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Telegraph
28-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
The popular Australian seaside town plagued by deadly shark attacks
Esperance is regularly touted for possessing some of the world's best beaches, but now this popular Australian tourist town is facing a crisis after becoming plagued by shark attacks. Swimmers and surfers have long flocked this dreamy spot on the isolated south coast of Western Australia, about 400 miles from state capital Perth. But many locals and tourists have become wary of entering Esperance's crystalline seas due to a tragic spate of shark attacks. Esperance had gone more than 100 years without such a death before four people were killed by sharks in just the last eight years. This harrowing sequence of events has not only devastated the town's tiny community of about 10,000 people. It has also affected its reputation as a tourist destination, and sparked debate about just how aggressively authorities should implement anti-shark measures. Most recently, in March, a 37-year-old tourist from Melbourne, Steven Jeffrey Payne, was surfing at Wharton Beach near Esperance when he died from a shark bite. Another surfer, 52-year-old Esperance man Andrew Sharpe, passed away in similar circumstances in October 2020 at Esperance's Kelp Beds. Earlier that year, 57-year-old local Gary Johnson was killed by a shark while scuba diving at Cull Island near Esperance. And in April 2017, a 17-year-old tourist from Mandurah was fatally wounded by a shark while surfing at Kelp Beds. It means Esperance has had four of the last seven deadly shark attacks in Western Australia. Such a concentration of deaths is unprecedented in this colossal state, which has more than 8,000 miles of coastline. As a result, these shark attacks have received heavy news coverage. Ron Chambers, Esperance Shire President, said many locals and visitors were now cautious about entering the sea. 'Every life lost, be it a visitor or local, is deeply felt across the region,' Mr Chambers said. 'Locals and visitors are more alert, but not avoiding the water altogether. Some change where and when they enter the water, [but] the recent shark incidents have not stopped people coming to Esperance, our tourist numbers are still high.' Should visitors to Western Australia be concerned? The state's Tourism Minister Reece Whitby said it has one of Australia's most comprehensive programmes aimed at protecting the public from sharks. It uses shark tagging, shark lookout towers, helicopter shark patrols, beachside warning systems, and shark sighting apps. It also operates 'swimming enclosures' at seven of its most popular beaches, including Town Beach in Esperance, where a 300m net helps to block sharks. The Western Australian government has also committed AUD $45,000 to upgrade seaside shark warning towers at Esperance's Twilight Beach, West Beach, and Kelp Beds. Government employees also visit locations inundated with sharks, such as floating whale carcasses. There they attach digital tags to the most dangerous shark species: great white, tiger, and bull. Certain beaches across Western Australia have digital receivers which can detect these tagged sharks. A detection prompts the nearby shark warning tower to activate flashing lights and warning sirens for at least one hour. Further shark detection comes via WA's Shark Smart phone app, which members of the public can use to log a shark sighting. Swimmers and surfers can check this app for real time reports of shark sightings. All four of Esperance's recent attacks involved great white sharks, a giant species up to 6m long. A 2018 study by Australia's top scientific body, the CSIRO, found there were more than 1,000 great whites in Western Australian waters. Esperance's natural environment and tourist activity have combined to cause its spate of shark attacks, said Dr Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research. 'Esperance is a pristine part of the coastline with a rich marine life, including a healthy population of Australian sea lions, a favourite food of white sharks,' Dr Naylor said. 'The increased density of white sharks in the area has resulted in an increase in bites on surfers. The surfers are likely mistaken for seals flopping around at the surface.' Should I be worried about sharks in Australia? Deadly shark attacks may make the news, but they're far less common than fatal car crashes, for example, says Dr Vincent Raoult, a marine ecologist from Australia's Griffith University. Over the past decade, Australia's had an average of 2.7 fatal shark attacks per year. Its annual road deaths are more than 40 times higher than that. Tourists to Australia can reduce their chances of encountering a shark by following simple advice. Avoid entering the sea at dawn or dusk, when sharks are more active. Choose beaches that have shark nets, shark lookout towers, or lifeguard patrols. Stay close to the shore, and avoid beaches with heavy fishing activity, which can attract sharks. Australian marine biologist Madeline Riley also recommends shark deterrent devices, which attach to a swimmers' limb and emit electrical pulses that can repel sharks. 'Some can reduce the risk of bites by around 60 per cent,' she said.
