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IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
Sharks
- Thread starter LeeToRainesToRoach
- Start date
We are not the biggest or strongest when we choose not to be for some of our pleasures. Unfortunately for many lives on the earth we also choose to be the opposite for others.
We are risk takers though aren't we.
Basic things in life are crazy risky but we do it without thought. .ie driving a car, imagine trying to tell a boss or your workers to get in a steel box weighing 2 tonnes and travel at 110kmh and pass another 2 tonnes steel box travellong the same speed but in the opposite direction and miss them directly by 500mm. They would tell you to get stuffed.
Surfing, riding horses, bushwalking, parachuting, driving cars its what we do.
Risk taking does equal loss of life sometimes.
agree HR.
being Apex building things that kill - includes killing each other and ourselves. the theory that certain human brains aren't meant to handle certain things comes to mind. but like you say it's what we do, no matter the consequences. And by all imaginings we aren't slowly down. but maybe that's the point of a pandemic? to take stock ...
Woman attacked by shark near Fitzroy Island, off Cairns, says ‘I still love sharks’
Maxkenzie Scott
The Australian
July 14, 2020
A young documentary filmmaker has declared “I still love sharks” while being taken to Cairns Hospital after reportedly being bitten off of Fitzroy Island, in Far North Queensland.
Queensland Ambulance confirmed the 29-year-old woman was swimming off a private boat 100m off the shoreline at Welcome Bay – near Cairns – shortly before midday when the incident occurred.
The filmmaker who was on the Island working on a project about sharks was on a day off when she was bitten on the lower left leg, causing a possible fracture to the ankle and lacerations.
She is in a stable condition and is due to go into surgery this afternoon.
“I still love sharks,” the unidentified woman yelled to waiting news crews while being transported from a rescue helicopter to a waiting ambulance. “Sharks are beautiful.”
Flight critical care paramedic, Terry Cumming, said the woman is in good spirits.
“From the initial call of a shark bite, we were not sure exactly what we were going to. We were preparing for the worst. But, when we got there the injuries weren’t as bad as we were first told,” Mr Cumming said.
“She is great, she is in there (the emergency department) smiling and very happy.”
The woman received first aid from holidaying doctors who applied a tourniquet to limit bleeding before paramedics arrived. The type and size of shark is unknown.
Fitzroy Island Resort CEO Glen Macdonald told The Courier Mail the woman said she did not know what had caused the injury and that he is unaware of a shark attack ever occurring at the island.
It is the third shark attack in less than two weeks off the eastern coast. Matthew Tratt was attacked by a shark and killed on Saturday, July 4 while spearfishing off Indian Head on Fraser Island. Last weekend, teenager Mani Hart-Deville, was surfing at Wooli Beach off the NSW north coast when he was fatally attacked.
Maxkenzie Scott
The Australian
July 14, 2020
A young documentary filmmaker has declared “I still love sharks” while being taken to Cairns Hospital after reportedly being bitten off of Fitzroy Island, in Far North Queensland.
Queensland Ambulance confirmed the 29-year-old woman was swimming off a private boat 100m off the shoreline at Welcome Bay – near Cairns – shortly before midday when the incident occurred.
The filmmaker who was on the Island working on a project about sharks was on a day off when she was bitten on the lower left leg, causing a possible fracture to the ankle and lacerations.
She is in a stable condition and is due to go into surgery this afternoon.
“I still love sharks,” the unidentified woman yelled to waiting news crews while being transported from a rescue helicopter to a waiting ambulance. “Sharks are beautiful.”
Flight critical care paramedic, Terry Cumming, said the woman is in good spirits.
“From the initial call of a shark bite, we were not sure exactly what we were going to. We were preparing for the worst. But, when we got there the injuries weren’t as bad as we were first told,” Mr Cumming said.
“She is great, she is in there (the emergency department) smiling and very happy.”
The woman received first aid from holidaying doctors who applied a tourniquet to limit bleeding before paramedics arrived. The type and size of shark is unknown.
