"Despite the best efforts of paramedics and bystanders at the scene the man could not be revived."
A surfer in his fifties who was dragged out of the water after a suspected Great White attack with wounds to his upper leg at Tuncurry, four hours north of Sydney, has died.
#UPDATE Despite the best efforts of paramedics and bystanders at the scene the man could not be resuscitated
— NSW Ambulance (@NSWAmbulance) May 18, 2021
Last year, researchers discovered the area to be part of a “Great White Superhighway”.
The report, funded by NSW DPI and associated NSW Shark Management Strategy, Southern Cross University and the Paddy Pallin Foundation in partnership with the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, found 108 sharks tracked, revealed…
…Water clarity did not influence swim behavior according to track metrics in our study
Time of day influenced white shark behavior in terms of average swim speed, track straightness and net velocity. Notably, the slightly faster swim speeds and higher net velocities, as well as potentially slightly straighter tracks, in morning and afternoon periods.
White sharks found near the surf zone in this study were juvenile to sub-adult size classes
Whilst some of the behavior observed might support the exploratory bite hypothesis, there is likely an increased risk of a shark bite to bathers during situations where there are large shark-attracting food sources present.
Yesterday, it was revealed scientists predict 1800 hits by sharks in Australian over the next forty-five years.
GWS: I is the apex predator.
Orca: Hold my beer cunt
It makes total sense to be out surfing while the mullet are running!? Right, I mean this is tragic and the Ocean is scary.
Good idea. Could be part of community service or boy\girl scouts, etc.
They do mate. The drones run by clubbies are up there.
Just not everywhere and not at all times – funding.
I didn’t know. That’s awful. It is insane to think that public opinion remains adamantly in favour of the sharks. If it were a dog, it would be put down immediately, and you cannot compare the level of humanity between a fish and a canine.
I have heard they are building a $2m dingo fence to safeguard humans from man eating dingoes on Fraser Island ? ….I just want to scream , every time I hear , you are entering the Sharks environment , knowing that all life came from the sea , us included , and I assume Homo Sapiens and their ancestors have lived by the seas , swam and played and fished and collected in the seas and oceans for millions of years …….it is part of our cultural heritage as humans ?
Totally agree.
A rogue elephant in India destroys a village they kill it.
No argument about humans being on their turf.
It really is an idiotic argument isn’t it, and there is always some sort of self satisfied glee radiating from the fools that spew it! I surfed up that neck of the woods back in 2008, always felt like sharks were more of a myth than a tangible threat at that time, surfed alone at old bar, blueys and a few other spots, just with my then girlfriend in the beach for company.
In the 80s if you wanted to see a shark surfing on the East Coast , you had to go to Byron or North Stradbroke Island …..I brought a few different girlfriends out from Europe over the years and would promise them that they would see Dolphins ? They asked if we had to go on guided boat trip and I laughed and explained one will see them at every , rivermouth , point and headland while I am surfing …..and now it’s not just Dolphins but Whales , the occasional Orca and Bloody Big Sharks .
That year I did a bit of the east coast with another friend, who wouldn’t be as comfortable in surf as I would. We pulled up at a yamba rivermouth, it was chocolate colored, I wanted to go in, but he thought it was too big. As I said at the time sharks didn’t see like something to be concerned with at all!
Ever since they banned commercial river and lake fishing its been a shark fest.
More than our cultural heritage. Our species is defined by its amphibious nature. Human populations are naturally coastal. We are the only ape who willfully swims and submerges. Intertidal aquatic apes.
I shudder to think what Julian’s taking before a heat then!
Yves St Laurent’s OPIUM …..Or as my Zaffa mates called it …
Slow working dope …
I hope that fellow traveler Jordy Smith , and his performance on the Rottnest Right the other day ( best I have seen him surf in years ) may inspire Julian to pull his finger out .
Whatever it is Morgan and Mikey Wright have been raiding his stash.
