats why I believe the shark hit him with some force while he was on it, and also going by what was reported,. However, I,m not on the sharks are fucked wagon, but if research is going to be effective we need to know what could be triggering the predatorial behaviour towards humans in inshore waters . And simply saying that anyone who doesnt die was just having an encounter is counter productive to this whole effort,. Not every encounter is an attack is stating the obvious, Also how many encounters go unseen or undocumented , lots. But an inquisitive shark and a hunting shark are two different things, Whats driving the recent trends is the question occupying many great and not so great minds now.

Don't Great Whites ram prey from below at speed to shock the them then come back to finish them off or ram/bite at speed then leave the prey to bleed out before coming in to eat them? You see quite a lot of footage of great whites ramming and catapulting seals through the air when hunting. Sounds like this could be exactly what happened here but the shark came back for the boogy board and old mate luckily got away.

Have bbeen surfing th wildcoasts of S.A for more than 30 years. Never seen a White. Plenty of seals tho, including a Leopard Seal. He was ascarybig bugger. I'm sure some Whites have seen me.
More worried about drowning these days.

Hate to say it Matt, but thirty years without sighting one can only mean one of two things. First, your vision ain't so hot, or two, like the ball in Lotto that statistically has been picked less than the others, you're due a visit.

Hope it's the former...

Don't put the mozza on me Stu.
There is one place i won't surf anymore. In th 80's u would see a few fur seals floundering on th rockthere. Now there's a full blown colony of our smelly friends. You get challanged by bull males trying to get to th jump rock. Pity because it is a AAA uncrowded lefthander. A local got chomped there awhile back.

Spearos make a point of poking inquisitive sharks hard with the gun as they reckon that a shark first want's to know if you are a threat, then if not they will be wondering if you are food, so make sure it thinks you are a threat. Not sure how often attacked surfers first get circled unseen by the shark and then without any reaction the sharks start to wonder about food.

Late yesterday Tezza McKenna was surfing in a purply/red steamer. He was telling me that someone in WA is now making shark deterent type wetsuits. Early days but based on science. 40% safer or something. The overall appearance it meant to look like the purple algae that makes sharks sick and the arms and legs will have horizontal strips around them like sea snakes and other poisonaous things in the ocean. Unfortunately the conversation was between waves and I can't recall the brand etc. Do any of you know anything about these?

not that specific one but there have been others.

I really struggle to see how they would work because most people get hit while they are on the board and the wetsuit is out of the water.

Paint some eyes on th bottom of your board

yeah, that might be the most effective strategy based on what we know. wonder if it's been tested?

Orca/seasnake stripes...eyes...whatever eases the mind and bowels.