Fitzroy Island Resort CEO Glen Macdonald told The Courier Mail the woman said she did not know what had caused the injury and that he is unaware of a shark attack ever occurring at the island.
It is the third shark attack in less than two weeks off the eastern coast. Matthew Tratt was attacked by a shark and killed on Saturday, July 4 while spearfishing off Indian Head on Fraser Island. Last weekend, teenager Mani Hart-Deville, was surfing at Wooli Beach off the NSW north coast when he was fatally attacked.
Dad's epic rescue after shark pulls 10yo son out of boat
A ten-year-old boy was rushed to hospital with head, chest and arm wounds after a shark ripped him from a fishing boat.
Ambulance Tasmania said the boy and his father were aboard a six-metre vessel, 5km from shore at Stanley in the state’s North West, when a shark pulled the boy from the boat.
He was taken to the North West Regional Hospital after suffering lacerations to his arm and other cuts to his head and chest.
Ambulance Tasmania said the boy’s father jumped into the water to assist his son, at which point the shark swam away.
The 10-year-old is in a stable condition, Ambulance Tasmania said.
A ten-year-old boy was rushed to hospital with head, chest and arm wounds after a shark ripped him from a fishing boat.
Ambulance Tasmania said the boy and his father were aboard a six-metre vessel, 5km from shore at Stanley in the state’s North West, when a shark pulled the boy from the boat.
He was taken to the North West Regional Hospital after suffering lacerations to his arm and other cuts to his head and chest.
Ambulance Tasmania said the boy’s father jumped into the water to assist his son, at which point the shark swam away.
The 10-year-old is in a stable condition, Ambulance Tasmania said.
Watched a show on NatGeo the other day - ‘Shark v Surfer’.
It attributed a lot of the increase in attacks to the protection of whales. They speculated that a lot more whales are being beached, and as the carcass lies on the beach rotting, with the oils, fat, etc., seeping back into the water, it draws the sharks closer into shore. Said they can detect the rotting carcass from 3 miles away. Any surfer in the vicinity is then fair game.
There’s a big migration pattern of whales between South Africa and Perth, hence the high number of attacks in those areas.
It attributed a lot of the increase in attacks to the protection of whales. They speculated that a lot more whales are being beached, and as the carcass lies on the beach rotting, with the oils, fat, etc., seeping back into the water, it draws the sharks closer into shore. Said they can detect the rotting carcass from 3 miles away. Any surfer in the vicinity is then fair game.
There’s a big migration pattern of whales between South Africa and Perth, hence the high number of attacks in those areas.
When you are allowed Midsy, you should pop over to the pilbara and check out the amount of boats per head of population. Check the coast too.
North of Hedland no one goes diving remotely due to crocs. Unless you are a diver for pearls of course. Right the way down the coast people are mad users of the coast, shed loads of diving, surfing and fishing.
Southern Right whales migrate annually, people still use the water the same way.
WA does have shark attacks but compare it to the amount of users the attacks are remote.
Reduce the risk, use the water at the right time. Still no guarantee.
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First world problem. Surfing is the ultimate discretionary activity. If you are sorting through landfill dumps to earn a few cents a day to feed your family sharks present no risk.
May as well try to reduce the number of deaths in avalanches by off piste skiers.
It's all part of the thrill.
May as well try to reduce the number of deaths in avalanches by off piste skiers.
It's all part of the thrill.
White pointer truth sinks in a sea of paperwork (paywalled)
Fred Pawle
The Australian
July 20, 2020
Why would a great white shark leap out of the water and grab a 10-year-old boy from a 6m fishing boat, as one did off the northwest coast of Tasmania on Friday? The answer came to me unsolicited within hours from a variety of fellow critics of the great white shark protection racket: cage-diving.
There are three cage-diving operations at the Neptune Islands in South Australia, about 1000km from the site of the attack, or 14 days away for a great white travelling at cruising speed.
