Shark attacks
Three incidents in two months – including a fatal attack – have prompted calls for better education
MELBOURNE DOCTOR DANIEL Christidis was paddleboarding with a friend in the Whitsundays on Nov. 5 when he was attacked and killed by a shark. Christidis and a woman were reportedly taking turns on the board and swimming in Cid Harbour when the terrifying incident occurred around 5.30pm. He was airlifted to Mackay Base Hospital with critical leg and wrist injuries but later died.
It was the third such attack in less than two months in the same area. The alluring blue Whitsundays waters mask an ever-present danger. Now the Queensland government has announced a five-point plan to combat the spate of attacks, which includes educating people on shark safety. But will it work?
Marine biologist Blake Chapman says educating tourists is the key to helping prevent shark attacks. “The locals I have spoken to say you should not be swimming in the area because it is known for shark activity,” Chapman tells WHO. “We need to have greater awareness and to realise that sharks are predatory animals and are part of the environment.
Chapman says there is no room for complacency. “We seem to think they’re not a real risk,” she says. “Something very strange is happening with sharks and the human psyche. We treat them like monsters and we’re so scared of them, but at the same time we don’t take the necessary precautions around a natural predator.”
Locals have been shaken by the latest shark attack. Rescue crewman Ben Mccauley responded to all three incidents at Cid Harbour and said 33-year-old Christidis’ mauling felt like “déjà vu”. He described the scene as “gruesome”. “Definitely one of the more difficult ones for everyone involved,” he told the ABC. “He’d suffered very serious bites,
significant blood loss as well as cardiac arrest.”
Tasmanian Justine Barwick, 46, who was swimming in Cid Harbour on Sept. 19 when she was attacked, is still recovering. A day after she was mauled, a shark bit 12-year-old Hannah Papps not far from the Barwick attack.
Barwick issued a statement on Nov. 6, following Christidis’ death, saying the incident was a “terrible tragedy”. “I feel devastated for the family and friends of this young man,” Barwick said. “I know that he would have received the best of care available from the Queensland Health Service, including the RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter crew and my heart goes out to all involved.”
The five-point plan outlined by the Queensland government includes $250,000 towards scientific research into shark behaviour in Cid Harbour. The plan also states Cid Harbour will be a no-swim zone until the research is completed. A sharkwise program will be implemented in North Queensland, similar to a successful Crocwise campaign.
Queensland Liberal National Party leader Deb Frecklington says drum lines – a controversial trap system that lures sharks using baited hooks – should be installed immediately in the Whitsundays. Chapman, however, questions their effectiveness long-term. “It’s a big stretch to say drum lines and nets are keeping people safe,” she says. “We have had a fatal bite on a protected beach and we know from research drum lines don’t catch all animals.”
As for shark nets, Chapman says 40 per cent of sharks are caught on the beach side of the net, meaning they’re on their way back out when they are caught. “They’re nowhere near 100 per cent effective and also do a lot of damage by catching a lot of non-target animals,” she says.
And the big problem with culling, which may alarm some people, is the shark population can return. Chapman says this has been the case in Hawaii when culling was introduced after shark bites. “They are migratory animals, and unless you cull rigorously and continuously, they just come back,” she says.