The Sydney newspapers, particularly the Daily Telegraph, have been in beat-up frenzy this week, due to 3 shark attacks in Sydney over the past 3 weeks. In the 1st, on the 11th February, a Navy Diver was attacked, in Sydney Harbour, near the Fleet Base, he managed to swim back to a nearby inflatable Zodiac and was rushed to seek medical attention but has since lost a leg. The 2nd was at Bondi, which has the reputation for being Australia's most famous beach. Its certainly not our best, and the 3rd, and latest was at Avalon on Saturday 1 March when a 15 year old and his father wee surfing, two suburbs north of where I live at Warriewood and the youth was bitten on the leg. He's still in hospital, with major gash wounds to the leg, but like most 15 year olds, his first reaction when carried to the beach was to ask his mates to photograph things so he could upload to Facebook.
All three of these people, and most surfers and swimmers who swim in the ocean, harbours and estuaries around Australia know the risks. They know there's more chance of them being hit by a bus on the street, than being attacked by a shark, but they still go in because they love what they're doing.
Sadly, newspapers use these type of stories to say "Government doesn't act" etc. Sydney Harbour is cleaner than it has been in years, thanks to Government action through the Enviornmental Protection Agency, Sydney Waterways etc, and this brings sharks into the harbour chasing fish. They see splashing or movement and bite whatever they can. The State opposition reckons culling should be increased, and the Govt should be spending more on shark spotting planes, but fortunately both of those actions are seen as being not the right answer. There have been shark sightings since 1788, (the first European settlement of Sydney) and the 1st recorded attack was in 1791, so its not as if its a new phenomenon.
Sydney's beaches are meshed with netting, which is regularly moved from place to place. This has meant that so far (touch wood) there hasn't been a shark fatality in Sydney's beaches since the early 1920's. There are those who believe that netting is cruel because its not only sharks that get caught (occasionally dolphins, turtles and other sea creatures are also netted), but the method is seen as a precaution, if not a deterrent. Its not likely that nets will be removed in the near future.