Two of the operators are licensed to use bait and berley to lure the sharks. One of them, Calypso, claims an 83 per cent success rate in attracting great whites since 2011.
The third operator is not allowed to use baits or berley, reflecting official ambivalence about the ethics of the practice. Indeed, the conditions imposed on cage-diving operators’ use of bait and berley varies significantly around the world.
Cage-divers began using bait and berley off Stewart Island, New Zealand, in 2007, which quickly drew complaints from fishermen that sharks had suddenly started attacking their boats.
That issue has led to a lawsuit that has gone through the New Zealand Supreme, High and Appeals courts and is now in a stalemate, awaiting legislation that clarifies the two sides’ rights.
In 2012, the then West Australian fisheries minister, Norman Moore, said there were concerns that “sustained activities to attract sharks to feeding opportunities have the potential to change the behaviour patterns of the sharks”.
That same year, the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries said: “Attracting sharks to cages that have people in them may habituate sharks to humans in the water and potentially increase the likelihood of sharks attacking humans.”
Naturally, this has been the subject of yet more great white research papers by the CSIRO, which predictably downplay the dangers great whites pose to us.
While conceding that the bait and berley used by cage-divers at Neptune Islands do alter the behaviour of sharks, the CSIRO in 2011 declined to speculate about the effects this would have when the sharks move to other areas.
“Determining the impacts of such effects are beyond the scope of this study,” it stated.
How convenient. The CSIRO and other research organisations frequently enlist the cage-divers to help conduct research into such things as shark-deterrent devices and migration patterns. So it is not in their interests to add credence to the concerns being expressed by surfers, fishers and divers that their cage-diving partners are making the waters more dangerous.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for the vested interests in this field to continue justifying the status quo. One imagines they breathed a sigh of relief that the latest victim wasn’t killed, if only because the death of a child might have finally spurred politicians to question the validity of all this research that has done nothing to make the water safer — arguably it has done the opposite.
The most significant report in recent years, upon which most state and federal government policy is based, was the CSIRO’s estimation of great white populations, published in February 2018.
It found there were 2909 to 12,802 great whites off the east coast, and 760 to 2250 adult great whites off the southwest coast. Contrary to the conclusions that sensible people would make from the relentlessly increasing number of sightings and attacks, the report found that the population of the species had been “stable” since the introduction of protection in 1998.
But peer-reviewed reports are, unfortunately, an unreliable foundation on which to form policy that has such dreadful life-and-death consequences.
Former James Cook University professor Professor Peter Ridd — who a court found last year had been unlawfully sacked — says half of all peer-reviewed reports are flawed. Ridd still faces expensive legal action by his former employer, which is appealing the case because it doesn’t like the fact he broke ranks with his colleagues over the false alarmism about the Great Barrier Reef.
To prove the CSIRO’s report wrong, though, would require replicating years of research to see if the same results were found.
Finding the money for that would be hard enough. But finding a researcher who dared to challenge the academic consensus would be harder still.
Fred Pawle
The Australian
July 20, 2020
Why would a great white shark leap out of the water and grab a 10-year-old boy from a 6m fishing boat, as one did off the northwest coast of Tasmania on Friday? The answer came to me unsolicited within hours from a variety of fellow critics of the great white shark protection racket: cage-diving.
There are three cage-diving operations at the Neptune Islands in South Australia, about 1000km from the site of the attack, or 14 days away for a great white travelling at cruising speed.
Two of the operators are licensed to use bait and berley to lure the sharks. One of them, Calypso, claims an 83 per cent success rate in attracting great whites since 2011.
The third operator is not allowed to use baits or berley, reflecting official ambivalence about the ethics of the practice. Indeed, the conditions imposed on cage-diving operators’ use of bait and berley varies significantly around the world.
Cage-divers began using bait and berley off Stewart Island, New Zealand, in 2007, which quickly drew complaints from fishermen that sharks had suddenly started attacking their boats.
