Great white shark found with missing jaws prompts black market trade concerns
The 5-metre shark was found on a Louth Bay beach with its jaws missing and its stomach cut open.
Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA) director of operations with fisheries and aquaculture Matt Read said the shark was found "in a rather grim state".
"It had actually been cut up, or at least mutilated in the respects that its jaw had been removed from its carcass," Mr Read said.
"It also had its stomach cut open, presumably to sink the animal when it had been initially taken."
Port Lincoln marine scientist Kirsten Rough, who walks her dogs at Louth Bay beach, photographed the shark carcass on Sunday.
She said there was a trail of washed-up offal that could have been the shark's liver.
Also near the shark carcass were the remains of two seals and a tuna head, which she suspected had come from the shark's stomach.
"There was a couple of chunks of a lumpy, gooey brown and green substance before we saw the back half of a seal, just its two back flippers," Ms Rough said.
"The last thing we came across was what was left of the shark."
Ms Rough did not think the shark's death was a result of the toxic algal bloom causing dead marine life to wash up at beaches across Adelaide and the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas.
"I thought that someone had probably caught it," Ms Rough said.
PIRSA was alerted to the carcass on Friday.
It said the fur seal carcass and remains of a southern bluefin tuna found near the dead great white could have been used as bait.
Mr Read said great white shark jaws were sought-after black market items due to the animal's protected status.
Due to the large size of this particular shark, he said its jaws would be very valuable.
"That's certainly what we fear. The size of this shark is very unusual," Mr Read said.
"Unfortunately we do think this could be a case of being taken for sale."
Wildlife trade expert and Flinders University chair of forensic DNA technology Adrian Linacre said the grizzly nature of the shark's death was "bizarre and worrying".
"Sharks are not often taken for the wildlife trade — except for fins or parts of their body for trophies that could be sold on the black market," Dr Linacre said.
"It's strange that in this case the carcass has been found. Someone has taken this and either not thought about removing the whole carcass, or maybe they got disturbed."
Dr Linacre said people underestimated just how big the illegal animal trade was in Australia.
"The vast majority, as far as we're really interested in, is things which leave the country where often the market is bigger than it is here," he said.
The penalties for illegally fishing a great white shark are severe.
Mr Read said the first offence for an individual could be up to $20,000.
"It can certainly range all the way up to $100,000 and two years' imprisonment," Mr Read said.
Parts of the shark have been taken as evidence by PIRSA to assist their investigation and will be stored in Adelaide.
"It might give us some timelines with regards to when we need to start looking at different areas of the waterways nearby," Mr Read said.
He encouraged anyone with information to call PIRSA's illegal fishing hotline FishWatch on 1800 065 522.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
33 minutes ago
- ABC News
Court documents detail wife's final words to accused murderer Graeme Davidson before kayak drowning
A former army major who allegedly drowned his wife and staged it as a kayaking accident said her last words to him were "I love you" before she plunged below the surface. Court documents submitted as part of a bail application for accused murderer Graeme Davidson show the details of his alleged actions before and after the death of his wife, Jacqueline Davidson. The 56-year-old was charged with murder in May, more than four years after Ms Davidson, 54, drowned at Lake Samsonvale, north-west of Brisbane. The pair were paddling in separate kayaks in November 2020 when Mr Davidson said his wife fell in the water and drowned. Mr Davidson was also charged with fraud and attempted fraud, with police alleging he fraudulently collected more than $200,000 in a life insurance payout, and tried to make a claim on a second policy worth $950,000 after his wife's death. He was released on bail last week after an application in the Supreme Court in Brisbane. Documents submitted to the court as part of his successful bail application have revealed what he told police after his wife's death. "It's my fault," the transcripts show he told police. Mr Davidson said he was "show[ing] off" by trying to stand up and balance on the sides of his kayak while she