“Bruce has been swimming around there for years now finally big enough to attack someone. RIP old mate”
On a pretty autumn morning on a particularly dreamy slice of Australian coastline yesterday, a fifty-nine-year-old surfer was killed in front of his mates by a fifteen-foot Great White.
Locals were familiar with the animal, posting on Facebook, “Bruce has been swimming around there for years now finally big enough to attack someone.”
(The name Bruce refers, of course, to the nickname given to the mechanical Great White in the 1975 film Jaws, sourced either from director Steven Spielberg’s accountant Bruce, who kept balking at the cost overruns on the fake shake, or Spielberg’s lawyer, also called Bruce.)
Fisho Michael Guest, who was on a jetski nearby, told morning TV,
“People just started pointing and yelling at me. I zipped over to just around the corner of the break wall to see what was going on. I didn’t know if somebody was drowning. Then this gentleman said, ‘There’s a guy getting attacked by the shark over there’. Hearing those words straightaway, I just… flattened the throttle on the jet ski. It wasn’t a nice thing to see, to be perfectly honest. I couldn’t believe there was so much blood in the water.”
Three other surfers dragged the man to the beach.
“They pulled the gentleman up, lifted him up around water level,” said Guest. “I could see the horrific injuries that had occurred. Even though it’s a big animal, I don’t know where it was, it was obviously just there somewhere. I didn’t see the shark but the damage was done.”
Last year was the deadliest year for shark attacks in Australia since 1923, pointedly the worst for surfers in the country’s history: five fatals out of the eight, all of ‘em by Great White.
Much hand-wringing in media. Climate change done it and so on.
From a BBC story, Is Australia Really Seeing More Shark Attacks?,
Scientists know that climate change is affecting ocean current movements and weather patterns. Depending on its impact, Associate Prof Hart said, we could in future “potentially see an increase or equally a decrease in shark attacks perhaps in response to those changing environmental variables”
No mention, of course, of the mathematics of what happens when you protect an apex predator for twenty-two years.
After the fourth attack on a surfer last year, and just before a Gold Coast real estate agent was hit and killed at the Superbank, Steve “Longtom” Shearer asked,
Are we at a tipping point where we say, maybe it’s time to take the gloves off?
“By accident and on purpose, an almost ideal world for the White shark has been created. Protected in Australia since ’99, but likely, according to the supplementary material on the CSIRO population study, to have faced decreasing threats from humans since the late 80’s, bolstered as adults by increases in whale and seal numbers. Boosted as juveniles and sub-adults by decreases in commercial fishing in NSW and the establishment of marine parks along the Australian coastline. We’ve created a world tailormade for our old pal the White shark.
“But if you create such a world, and the White Shark Recovery Plan makes clear such a world is a desirable and wondrous thing then ain’t there a slight ethical obligation to consider the kiddies and old sea dogs who wind up in the jaws of nature’s most long lived apex, opportunistic predator?
“The people who have to drag them in, watch them turn grey while they wait for the chopper to arrive?
“The Mums, Dads, school mates, drinking pals, girlfriends and boyfriends etc etc etc?
“Is there an end state where we can say, OK, too many, let’s go fishing?
“I almost daren’t say it, but it feels like we could be close.”
After yesterday’s fatal attack by a Great White, the first for 2021 though certainly not the last, the smart money is on… never.
For despite everything, despite the overwhelming evidence that Great Whites patrol beaches in abundance and with impunity, nothing, not the roll call of surfers dying, literally, in the mouths of sharks, including a seventeen-year-old girl and a fifteen-year-old boy, will shift a perception in the essential perfection and mythology of the Great White.
This morning, an eight-foot Great White was caught a few hundred metres away from the sight of yesterday’s attack.
Caught.
Tagged.
Released.
One local resident, Kellie Hilder, told the Daily Telegraph her kid Chloe had given up surfing Tuncurry’s clean little tubes ’cause of the Great Whites.
“For the past six months she’s been too scared to go out there. There are so many sharks she’s given up surfing.”
Quota systems, managed seasons and protected species has resulted in Australia having the best ocean system in the world. It is so good we now need a quota system on GWS. Because we are a mature society it is easy for enviro groups to make enough noise through social media to influence politicians. The question you need to ask is what are the enviro groups doing about the factory Fishing ships financed by European and Asian governments, there is 100m sharks killed globally, there is 1600 killed on drum lines in Australia, I have written letters to both green peace and sea Shepard ask what they are doing about the 100m sharks and have yet to receive a reply so I can only assume they are doing very little because no one cares in those countries therefore making it hard to make noise to generate funding. Have a look the noise made about sharks in Australia is greatly disproportionate to the noise globally about the fish factories. If government had the balls they could set up a shark strategy that targets 3.5 m and above GWS and our beaches would be safe again instead like what happened in reunion island the gov will eventually ban surfing.