That issue has led to a lawsuit that has gone through the New Zealand Supreme, High and Appeals courts and is now in a stalemate, awaiting legislation that clarifies the two sides’ rights.
In 2012, the then West Australian fisheries minister, Norman Moore, said there were concerns that “sustained activities to attract sharks to feeding opportunities have the potential to change the behaviour patterns of the sharks”.
That same year, the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries said: “Attracting sharks to cages that have people in them may habituate sharks to humans in the water and potentially increase the likelihood of sharks attacking humans.”
Naturally, this has been the subject of yet more great white research papers by the CSIRO, which predictably downplay the dangers great whites pose to us.
While conceding that the bait and berley used by cage-divers at Neptune Islands do alter the behaviour of sharks, the CSIRO in 2011 declined to speculate about the effects this would have when the sharks move to other areas.
“Determining the impacts of such effects are beyond the scope of this study,” it stated.
How convenient. The CSIRO and other research organisations frequently enlist the cage-divers to help conduct research into such things as shark-deterrent devices and migration patterns. So it is not in their interests to add credence to the concerns being expressed by surfers, fishers and divers that their cage-diving partners are making the waters more dangerous.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for the vested interests in this field to continue justifying the status quo. One imagines they breathed a sigh of relief that the latest victim wasn’t killed, if only because the death of a child might have finally spurred politicians to question the validity of all this research that has done nothing to make the water safer — arguably it has done the opposite.
The most significant report in recent years, upon which most state and federal government policy is based, was the CSIRO’s estimation of great white populations, published in February 2018.
It found there were 2909 to 12,802 great whites off the east coast, and 760 to 2250 adult great whites off the southwest coast. Contrary to the conclusions that sensible people would make from the relentlessly increasing number of sightings and attacks, the report found that the population of the species had been “stable” since the introduction of protection in 1998.
But peer-reviewed reports are, unfortunately, an unreliable foundation on which to form policy that has such dreadful life-and-death consequences.
Former James Cook University professor Professor Peter Ridd — who a court found last year had been unlawfully sacked — says half of all peer-reviewed reports are flawed. Ridd still faces expensive legal action by his former employer, which is appealing the case because it doesn’t like the fact he broke ranks with his colleagues over the false alarmism about the Great Barrier Reef.
To prove the CSIRO’s report wrong, though, would require replicating years of research to see if the same results were found.
Finding the money for that would be hard enough. But finding a researcher who dared to challenge the academic consensus would be harder still.
Yet another example of science denialism from the Oz. Really, why do you bother with this trash?
It's another theory to explain the attacks, is all. Didn't comment and am not saying I put credence in it. The link between the CSIRO and cage diving operations is interesting.
You must also concede that "between 3K and 13K" is a vague enough estimate as to be almost useless.
Four shark attacks in five weeks could be linked to east coast whale migration
Kathy Sundstrom & Rob Blackmore
ABC
July 18, 2020
A leading marine biologist believes there could be a link between the spate of shark attacks off the east coast of Australia and the large number of whales migrating north.
Key points:
Dr Julian Pepperell, an independent marine biologist and author, said it was a "reasonable hypothesis" there were more shark attacks because there were more sharks following the whales on their annual migration north.
While authorities were quick to act when a whale died close to shore, little research was done.
As the number whales increased each year, so was the number of big sharks which would feed off whales when they died.
Not much research on shark-whale link
Macquarie University marine scientist Dr Vanessa Pirotta said it was estimated the humpback whale population was about 35,000 and "was growing at around 11 per cent each year".
She said humpback whales were known to live between 50 to 80 years, but would also be dying of old age and other causes, providing food for huge apex predators.
Dr Pepperell said big sharks like great whites and tigers were known to "gorge themselves" on the flesh of dead whales.
"The big sharks feed up on dead whales and get lots of energy and reserves from that," Dr Pepperell said.
"We only think sharks follow humpback whales as they travel along the east and west coasts," Dr Pepperell said.