Poor bugger ….I just read the ABC news article and the people from Surf Lifesaving implied it was the first attack in the area .? …. I am definitely not a local there but have visited that area since I was 6 , had a brief board deal with Red Sun surfboards there and was lucky enough to surf a few secret spots in the 80s before the 90s traveling surf schools and tours , and the momentum generation who used it as a back drop for their films .
So for me , Seal Rocks to Forster is a sacred stretch of coast but I haven’t been back after the attack at Bull Paddock in 2016 , which followed the attack at Sandbar in 2007 on Surfer / photographer David Sparkes , and now today’s fatal attack , at a highly frequented spot where just a few months ago they held the finals of a QS 1000 , won by Reef Heazlewood , right smack bang in the middle of town …
The last time up there , I was surfing alone for a few days at Blueys, but there was so much action under water , I just couldn’t stay out (Note that I spent 20 years surfing by myself in France as much as possible so am used to being alone in the water ) and then surfed Boomerang for the next week , feeling somewhat safer surfing in numbers and then read about the attack later that year on the old local , who I had seen surfing frequently in that area and it just said to me …. is it worth it ? A mate of mine , who now lives up that way , said he would’ve been out there himself today but the waves were small , so luckily , he didn’t bother .
Attack at Blackhead on ocean ski rider just prior to Bull Paddock attack. Badly injured right foot.
Thanks Gumby . Here is a quote from the ABC news article
“Brian Wilcox from the local Surf Life Saving branch said the attack was “unprecedented”.
“I can’t recall ever having a shark attack in this area,” he said.”
I suppose it depends on one’s definition of the word area ?
Must be tuncurry main beach? Or even over by rock pools
The victim , a 59 year old male from the Northern Beaches , was carried to the carpark behind the dune on the northern side of the rivermouth , so am assuming he was surfing on that small stretch from the breakwall to a few 100 ms north ..
Thanks JB.I ran Rockpool Cafe at Tuncurry 2011-17,now in Lombok.When they started drumlining and tagging sharks around 2015 the phone App started going off like cracker night.We surfed the Bar and Tuncurry daily,didnt see them but you knew they were there.Main Beach morning swimmers were regularly buzzed by juveniles.There are HEAPS of nurses living around the breakwall and they regularly attack the mullet run and fishos nets.The mullet run is on now till end of May interestingly enough.I had a black tip whaler fly underneath me heading for the mullet net the april before I left. Locals have many stories as you could imagine. There is basically a juvenile white in every gutter protecting it’s stash of fish.I personally am not surprised of this attack and neither would any locals.
Must have been a lovely spot to work Gumby , near such a fun spot …. I worked in beachside restaurants for 20 years in Hourtin Plage ( 30km north of Lacanau ) and had it down to a fine art , to catch a last wave at 4:40pm , return home shit shower and shave and be at work at 5 .Hope life in Lombok is treating you well .
Work to live is my motto,sounds like yours as well. Cheers
I had a good run from 92 to 2012 before getting married at 47 , starting a family 6 months later , and have been a stay at home dad ever since . I think the surf , work , party program was actually less work and I even got paid ….
So let me get this straight , we have known for a year that their is GWS Super highway at Tuncurry and on the East Coast near surf beaches. Sharks are active in the morning and evening…so go for a surf at midday , and let the rest of us surf in the morning and late arvo…what’s the problem?
Can’t they net that area, esp when the fish are running?
200 m away , just inside the rivermouth is a netted swimming area , which has existed , at least, since I went there the first time when I was 6 in 1971 …
Strange how a …. Net in the river is perceived as normal and good …. while a Net in the sea 200 m away is Evil ?
on the incoming/outgoing tide the net lifts – watched a small shark chase fish in there last time i was up there!!