It’s not the enviro groups that are making the laws , but politicians passing laws based on science . Having a Quota system on sharks won’t work as I am sure you know that GWS’s travel enormous distances ..from South Africa to West Australia , then up to the Great Barrier reef….
Bruce sounds like he was well known around the Tuncurry area and to say that Bruce got big enough to attack , is just not true as Juveniles are responsible for most attacks ie; GWS’s up to 12′.
Hysterical knee jerk reactions have no place in the debate , the facts are surfings numbers are exploding , more and more people moving to the beaches , so maybe Ol Bruce was just intrigued with surfers and had a bite ……as there are so many surfers now , could be a new food source….but we all know that GWS usually have a bite and spit out humans like bad sushi!
I know Sea Shepherd do a lot about the 100 m sharks that get taken for their fins only , and as you mentioned Reuinion Island , well the fishermen killed all the reef sharks there in the 60’sfor Shark fin soup in Hong Kong……killed em all…..so the bulls and tiger sharks moved in , their numbers exploded to the point , where the islands tourism/surfing has been destroyed…
FFS stop wanting to kill anything and everything that threatens humans , there is such an easy solution to going for a surf in known shark areas….get a drone !
About 2 years ago I was heavily involved for about 3 years with politicians trying to develop a 50/50 shark management solution. My key take out of that experience are:
1. Politicians are way to influenced by the (perceived) power of social media and therefore are to scared to make decisions
2. The enviro groups are extremely advanced and effective in using social media to influence online discussion.
3. Surfers by nature are individuals and are very lethargic when it comes to creating a unified group, this lack of cohesion makes it easy to dismiss our concerns.
4. Surfers are emotionally torn by their love of the ocean/nature and their want to make it safer therefore don’t like being seen to be for killing sharks which adds to point 3 and the inability to make change.
Brutus you comment regarding the overfishing of reunion aligns with my point, clearly there has been and continues to be overfishing around the globe but in Australia this unbalance has now been corrected and is now tipping to the point where humans are in danger. If Australian society has now developed to the point that humans are now disposable or collateral damage for the environmental greater good then I guess ocean surfing will eventually stop or the speed of tech development Will have to increase exponentially.
Surfing won’t stop , numbers are booming all over the world , the story about Reunion is upsetting the balance of Nature which GWS are a part of …maybe no whites we would have a boom in Bullshark numbers or Tigers?
How do you know if the unbalance has been corrected?
the death of a surfer is sad , but he is the first one this year and he was surfing a spot known for Bruce…..if you want a solution , surf in numbers and have someone on the beach with drone .
If you use the world cull it is instantly giving your Greenie mates ammo. By reintroducing the old shark fishing quota from 25 years ago (West Oz, there were 5 full-time boats now only 2 part time) & take whites off the protected list (nationally) you can add creating jobs to your argument.
We currently import the majority of our shark meat from South Africa.
Hypocrisy much ??
Need to remove the word cull & turn it into fish & chips.
Fucking bullshit , its just surf mums n dads that want to create the next Robbo JJF or little brat like that Willow (whats the best thing about this comp oh me being in it )Hardy.
Firstly, condolences to the surfer and family.
However all you idiots saying it’s time to take action against sharks are such kooks.
The numbers of shark attacks on ocean users are TINY….. that hasn’t changed recently…
It’s a tiny insignificant number. There are no more frequent now then they have ever been. What has changed is there are probably multiple millions more surfers in the water regularly in the past 5 years. Millions more surfers and a lot surfing near river mouths and probably pissing in the water, attracting sharks. Plenty of fisher doughe bags adding to the the issue.
For f sake, there are more dog attacks everyday wrecking lives yet we have them as pets everywhere.
Can you newcombers (people who have surfed less then 10 years or people who don’t surf atleast 4 times a week) do everyone a favor and don’t say another word about the ocean till you’ve put the time in… your opinion isn’t worth anything. Your wannabes , you know less then nothing, no real long term surfers respect you so just shut up and find another hobby.
Meat eating zombie mice to be exterminated on South African island.
Gov gives farmers 50m to exterminate mice plague, prime minister and depPM critsise PETA group.
Shark kills human oh well sharks are apex predators and the surfer was in their territory.
Mice have feelings to, why do sharks get preferential treatment over mice.
https://www.google.com.au/a…
People are dumb – instead of figuring out how to live alongside, let’s just kill them. One reason I hate the vast majority of humans.
What do you suggest that would work? Not go in the water?
Like I said, let’s put our heads together and figure it out. Some of the world’s greatest inventions are based on solving problems like this.
Perhaps we could put them on the NSW table food farms. It’s working out pretty well for the mice there.
Really feel for anyone who tragically loses their life this way, and the friends & family left behind.
Rest In Pits brother.