Dr Pepperell said these kinds of incidents were not uncommon and when there was a whaling station off Moreton Island in the 1960s, there were many "very large white sharks in that region".
"It is a reasonable hypothesis there are more shark attacks in winter following the whales," Dr Pepperell said.
"But because there are so few shark interactions with humans it is difficult to prove a strong statistical relationship between the two."
While there was a significant body of research showing how Australia's humpback whale population was increasing and was now bigger than pre-whaling days, understanding of white shark numbers was less precise.
A CSIRO genetic study in 2018 estimated there were about 750 adult great white sharks in eastern Australian with a total population, including juveniles, of around 5,460.
However, this figure was based on the world-first genetic analysis technique and not on actual counts.
The "close-kin mark-recapture" involved taking tissue samples from juvenile sharks and obtaining a DNA profile of that animal to see how many shared one or two parents.
Dr Pepperell said that study had been completed two years ago and it was logical the number of adult great whites had now increased, and were looking for food.
Not all whales that die end up floating on the surface for sharks to feed off.
Dr Pirotta said whales were also known to drop to the bottom of the ocean in an incident known as "whale fall".
These carcasses would then provide food for the creatures living on the ocean floor.
- - - - -
What's apparent is that there is concern over the spate of attacks and the usual scramble to explain them.
Kathy Sundstrom & Rob Blackmore
ABC
July 18, 2020
A leading marine biologist believes there could be a link between the spate of shark attacks off the east coast of Australia and the large number of whales migrating north.
Key points:
- There have been four shark attacks off the east coast of Australia in less than five weeks
- A record number of whales has been recorded migrating north up the east coast
- Marine biologist Dr Julian Pepperell says it is a "reasonable hypothesis" that shark numbers were growing in line with an increase in whale numbers which could be leading to more attacks
Dr Julian Pepperell, an independent marine biologist and author, said it was a "reasonable hypothesis" there were more shark attacks because there were more sharks following the whales on their annual migration north.
While authorities were quick to act when a whale died close to shore, little research was done.
As the number whales increased each year, so was the number of big sharks which would feed off whales when they died.
Not much research on shark-whale link
Macquarie University marine scientist Dr Vanessa Pirotta said it was estimated the humpback whale population was about 35,000 and "was growing at around 11 per cent each year".
She said humpback whales were known to live between 50 to 80 years, but would also be dying of old age and other causes, providing food for huge apex predators.
Dr Pepperell said big sharks like great whites and tigers were known to "gorge themselves" on the flesh of dead whales.
"The big sharks feed up on dead whales and get lots of energy and reserves from that," Dr Pepperell said.
However little research had been done on the link between whale and shark populations.
"We only think sharks follow humpback whales as they travel along the east and west coasts," Dr Pepperell said.
Video footage was taken by Justin Lorrimer of sharks in a feeding frenzy on a dead whale off Yaroomba on Queensland's Sunshine Coast in October 2018.
Dr Pepperell said these kinds of incidents were not uncommon and when there was a whaling station off Moreton Island in the 1960s, there were many "very large white sharks in that region".
"It is a reasonable hypothesis there are more shark attacks in winter following the whales," Dr Pepperell said.
"But because there are so few shark interactions with humans it is difficult to prove a strong statistical relationship between the two."
While there was a significant body of research showing how Australia's humpback whale population was increasing and was now bigger than pre-whaling days, understanding of white shark numbers was less precise.
A CSIRO genetic study in 2018 estimated there were about 750 adult great white sharks in eastern Australian with a total population, including juveniles, of around 5,460.
However, this figure was based on the world-first genetic analysis technique and not on actual counts.
The "close-kin mark-recapture" involved taking tissue samples from juvenile sharks and obtaining a DNA profile of that animal to see how many shared one or two parents.
Dr Pepperell said that study had been completed two years ago and it was logical the number of adult great whites had now increased, and were looking for food.
Not all whales that die end up floating on the surface for sharks to feed off.
