TRANSCRIPT
Another shark attack in New South Wales: this time, it took place on the state's Mid North Coast.
On Tuesday morning, a 39-year-old surfer at Point Plomer had his surfboard bitten by a shark.
He was taken to hospital with minor cuts and grazes to one of his legs, and he's been discharged.
This is the fourth shark attack in the state in the past 48 hours.
On Monday night, a 27-year-old man was severely injured, after he was bitten by a shark at North Steyne Beach in Manly on Sydney's Northern Beaches.
New South Wales Police Commander at the Northern Beaches John Duncam says the man underwent surgery on Monday night, but he's still in a critical condition.
“What we understand is that a shark, and then he suffered a shark bite to his leg, he was brought into shore, very fortunate, the surf life savers and the other emergency service personnel happened to be in the area at that time, responded very quickly.”
New South Wales Ambulance acting superintendent Christie Marks says the man suffered from heavy blood loss, and was in cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived.
“The patient received 13 units of blood on the way to hospital, we were very lucky to have New South Wales Police liase with us on the way, the highway patrol were able to meet us en route to North Shore Hospital and give us extra blood that we needed on the way. So this is something that doesn't happen a lot. That was something that's gonna give him the best chance of surviving.”
Four shark attacks in two days, with three of them happening in 24 hours, is unprecedented in Sydney, according to Surf Lifesaving New South Wales chief executive Steven Pearce.
He says the Department of Primary Industries and Northern Beaches Council have decided to shut down over 20 beaches in the area for the next two days.
“The reason for this is one, the quality of the water. The water is extremely turbid and brackish after this significant rainfall that Northern Beaches has occurred. We have major run off coming out of every creek and every outlet into the beaches, this is prime condition for bull shark activity, so there's no surprise that we've seen this today.”
Mr Pearce says the government, council and Surf Lifesaving will also use this duration to implement drumlines and technologies to monitor shark activities as well as reminding swimmers of watching out.
He says the Department of Primary Industries is still confirming what type of sharks that caused the attacks, and urges the public to follow the 48-hour closure of beaches.
“Let me put it this way. If you make a decision after three shark incidents in 24 hours, attributed to dirty, murky, brackish water, and you want to go surfing or swimming in that, that's your decision, your safety decision. Unfortunately, if an event does occur, you are gonna put emergency responders’ life and safety in danger, if they do have to enter the water.”
Since the shark attacks occurred, there have been calls for more education to the public on being shark safe.
SBS News interviewed several locals at the Northern Beaches. Not everyone knows when it's safe to swim in the ocean.
“I didn't really know it was bad to go into the water if it was murky. Yeah. I don't really know much about that kind of stuff.”
“I was down here yesterday before the third attack, there were still people swimming, and yeah I don't think it's really been like general knowledge that it's not good to go in the water when it's murky.”
University of Sydney public policy expert Chris Pepin-Neff, who's published a book on shark policy, says besides the murky condition of water, Sydney's sewage system can be an attractant to sharks.
“I've also said that if we clean up the pipes, that would be shark bite prevention, and I think that's been true for 20 years, there have been other, such as abattoir that used to flush into Parramatta River, there used to be a large sewage out of Bondi, when they got rid of those, the amount of shark reduced as well, so cleaner water, better pipes, is shark bite prevention.”
Professor Pepin-Neff also says more comprehensive shark safety education is needed for the public.
“We know that they are coming. And we know we can track them, which is why we know that they are there, and we know that water temperatures are warm, and we know there's sewage and bait fish, that we need to educate the public to be aware.”