Surely everyone can agree these are not freak one of incidents anymore. These are our friends, dads, brothers and sisters we are losing or who are getting maimed. If road trauma deaths were increasing at this rate the government would step in and do something. The reality is, risk grows increasingly higher year on year as white shark numbers increase. As anyone who’s not a Val, scientist or person making money of this fish can agree. Clearly are. The more time you spend in the water multiples this ever increasing risk. Politicians and bureaucrats are held hostage to far left anti human ideology. So the likelihood a practical way of managing white shark numbers is found is highly unlikely. I’m wondering if the people™️ would be as keen to tip the hat around anonymously for a comrade protecting their fellow brothers if they were to fall foul of fisheries and cop a fine…
I’m in
Blah blah blah, their territory you know the risks yadda yadda beautiful majestic creatures etc etc. Now, where’s that mad fishercunt from jaws to sort this shit out?
Poor bastard. Woke up, waxed up, paddled out. Caught a few then boom. Sympathies to family & friends.
A more healthy balance seems to be the better future.
Fuck you Bruce !
And ya cunty relatives…
Prof Hart said, we could in future “potentially see an increase or a decrease in shark attacks perhaps”
Prof Hart could be a dipstick, potentially, perhaps.
Out the window goes the scientific method as Prof Hart bets on heads and tails ….or
He just invented Quantum Shark Attack Mechanics ?
Ambiguous cuntery of the highest level
Schrodinger’s shark?
Great white is the new sacred cow.
apparently if you rub shark shit / piss all over yourself, it’ll protect you from COVID19.
I suppose if you have to get up close and personal to take the bloody big fish’s faeces and urine sample to concoct the magic potion / lotion then Covid might be the least of your problems ……not to mention the increased degree of difficulty , to spread the balm on your missing arm , with no fucking hands and not a leg to stand on ….
I preferred when we had the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world and grant us peace and not the Shark as God to make us shit our pants and slice us to pieces ….
Meanwhile in Sydney, Northern Beaches and Waverley councils have both made submissions to the DPI last month saying that they support the removal of shark nets along Sydney beaches.
Sydney was one of the worlds greatest hotspots for shark attacks before the nets were introduced. There were a dozen reported fatalities to Whites in the 20 years before the nets were introduced. FIVE in the 3 years before they were rolled out in 1936. Since then – ZERO – in 75 years.
Apparently though, science has proven the nets to be ineffective. Work that shit out? People actually manage to try and justify that the nets are useless, despite a 100% success rate. Maybe they are, maybe it’s just a weird coincidence that there hasn’t been a fatality, but why the hell would you take the risk of taking them out? Maybe the guys who thought up the netting program in the 1930’s had a hell of a lot better grasp of the subject than most people do now.
Apparently it’s more important to keep the odd dolphin and turtle from getting caught in the nets, than it is to worry about the kiddies getting munched.
People are stupid
Layne ‘the mouth’ Beachly has been advocating for the removal of nets along the northern beaches,I’ve informed my local state MP that if the nets go, he will go (voted out) Too much of the local economy relies on tourism and we (ie. local population) ain’t going to watch it turn into a potential amity island on the east coast of Aus. F$&k PETA etc.
You can say fuck here.
And there’s really no need for the clarification about voting out your local MP as opposed to murdering him. You can probably get away with saying that too.
Given my handle – I’m concerned people might take my words literally
He was no average Joe ….
She’s a royal pain in the arse. And she only has 6 titles despite what she’ll tell anyone who listens
Scientists aren’t smart.
That’s totally fucked.
As the proverb says “ If it ain’t broke , don’t fix it ! “
They seem to be getting earlier. Autumn was always the safest time of year. Last year it didn’t kick off til winter.
“There are so many sharks she’s given up surfing” – Chas isn’t this pretty much the stance you want all the VALs to have? The reason for all the shark stories?
My mate was just telling me a white the width of a small car passed right under him and others at flat rock recently. No wave came and they all had to paddle the whole way in.
Almost landed on one at boulders too, kickin out.
Jesus. That would be terrifying.
I know
I said are you still out there?
He said yeah cause he’s got a shark repellant bracelet or smthn.
Cunt’s mad
Yep – “the smart money is they will do nothing!!”
Especially as groups like PETA have protested killing mice in a mice plague!!!
Sometimes the worlds more fucked than normal
You wouldn’t notice them if it weren’t for the Internet.
But there they are and they’re noisy.
they are here in some numbers – seen more lately in backyard compost – my mate property back buladealah semi plague there – wait till they hit the DY apartment blocks!!!
I’ll gently collect them and deliver them to the Newtown PETA office where they’ll find good homes for them all.
Good feels!!
Eat’em!
Mousey shish-kebabs.
Shirley CB you are taking the Mickey ?
and the protesters are noisy too!!!
If we could just go back a few decades ago , when surfers were animals ( eg Nat Young the Animal ) then we might just get Peter and PETA to save us too …. save a surfer today ?
… when Greenough advocates a cull – something is awry.