Dr Pirotta said whales were also known to drop to the bottom of the ocean in an incident known as "whale fall".
These carcasses would then provide food for the creatures living on the ocean floor.
- - - - -
What's apparent is that there is concern over the spate of attacks and the usual scramble to explain them.
No, Lee. It's crank theory. Have a look at the whole article. It is classic nutcase stuff complete with Gallileo gambit invoking Peter Ridd for no good reason apart from "we can't trust then thar scientists"" along with conspiracy theory that CSIRO falsified results/conclusions.
Crank theory or not, cage diving was recently banned in New Zealand after a court accepted that it caused changes to shark behaviour. It's drawing a long bow to suggest cage diving in SA is affecting shark behaviour in northern NSW, but who really knows? Little practical headway has been made in the field of shark behaviour despite decades of research.
Clearly the author is critical of CSIRO's finding that the population is "stable" while numerous anecdotal reports suggest numbers are increasing. It has similarities to the polar bear debate where various scientific publications attempted to lowball population estimates while conservationists pushed for increased protection, however it's now thought that numbers have increased significantly. Green science has taken to discrediting historical estimates from the 1960's and 70's to defend its "declining" stance.
Unfortunately, science ain't what it used to be.
Cairns diver survives hammerhead ‘tug of war’ on Great Barrier Reef (paywalled)
Chris Calcino
Cairns Port
July 21, 2020
A CAIRNS spear fisherman has issued a warning to divers after miraculously surviving a hammerhead shark attack on the Great Barrier Reef.
Father-of-two Reece Pla was diving with friends around Otter Reef near Mission Beach on Sunday when they stumbled upon a sweet spot teeming with fish.
Two of his mates hopped in while their friend and designated “boatie” for the day, Darren Negro, ferried Mr Pla to another spot about 50m away.
He jumped in and thought he had hit the mother lode with big, beautiful fish all over the place.
Mr Pla climbed into the boat after shooting a red emperor – his first after years of diving – before telling Mr Negro to go check on their mates and jumping back in.
That’s when things turned hairy.
“Without even looking or placing the spear back into the gun, I jumped back in, not realising a large hammerhead must have followed me back to the boat,” he said.
“Instantly I was face-to-face with it, and it just came straight for me.
“I jammed my unloaded speargun down its throat because that’s the only barrier of defence I had and thought, better the gun than my arm or body.”
Mr Pla copped a hammering to the chest from the fish’s misshapen head while the shark thrashed with the gun wedged down its throat.
It eventually ripped the alloy gun from his grip, and so his last line of defence sank to the ocean floor.
“Now I had nothing between me and it,” Mr Pla recalled.
“I had no choice but to try get into the boat.”
Fortunately, Mr Negro had not left the area and was watching the whole terrifying ordeal unfold below the surface.
Mr Pla managed to grab his mate’s outstretched arm, but the hammerhead had other ideas and latched onto the diving fins on his feet.
A mad grapple ensued, with Mr Negro frantically stabbing at the shark with a loaded speargun with one arm while holding on to Mr Pla for dear life with the other.
The diving fin eventually shook loose and the shark was distracted for long enough for Mr Negro to hoist his friend to safety.
“I have no idea how I got into the boat unscathed, but my speargun and diving fin were lost to the ocean – a pretty good outcome,” Mr Pla explained.
“We raced over and picked the other two up because this shark was still hanging around our boat and was clearly p***ed off and gliding around erratically.
“After we picked them up we came back to the bommie where it all happened in some small hope of finding the gun and fin, with no luck.
“At that stage the shark came straight back to the boat, a metre from the outboard, where we all conservatively estimated it to be three metres long.”
Mr Pla said he felt it important to his story in light of recent shark attacks across Australia.
He said one of his fishing mates was bailed up by a bull shark at the same reef last year, while a workmate had a run-in with three or four bull sharks at the same reef at the start of the year.
“I’ve never seen a hammerhead act like that before and while he probably got excited from the blood from the emperor I shot five minutes before, that fish was already in the boat,” Mr Pla added.
