Western Australia’s Shark Crisis Deepens: Second Diver Killed by Great White in Under a Month

“Someone will eventually have to take responsibility for these attacks”

Two Western Australian divers killed by Great Whites in two weeks, the latest death earlier today in the waters off a joint called Albany, ten hours or so drive south of Perth.

Two weeks you’ll remember, a fifteen-footer killed spear fisherman and daddy of two, Steven Mattaboni, who was thirty eight. Steve had been diving in the gorgeous blue waters of Horseshoe Reef at Rottnest Island there, a short ferry ride from the port city of Fremantle.

The attack marked the twenty-second shark attack fatality in Western Australia since 2000.

Rottnest shark attack victim identified as Perth father Steven Mattaboni | ABC NEWS

That number clicked over to twenty one today when a thirty-five-year-old man was killed by a fifteen-foot Great White while he was spearfishing with family members near Michaelmas Island, about 13 clicks off the coast of Albany.

Diver dies after attack by suspected 4.5m shark off Albany, WA | ABC NEWS

Rotto, Albany, spear fishing, yeah, you gotta expect Whites here and there.

But don’t it all these attacks seem a little too frequent.

Great White sharks have been federally protected in Australia since the 1990s under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, reflecting conservation efforts to recover populations, although no definitive number was given of the population then or now.

Joel Nancarrow, of Hunter Shark Jaw Restoration, a man rapidly becoming the most important voice in the shark debate, posted his reaction on Facebook.

So there’s another shark attack today off WA. When are they going to fucking learn… it seems like a weekly thing and we’re flogging a dead horse, but the reason we post all the shark attacks is so we can come back on all these in years to come and say that we saw it all happening and nothing was done about it and someone will eventually have to take responsibility for these attacks.”

Any thoughts?

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