MORE SHARKS SPOTTED
SHARK spotters were kept busy on the Surf Coast over the long weekend, with multiple encounters reported as well as a rare sighting of one of the world’s most venomous animals. A pair of hammerhead sharks were spotted near Fairhaven and about 1km out to sea about 5pm on Saturday, with Life Saving Victoria’s Westpac Helicopter capturing a photo of one of the animals. Life Saving Victoria also reported sightings of a number of twometre bronze whaler sharks near Torquay about the same time. Life Saving Vic- toria operations manager Greg Scott said the sightings — which followed three close calls on Friday — were some of very few so far this year.
“Whilst we had a number of sightings today, in what has been a quiet season for shark sightings, in comparison to last summer, sightings remain very low,” Mr Scott said. “The drowning toll highlights that rip currents remain the No. 1 concern on our coast.”
A rare sighting of the highly-venomous blue-ringed octopus was also reported on Saturday, with one found in a small rock pool near St Leonards.
The blue-ringed octopus is one of the world’s most venomous animals, with poison that has no antivenene, and can kill in minutes.
The latest shark sightings came after a trio of close calls on Friday, including a surfer who was left with grazes on his ankle and punctures in his wetsuit after an overly “curious” shark mouthed his foot. At about 7am, a shark trailed 18-year-old Shepparton surfer Lachie Brown at Winkipop, leaving him with minor grazes.
In a separate encounter later that morning, Jan Juc resident Darren Noyes-Brown said he saw a 2-2.5 metre great white shark swim by just one metre from him at Point Addis front beach.
In the closest encounter, Lorne local Robert Frostland fought off a shark during his daily pier-to-pub ocean swim on Friday. The 69-yearold grandfather said the shark “came at me six or seven times” and was thrashing about in the water.
He was finishing up his swim just after 4pm when he spotted the large shark “heading straight for him”, forcing him to punch the animal to scare it away. “I was waiting for it with clenched fists each time,” he said.