Business feels the bite

SHARK attacks in northern NSW are devastating surf businesses and have changed the way of life in the beach towns.

Surf shops are reporting a struggle to turn a profit in the usually lucrative lead-up to Christmas and bodyboarding club competitions have been cancelled.

One board shop has even cancelled orders for stock worth tens of thousands of dollars. It comes as 17-yearold Cooper Allen was mauled by a 3.5m great white shark at Lighthouse Beach in Ballina on Monday, just after a NSW Department of Primary Industries aerial patrol made a pass over the coast.

Just half an hour before the attack, the same patrol spotted three great white sharks larger than 2.5m at Seven Mile Beach Lennox, Tyagarah Beach and Wooyung Beach, north of Ballina.

The attack on Cooper was the latest in a spate at Ballina which included a fatal maul- ing of surfer Tadashi Nakahara and serious injuries to Jabez Reitman, Mathew Lee, Craig Ison and Sam Morgan off Ballina Beaches.

Ballina Surf owner Richard Beckers cancelled a $68,000 order for surf hardware after the latest attack.

“That’s going off figures from last year – we got caught out with too much stock after the attacks,” Mr Beckers said.

“We’re down 90 per cent on surf accessories,” he said.

Mr Beckers said even after the fatal attack on Mr Nakahara, who had been one of his regular customers, he had remained opposed to shark nets.

Now Mr Beckers said he did not have any faith in alternative measures.

“They’re wasting money basically – the drones and aerial patrols aren’t working,” he said.

“They did an aerial patrol just before that kid was attacked (and they) didn’t spot any sharks at Ballina.”

Owner of Flux Bodyboarding shop in Byron Bay, Kaye McDonald, said it had been a hard slog, with busi- ness down 30 per cent as the “hysteria” around the attacks changed the way of life in northern NSW.

She said the shop had cancelled monthly bodyboarding competitions.

“We don’t run them any more,” Ms McDonald said.

“A lot of mums and dads don’t feel comfortable letting their kids go out in the water.

“There’s a real hysteria with all the apps, Facebook pages and sightings – there has always been sharks here but something has changed.”

She said shark nets were the safest option for surfers.

“I can’t see why we don’t have shark nets when they work on the Gold Coast and down in Newcastle and Wollongong.

“I can’t see why they wouldn’t work here.”

Just down the road from Mr Becker’s shop, Beachworkz owner Jeff Templeton said he expected business to be slow but he had not cancelled any orders yet.

“Since the first guy was killed a year ago, definitely people have given up surfing,” Mr Templeton said.