The Independent
12-03-2025
- The Independent
Drone catches final moments of surfer mauled to death by shark in front of girlfriend
Authorities are desperately trying to find the body of a surfer who was mauled to death by a shark in front of his girlfriend in Western Australia. New Zealander Steven Payne, 37, was killed by a shark while surfing with his partner at Wharton Beach on the south west coast. Mr Payne was in chest-deep water about 50 metres from shore when the attack took place on Monday. But his shocked partner and other onlookers could do nothing as they heard his screams. Authorities rushed to the remote beach around midday, shortly before closing the beach and starting a search. The rescue quickly turned into a recovery mission when drone footage of the attack taken by a member of the public was shared with police. Mr Payne's surfboard was found with bite marks, but authorities are yet to locate his body. Western Australia Police Force Senior Sergeant Christopher Taylor said on Tuesday Mr Payne was with at least two surfers when he was attacked but there was 'nothing they could do, nothing'. Drone footage and witness accounts made it 'so obvious what had happened', the Sergeant added. The search resumed on Wednesday morning, with the surfboard due to be tested in the hope of identifying the species of shark responsible. The attack came just weeks into the couple's six-month trip around Australia with their dog. 'It (the drone footage) shows a lot of blood, the shark and some other things in there I don't particularly want to go into and I don't think anybody else needs to see other than maybe the coroner and some other experts who will determine the type of shark and size,' the Sergeant said, adding that the girlfriend was 'distraught'. 'Her life was turned upside down... You can imagine how she is, it's just horrible. It is heartbreaking obviously and the whole community of Esperance feels the pain - not as much as the family, they're distraught and trying to come to terms with what happened.' Mr Payne worked as a sales and marketing director in Melbourne and was a volunteer firefighter. He grew up in New Zealand busy Lower Hutt city and was known as a talented rugby player by his school friends. His family are believed to be on their way. Mr Payne was a 'really good lad' who had only moved to Melbourne in recent years, one school friend told Australian TV channel 7 News. 'He was an incredible person who was always there for his mates,' another school friend told 7 news, adding that the news was 'devastating'. Mr Payne had dated his girlfriend for more than 10 years and had previously lived in Namibia. Witnesses reported seeing a 'massive shark' attack Mr Payne. Shark monitoring website SharkSmart also detected an unidentified species of shark minutes after the attack off the popular Esperance shoreline. There have been three fatal shark attacks in the area in the last eight years.
Al Jazeera
12-03-2025
- Al Jazeera
Police say surfer ‘taken by shark' in Western Australia
Australian police have confirmed that a surfer who went missing was 'taken by a shark' after search and rescue teams recovered a surfboard scarred with 'bite marks' from the area of the attack. The victim – identified by Australian media as 37-year-old Steven Payne – was mauled by a shark while surfing at Wharton beach in a remote area of Western Australia, police said late on Tuesday. It marks Australia's fourth reported fatal shark attack in recent months. 'I can confirm that our search is a recovery, not a rescue,' Western Australia Police Force Senior Sergeant Christopher Taylor said, noting that the surfer's body has not been recovered. 'A surfboard with evidence of bite marks was recovered from the water,' Western Australia Police said in a separate statement on Tuesday. According to media reports, a shark was spotted just moments before the attack in the water off Wharton beach and screams were heard coming from the area where the man was surfing at about midday. Australia's 7News network said the victim was in chest-deep water about 50 metres (164 feet) from the shore with two other surfers when he was attacked. Police said the other surfers were unable to do anything to help. In February, a shark killed a 17-year-old girl swimming off an eastern Australian island, while a 28-year-old surfer was fatally bitten in South Australia a month earlier. On December 28, a shark fatally bit a 40-year-old man in the neck as he was spearfishing off Queensland.