Weirdly enough I have always been more scared of Sharks , when I was swimming in salt water rivers than surfing in the ocean …. In saying that during the 80s I did not give a fuck about Sharks and surfed a chocolate brown Nambucca River Mouth another at Sawtell under similar conditions and 4ft Chocolate Brown Tuncurry Breakwall with just one other bloke out in 2013 late in the afternoon .
surfed old bar earlier this year was on inside – murky as – when a fuckin shark popped his head up vertical to look around – think nudged a guy and his son then fucked off spooked me badly gonna start carrying the ratchet tourniquet
It’s the northern end of a feeding ground / nursery for adolescent whites. Runs from Stockton all the way up to there.
Generally juvies not known to attack. Until they do, I guess
I was up that way and ran into a mate from Copacabana who gave me the run down about Stockton , there pilgrimage up to Pacific Palms and his close encounter with a large shark just around the corner from where we were surfing at Elizabeth and didn’t think too much about it until I saw a doco/ short film on blokes catching white Sharks at Stockton from the back of their utes .
https://youtu.be/4bc-Cv9C-E8
Cripes
Great vid
P.S.
And now that there’s far too many of them guys should be paid to land half of them
yah thanx for posting that JB…. dropping the batit off, no cord?, thats an adrenaline rush.
That’s really sad. Such a shitty situation for the victim and the family.
That could be any of us who surf the east coast, which is pretty sobering.
That makes sense.
Oh my goodness, not again
That poor family
This sucks
A cull is waaay overdue
Bloody govt rules, would anything change if it was one of their own sons or daughters taken in this way ?
Yep ….we stop humans , Australian Citizens attempting to flee a Covid disaster in India from returning home because it might potentially put the lives of other humans at risk , but , we can’t stop a shark from biting human surfers ?
A virus can spread an negativity affect an entire continents lives.
A sharks threat to the populace is insignificant in comparison.
I’ve noticed that it is primarily Australians that call for shark culling, I’m starting to wonder if it’s born from the same mentality that led to the destruction of the aboriginal people.
A sense of entitlement that justifies killing things that get in your way?
What do you think?
What would the French or Germans do?
America has a similar history to Oz but it has always seemed that Australia was lagging a couple decades behind when it came to progressive thinking on these sorts of things.
Did you run out of Zoloft?
Since General MacArthur turned up in March 1942, Australia has followed America’s lead , except on rare occasions , like 72 , when we pulled out of Vietnam , 3 years before our US Masters .The French stopped people surfing in Reunion , until recently , and the Germans don’t have a shark problem , but a lack of waves and a miserable cold climate but do have beautiful women to compensate …..
Fuck off enviro troll
Great whites are an endangered species and an apex predator. Not sure how you can cull and endangered species without greater concequences.
Fuck off eviro troll
you should at least try to compose something. Apex predators in the ocean balance out the mid lengths. Midlengths eat all the young fish, so you get dead zones without stocks growing…..kinda similar to wolves and deer.
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.
Fair call. All the wanna be Enviro warriors are happy to export all our pollution, timber industry, oil and gas, fish and chips. Even their own fucking rubbish.
They are giving up absolutely nothing but feel woke & warm on the inside by farming out all the earth’s harm to unregulated poorer parts of the planet. Absolutely doing more harm in the process.
thank you, will read later as Im swamped at work! Appreciate the response. I think I agree at a quick read.
Ask Bicko, he’s the brainy one with all the best answers around here.
He mentioned it’s got something to do with ‘holisitic balance’ in this very comment stream…
Sad news
That sucks. Love to his fams
What a bummer.
Any idea what time he was hit?
Edit: found – 11am.
puts my time theory to bed that one!!
I always thought ok , avoid dawn and dusk , grey cloudy days , and murky water after the rains …… and then my balloon was popped when I saw Mick Fanning get attacked , in the middle of a beautiful sunny day in crystal clear waters
i know i just always went if early morning glare they hit you under the sun so as soon as high enough should be sweet – then dusk – as above schools fish murky rain etc as you said so 11 fucks my theory of sun up!!