“It was just me in the water – it wasn’t trying to get at any fish I had.”
Mr Pla believed he would not have survived without a designated boatie close at hand.
He learned an important lesson on that day.
“Just a good reminder to always check the surroundings before jumping in, and whilst in, always have a boatie and always hunt in pairs,” he said.
“On the bright side, we still got a good feed.
“While I look calm in the photo, I’m pretty sure there were a few good skid marks in the suit!”
Mr Negro said the attack was one of the scariest moments he had experienced.
“Being in a tug of war with a shark, with your mate in the middle … that pretty much sums it up,” he said.
“He wasn’t letting go and I wasn’t letting go.
“It’s just lucky his fin popped off when it did, and the shark didn’t have a hold of his foot.”
Mr Negro added that his mate owed him a carton of beer.
“I’ll get him a carton of Hammer ‘n’ Tongs,” Mr Pla replied.
James Cook University researcher and filmmaker Richard Fitzpatrick said the shark would have been a great hammerhead, a species know for getting “excited” around spearfishing activities.
“It’s not a rare thing to happen, but it is a rare shark,” he said.
“The best thing for a spearo to do if something like that shows up is to make your way out of the water, which most of them know.”
Mr Fitzpatrick said there had been no recorded fatalities caused by hammerhead attacks.
“Spearos know that’s one of the risks when they go in the water,” he said.
Chris Calcino
Cairns Port
July 21, 2020
A CAIRNS spear fisherman has issued a warning to divers after miraculously surviving a hammerhead shark attack on the Great Barrier Reef.
Father-of-two Reece Pla was diving with friends around Otter Reef near Mission Beach on Sunday when they stumbled upon a sweet spot teeming with fish.
Two of his mates hopped in while their friend and designated “boatie” for the day, Darren Negro, ferried Mr Pla to another spot about 50m away.
He jumped in and thought he had hit the mother lode with big, beautiful fish all over the place.
Mr Pla climbed into the boat after shooting a red emperor – his first after years of diving – before telling Mr Negro to go check on their mates and jumping back in.
That’s when things turned hairy.
“Without even looking or placing the spear back into the gun, I jumped back in, not realising a large hammerhead must have followed me back to the boat,” he said.
“Instantly I was face-to-face with it, and it just came straight for me.
“I jammed my unloaded speargun down its throat because that’s the only barrier of defence I had and thought, better the gun than my arm or body.”
Mr Pla copped a hammering to the chest from the fish’s misshapen head while the shark thrashed with the gun wedged down its throat.
It eventually ripped the alloy gun from his grip, and so his last line of defence sank to the ocean floor.
“Now I had nothing between me and it,” Mr Pla recalled.
“I had no choice but to try get into the boat.”
Fortunately, Mr Negro had not left the area and was watching the whole terrifying ordeal unfold below the surface.
Mr Pla managed to grab his mate’s outstretched arm, but the hammerhead had other ideas and latched onto the diving fins on his feet.
A mad grapple ensued, with Mr Negro frantically stabbing at the shark with a loaded speargun with one arm while holding on to Mr Pla for dear life with the other.
The diving fin eventually shook loose and the shark was distracted for long enough for Mr Negro to hoist his friend to safety.
“I have no idea how I got into the boat unscathed, but my speargun and diving fin were lost to the ocean – a pretty good outcome,” Mr Pla explained.
“We raced over and picked the other two up because this shark was still hanging around our boat and was clearly p***ed off and gliding around erratically.
“After we picked them up we came back to the bommie where it all happened in some small hope of finding the gun and fin, with no luck.
“At that stage the shark came straight back to the boat, a metre from the outboard, where we all conservatively estimated it to be three metres long.”
Mr Pla said he felt it important to his story in light of recent shark attacks across Australia.
He said one of his fishing mates was bailed up by a bull shark at the same reef last year, while a workmate had a run-in with three or four bull sharks at the same reef at the start of the year.