took a photo of him. "Our sort of, if you like it, safe word, is to say, 'I love you,'" he told police. "It's easy, cause if you're in company, in a bar, or something … and somebody's an arse, and I look like I'm gonna' thump … them … then she'll say, 'I love you. Please don't do that.' "And [that day] she said, I lo-, she said no. And then she said, I love you. And I thought, 'Oh, she really means, no … she's scared.' "And then she fell in." Mr Davidson said he thought his wife was joking around, and that she would soon re-emerge. "I really thought she was gonna get up and tell me off. She never got up," he said. Mr Davidson performed CPR on his wife after pulling her kayak back to shore. Mr Davidson: "Everybody tells me I did a, as good a job as I could do. But I know, if I haven't f***** around that kayak today-" Police Officer: "It's not your fault mate. It's not your fault." Mr Davidson: "Yeah, it is my f****** fault. She even gave me the f****n' safe word. And there I was, fart assin' around like a d***head." Police Officer: "Mm." Mr Davidson: "I f****** killed my wife." The court documents also show the bizarre response he gave to a bystander while his wife was receiving CPR by onlookers. Documents alleged a witness told police she approached Mr Davidson, who had a cut on his lip, to ask if his wife had any communicable diseases, as she was bleeding while receiving CPR. "The [defendant] responded with words to the effect of, 'She had no diseases to catch, unless death is contagious,'" the documents stated. The documents also alleged that the defendant could have gotten Ms Davidson to shore more quickly. "Investigators noted after the victim drowned, the [defendant] had had the ability to sit on the kayak with the deceased and paddle back to make the journey in minutes, however he decided to walk her approximately 2km along the lake's edge, taking 1-2 hours," the documents stated. Bail documents also detail Mr Davidson was recorded on his home's CCTV cameras on the night of his wife's death, burning several documents in his backyard. Mr Davidson's lawyer, Craig Eberhardt, previously told the court this evidence, and other evidence, had been greatly wrongly characterised and exaggerated. In the bail application, the court heard Mr Davidson's two daughters, who offered a surety for his release, were home at the time, and Mr Davidson burned the documents in full view of his cameras. Mr Eberhardt also told the court Ms Davidson did not have any injuries consistent with being assaulted or being involved in any sort of struggle. "Quite simply … there is no direct evidence that [Mr Davidson] killed Jacqueline," he said. The bail documents also revealed more details about an affair Mr Davidson had while he was deployed to Papua New Guinea in 2018 and 2019. The Supreme Court had previously heard his wife was made aware of his infidelity, and had discussed separating with him, which crown prosecutor Caroline Marco said was "not well received" by her husband. The court was told he was concerned about the financial impact it would have on him. The documents submitted as part of his bail application alleged a witness told police Ms Davidson became aware her husband was "cheating on her with local prostitutes and had been fraudulently using a credit card owned by the army". According to the documents, one witness told police they were aware Mr and Ms Davidson discussed separating, "and the conversation mainly related to finances if they were to separate". "It was alleged the [defendant] told the deceased he would fight it all the way and she would be left with nothing," the documents stated. Another witness said Ms Davidson was "emotional" and "paranoid" after finding out her husband was having an affair. During the bail hearing, Mr Eberhardt told the court his client's actions caused "significant matrimony upset" but "there is in fact no evidence of ongoing dispute or domestic disharmony, let alone domestic violence in 2020". The bail documents show police were contacted by a Thai resident after Mr Davidson was arrested, who alleged he assaulted him after he told him to "watch his aggressive bulldog". The documents alleged Mr Davidson "completely freaked out" and attacked the man, until he fell to the ground, unconscious. "The resident woke up in hospital with a broken arm, a broken nose, shattered front tooth and bruises and blood all over his body," the documents alleged. Mr Davidson's has not been charged over the alleged assault and his lawyer disputes he was the instigator in the incident. The documents also show a series of emails between Mr Davidson, police investigators, the Queensland Coroners Court and his insurance company. In an email sent in January 2022, Mr Davidson complained to the presiding police officer that the case was moving at a "glacial" pace, and that the insurance company wouldn't pay out his wife's life insurance until the police and coronial investigation were complete. "My purpose in asking for progress is twofold: closure and insurance," he said in an email to police in January 2023, more than two years after his wife's death. He said he wanted to give his children the money from the insurance payout, to help them put deposits down for their first homes. "The insurance company tells me they don't pay if: 1. Suicide/murder by the beneficiary. 