Why Are Sharks Attacking Like Crazy in South Australia?
Richard Vinall was in the midst of his morning routine, a swim at Port Noarlunga, last week, when the 60-something-year-old man was attacked by a shark. He was bitten on the thigh, badly. After being treated on the beach, he was transported to the hospital where he remains in critical condition.
This was just the latest in a surge of attacks, sightings, and curious behavior from sharks on South Australia's coastline. The area has a history of being sharky. But this is something different. And now, officials believe they know why – or at least a contributing factor – to the spike in attacks.
Speaking with ABC, Deputy Premier Susan Close, (and also the state's environment minister) named a huge, toxic algal bloom as the culprit for sharks 'not behaving normally.' She continued:
'They're more numerous along our metropolitan coastline than we normally expect to see and also they appear to be in some distress and there's some talk of them being more aggressive.'
The apparent algal bloom – which is harmful to marine life, even causing neurological damage – is the size of Kangaroo Island off South Australia. That's more than triple the size of Los Angeles.Recently, a 10-foot great white shark found itself stranded in shallow water at a South Australia beach. Locals waded out to the shark, and helped it back to sea, using only their bare hands. Speaking to the aberrant nature of such an incident, one of the rescuers recounted: 'The tide was on its way out, and it looked to be confused.' In that scenario, luckily, nobody was nipped.
And soon after, another 10-foot great white beached itself at a different South Australia beach. This one could not be saved. As one witness said, 'It was struggling. It was rolling around. Its belly was up. It looked like it was pretty sick.'Looking back over the last two years, it hasn't just been sharks washing ashore sick and confused. Two surfers have been killed in South Australia. Earlier this year, 28-year-old Lance Appleby was taken by a shark while surfing Granites Beach on the Eyre Peninsula, and his body was never found; then, in 2023, 15-year-old Khai Cowley was attacked and killed while surfing Ethel Beach.
Watch out, South Australians. It's getting seriously sharky down there.
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