I think what annoys me most of all is the ever increasing number of rules enforced just getting to the beach and parking and on the beach …. if you ride you bike without a helmet , talk on the phone , park illegally , surf just inside the flags , sit down on the beach during COVID etc etc you risk getting fined …. but if you go for a surf and you get bit by a shark it is your fault and less and less measures are being used to keep surfer and shark apart
lucky here mate – but what is fucking weird all these whites they say breed /born port stephens then turn fucking left and cruise north – to that highway – they not turning right and crusing down here en mass???
Don’t give’em any ideas!
Go Left Young Shark Go Left
Or goofy…
You hush yo mouth.
Goofy is Jebus’ own chillren.
“ And Jebus ascended into goofy heaven, and surfs the lefthander of God the Father Almighty “
Pretty sure the Saffa sharks didn’t get the “conditions” memo.
Same as me. Mid morning, clear water.
Horrible news. Yet, everyone’s minds remain on whether the shark is doing well. None of the surfers’ representative bodies (including boardriders’ clubs) will have the balls to say a word as they all suckle on the governments’ teats. The Wossle won’t say “boo” either, as its sponsors would vanish. Until we have a 6 year old blonde girl torn apart on live TV no one will do anything. Madness.
I guess they’ll call it off at Rottfest now.
RIP. Such a lovely stretch of coast. That area has been terrible of late. Yuck.
Yeah, Tuncurry breakwall is my favourite joint up there. Or was.
Ignorance was bliss when I surfed it.
Now, well. I’ve seen the drone footage so I’d need a xanax to surf the shorey
Yep it’s a really good one when it’s on. Nice place to break a board. I am annoyed at this incident. I thought we had a bit more time before we needed to get worried with the whales migrating north.
Annual mullet run April and May may have been a factor
yep bulls hanging around where i have been – was a school mullet along shore the other morning 150m long extending 20-50m out literally 1m off beach – scary as i was 500m sth in murky water – what was stalking spooking them
I just saw a video of local fishos capturing an entire school of mullet with a net ( thanks to our brothers over at swellnet ) ….. I have done this in South West France and it is bloody hard work and most of the fish get away … but we didn’t use a jet ski to cast the net , or a group of 4wDs to help pull the net out of the water … one just wonders if the Sharks got to eat , let’s say 10 % of what was caught in this haul , then they might not be interested in nibbling on surfers ?
https://youtu.be/GZUyxUrd2Tc
Bloody hell
That should be illegal to wipe out a whole school like that.
Heck yeah the sharks are gonna get hungry (especially with the exploding populations since the moratorium) and munch on other things if all their foods being taken like that using ultra fast ultra efficient modern mechanical techniques.
It’s only natural that the increased shark numbers are going to need to find something else to eat.
Those fishermen are total dicks and should be ashamed of themselves.
Either that way of fishing should be curtailed or an open season on sharks should be allowed.
Bloody disgraceful…
I don’t believe any of us wanted to see Great White Sharks become extinct but when the moratorium became law , one thinks a holistic approach was needed .
Holism
the theory that parts of a whole are in intimate interconnection, such that they cannot exist independently of the whole, or cannot be understood without reference to the whole, which is thus regarded as greater than the sum of its parts.
So it was no use stopping the over fishing of great white Sharks , if we were then , allowing everything they , in ever increasing numbers , need to eat , to be overfished ?
Hear hear
Bingo
Yeah that’s pretty fucked.
Pretty fascinating but seems short sighted, How much would that catch be worth?
I have had years of fun surfing with mullet In France , but , though edible , they are far from being the tastiest fish in the sea ? No idea about the price of mullet …. perhaps one of our literary fisherman can help ?
I remember being a kid and catching heaps of em using chewing gum as bait! Not the brightest fish in the sea either.
In what fucked up world do people go fishing with a toyota?
It’s a long way from the old hand line , dodgy bait , hook and sinker …..