“Peak stupidity” Beachgoers push Great White back into ocean as experts warn surfing over in South Australia

Great Whites have been protected in Australian waters since 1999 with numbers “exploding" and surfing now a risk "no one should take."

It’s a triumph of the human spirit, I suppose, a group of men, and a boy, pushing a beached Great White back into the ocean despite the stretch of coast having become a no-go zone for surfers. 

A tourist from the Gold Coast, Nash Core and his eleven-year-old kid waded into the water near the town of Ardrossan on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula to help three men push a ten-foot Great White off a sandbank. 

“It was either sick or … just tired,” said Core. “We definitely got it into some deeper water, so hopefully it’s swimming still. To be honest, I did have some thoughts about, ‘oh, why am I going out here?’ As we were going out, my young son, Parker, turned to me and said … ‘My heart’s pounding’. I said, ‘Yeah, mine’s beating pretty fast too’.”

The three men used garden tools to shift the Great White into deeper water. 

“The tide was on its way out, and it looked to be confused,” one of the rake-wielding men told Channel 7. “It was quite close to a sandbar. A few more people came along, and we were watching it. It became obvious that it was going to be in trouble. So, we went down the steps to the beach. We tried to move it by ourselves, but it was too heavy. Then, Hamish [a third rescuer] arrived, and eventually, the three of us were able to swing it around, and push it around to the deeper water. It was moving very slowly. So, we pushed it out a bit deeper.”

Great Whites have been protected in Australian waters since 1999, with numbers “exploding.”

One of the west coast’s most prominent fishermen Jeff Schmucker says the increasing population has made surfing a risk no one should take. 

The death of Streaky Bay local Lance Appleby, killed by a Great White shark, the fourth fatal attack on a surfer by a White in less than two years, he says, was the final straw. 

Lance’s death at Granites followed the killing of Todd Gendle at the same spot last October, of fifteen-year-old Khai Cowley at Ethels last December and school teacher Simon Baccanello at Elliston last May.

“Great Whites are back to pre-white man biomass – the breeding biomass is strong and the numbers have increased,” said Schmucker.