2. Alcohol/drugs. 3. Died whilst committing a crime. 4. Died due to an undisclosed medical condition," he wrote. "I am utterly certain that none of these apply and I don't understand how the process to prove it, or otherwise, can take well over two years; whilst my kids are paying rent." He urged police to provide him a timeline so he could "stop pestering" them every few months. Mr Eberhardt previously told the court his attempt to claim the insurance money was unremarkable. "The existence of mutual insurance policies between husband and wife is the most unremarkable feature of sound financial planning going into retirement," he said. "The fact he claimed on the insurance policy is even more unremarkable, in fact, it would have been even more suspicious if he didn't claim." None of the evidence submitted in the bail hearing, or the documents as part of the prosecution's case against Mr Davidson, has been tested. Mr Davidson has not yet been required to enter a plea, nor has his case, at this stage, been committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Man didn't realise slain gangster Bilal Hamze fell next to his taxi until he saw footage of shooting on TV
Late on a Thursday night, a taxi driver looked at his phone as he waited for his next fare, not batting an eye when he heard very loud 'fireworks' going off. Seconds later, a jury has been told, an Audi pulled up just in front of his car, the tinted passenger window wound down just a couple of centimetres, a jury was told. This time when he heard the loud bangs, he knew they were gunshots. But it wasn't until he watched the news later that he realised a dying underworld figure had collapsed next to his taxi moments before he drove off, fearing for his life. Bilal Hamze, a senior member of the Hamze crime family, was gunned down outside the Kid Kyoto restaurant in Sydney's CBD on June 17, 2021. A man with alleged links to rival criminal organisation the Alameddine family, Samuel John Rokomaqisa, is standing trial accused of Hamze's murder and allegedly conspiring to kill his younger brother, Ibrahem. Mr Rokomaqisa has pleaded not guilty. Court documents reveal how a taxi driver, who was 'scared for (his) life', drove away after the shooting, oblivious to the dying gangster who had collapsed next to his car. The taxi driver was parked on Bridge St on the evening of the alleged murder and heard a few bangs he initially dismissed as fireworks. He 'saw flashes and heard loud bangs' just after an Audi pulled up in front of his car seconds later. 'I don't specifically remember seeing a pistol, but I believed these were gunshots,' the man told police in his witness statement. 'I immediately ducked down … I thought something bad was happening and wanted to move away from there. 'I was scared for my life.' By the time he looked back up the car was gone, and he drove up the road where he was hailed down by a woman, who was 'scared' when she got in at 10.24pm. 'She said she thought it was a shooting,' the man's statement read. He continued working until about 1am, unaware of the gravity of what he had just witnessed until he watched the news. 'I later saw on the news that a man had been shot next to where my taxi was stopped,' his witness statement read. 'On the night it happened, I did not see the man that had been shot, or anyone else around that time, as I had been looking at my phone while parked and waiting for a fare.' The NSW Supreme Court was previously told Bilal was 'grunting' and 'groaning' as he lay on the street after 10 shots were fired at him, blood coming from his mouth as the sex worker he had been dining with screamed over him. He was pronounced dead in hospital within the hour, and the stolen Audi was later found burnt out, with photos released this week showing the extent of the fire damage. It's alleged that months later, Ibrahem narrowly escaped a murder plot after a stolen Mercedes was spotted circling his unit and trying to enter its underground carpark, having 'just missed' Ibrahem, the court was told. It's alleged Mr Rokomaqisa and another man threatened an elderly man into giving them his car after the Mercedes they were in got a flat tyre in a police chase following the surveilling of Ibrahem's unit. The man, now 80 years old, told the court how he had pulled over to answer his phone when the Mercedes stopped next to him, the balaclava-clad passenger allegedly pointing a pistol at him. 