“I’ve never seen a hammerhead act like that before and while he probably got excited from the blood from the emperor I shot five minutes before, that fish was already in the boat,” Mr Pla added.
“It was just me in the water – it wasn’t trying to get at any fish I had.”
Mr Pla believed he would not have survived without a designated boatie close at hand.
He learned an important lesson on that day.
“Just a good reminder to always check the surroundings before jumping in, and whilst in, always have a boatie and always hunt in pairs,” he said.
“On the bright side, we still got a good feed.
“While I look calm in the photo, I’m pretty sure there were a few good skid marks in the suit!”
Mr Negro said the attack was one of the scariest moments he had experienced.
“Being in a tug of war with a shark, with your mate in the middle … that pretty much sums it up,” he said.
“He wasn’t letting go and I wasn’t letting go.
“It’s just lucky his fin popped off when it did, and the shark didn’t have a hold of his foot.”
Mr Negro added that his mate owed him a carton of beer.
“I’ll get him a carton of Hammer ‘n’ Tongs,” Mr Pla replied.
James Cook University researcher and filmmaker Richard Fitzpatrick said the shark would have been a great hammerhead, a species know for getting “excited” around spearfishing activities.
“It’s not a rare thing to happen, but it is a rare shark,” he said.
“The best thing for a spearo to do if something like that shows up is to make your way out of the water, which most of them know.”
Mr Fitzpatrick said there had been no recorded fatalities caused by hammerhead attacks.
“Spearos know that’s one of the risks when they go in the water,” he said.
Sharks 'functionally extinct' at 20% of world's coral reefs as fishing drives global decline
www.theguardian.com
Sharks 'functionally extinct' at 20% of world's coral reefs as fishing drives global decline
Worldwide study finds Australia among nations with highest shark numbers, but 34 out of 58 nations have half what was expected
Maine woman killed in an apparent shark attack, the first unprovoked attack in the state
A Maine woman was killed Monday in what officials believe to be a shark attack off the coast.
According to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the woman was spotted swimming off the shore of Bailey Island by a witness, who then saw the woman sustain an injury from a shark attack.
The woman, whose identity remains unknown pending notification of her family, was rescued by two kayakers who took her to shore. First responders later arrived to the scene and pronounced her dead moments later, per a statement.
"Until further notice, swimmers and boaters are urged to use caution near Bailey Island and to avoid swimming near schooling fish or seals," wrote the Maine Department of Marine Resources in the statement, which was posted on Facebook late Monday evening.
Experts say unprovoked shark attacks are incredibly rare. James Sulikowski, a professor at Arizona State University who studies sharks, told the Portland Press Herald that this is the first-ever unprovoked shark attack in the state.
Due to the prevalence of seals — a shark delicacy — in the area, Sulikowski also emphasized the importance of not swimming near the marine mammal.
“We can easily be mistaken for a seal … as a shark’s dinner,” he told the Portland Press Herald.
A Maine woman was killed Monday in what officials believe to be a shark attack off the coast.
According to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the woman was spotted swimming off the shore of Bailey Island by a witness, who then saw the woman sustain an injury from a shark attack.
The woman, whose identity remains unknown pending notification of her family, was rescued by two kayakers who took her to shore. First responders later arrived to the scene and pronounced her dead moments later, per a statement.
"Until further notice, swimmers and boaters are urged to use caution near Bailey Island and to avoid swimming near schooling fish or seals," wrote the Maine Department of Marine Resources in the statement, which was posted on Facebook late Monday evening.
Experts say unprovoked shark attacks are incredibly rare. James Sulikowski, a professor at Arizona State University who studies sharks, told the Portland Press Herald that this is the first-ever unprovoked shark attack in the state.
Due to the prevalence of seals — a shark delicacy — in the area, Sulikowski also emphasized the importance of not swimming near the marine mammal.
“We can easily be mistaken for a seal … as a shark’s dinner,” he told the Portland Press Herald.