'He looked at me and he point a gun to my face and he said 'get out of the car',' the man told the court. 'To me he sounded rather polite actually and well spoken.' The driver, also holding a pistol and described as 'well spoken', then allegedly pulled the man out of his Camry. The 80-year-old told the court how his shirt had been taken by police for forensic testing, as one of the men in the Mercedes had allegedly touched it. 'I said, 'Will I get it back?' He said 'No, you'll never get this shirt back',' the man told the court. The jury also heard how a man who ordered fake number plates that mimicked the plates of registered vehicles had allegedly met with Ibrahem after realising his plates were used in Bilal's murder. 'I wanted to inform (Ibrahem) of what the police are saying to not have any sort of bad blood or any sort of issues later on, and I wanted it to come directly from me,' the man said. Fake plates, both ordered online by the man in May 2021 according to records shown to the jury, were allegedly used on the stolen Audi involved in Bilal's shooting and on the Mercedes surveilling Ibrahem's home. The man told the court that he ordered the plates and supplied them to others, including a group of Middle Eastern people. He hid them at an abandoned house, Rookwood Cemetery and in parks for the group, who were 'regular customers', to pick up. He couldn't remember anyone's names but said he began supplying the group with the plates after he 'got the knock on the door' one day. He was unsure how they knew his address. The man said he never asked them why they were ordering from him regularly, telling the court that he 'just wanted the drugs' he was given, alongside cash, in exchange for the plates. The trial continues.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Melbourne Women Will Speak rally braces for transgender activists, neo Nazi gatecrashers
Women protesting for sex-based rights will face off against transgender activists in the Melbourne CBD today in a rally tipped to descend into chaos. A heavy police presence will guard the Women Will Speak gathering at Parliament House and water barriers will be set up to separate the dualling groups. A pack of neo Nazis have also threatened to gatecrash the rally. Women Will Speak leader Jasmine Sussex, speaking with NewsWire on Saturday morning, slammed the prospect of Nazis embedding themselves into the day. 'You're not welcome. Stay away. We're not your women,' she said. 'We despise them and everything they stand for.' More than 100 women are expected to gather about 11.30am and protest what they see as the erosion of women's rights before gender identity claims. 'We're not anti-trans, we're about women's rights,' Ms Sussex said. 'When you say gender ID is more important than sex in policy and law, it has catastrophic impacts for women and girls across society. 'It means things like men convicted of violent sexual crimes being put in women's prisons, which is happening now.' Ms Sussex also singled out the passage of recent anti-vilification laws in Victoria, which she warns could land dissenting women in the courts. 'We first rallied in April this year in response to passing of some draconian anti-vilification and social cohesion laws, which will believe will be used by men who claim a gender ID as a weapon against women, because the threshold for vilification is very low,' she said. 'So if a man who believes he is a woman is offended by something … if we say, 'that's a man', that could be vilification.' Some counter protesters with the Whistleblowers, Activists and Communities Alliance have threatened to front up and disrupt the rally, claiming the Women Will Speak event promotes 'bigoted transphobia'. Some protesters have also threatened to disrupt media coverage of the event. Victoria Police said they would set up water barriers to maintain order. 'Ahead of tomorrow's planned rally in the CBD, Victoria Police has become aware of online posts from one of the protests groups involved encouraging attendees to interfere with journalists covering the event,' the police said on Friday. 'This includes references to damaging the cameras of media outlets present. 'For safety reasons, police will also not be allowing media to set up beyond the water filled barriers that will be used to maintain the protest group tomorrow.'
