An Australian man was killed in a shark attack over the weekend, Queensland authorities confirmed, marking the second fatal shark attack in less than two weeks in the country. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo
The second fatal shark attack in less than two weeks in Australia has claimed the life of a 39-year-old man who was out spearfishing with friends at the Great Barrier Reef, authorities said Sunday.
Queensland Police identified the victim as a resident of Mount Sheridan, Australia, a suburb of Cairns, who died from a critical head injury inflicted by a bull shark while boating with three companions at Kennedy Shoal along the Barrier Reef on Saturday.
The fisherman was killed only eight days after a Perth man was fatally attacked by a shark while spearfishing in the water at a tourism hotspot in Western Australia.
Queensland Police Inspector Elaine Burns told reporters during a briefing Sunday the victim was hauled back onto his 23-foot boat by his friends, who then raced to shore in an attempt to save his life.
They were met by first responders at the Hull River boat ramp but it was too late.
“This is a tragic incident for everyone involved, and we will continue to provide support to the family and those who were on board with him,” Burns said, adding that the witnesses were deeply shaken by what they had seen.
“That’s quite a terrifying thing to see happen right in front of you,” she said.
Bob Katter, who represents the far northern Queensland district in Australia’s Parliament, took to social media to decry the latest shark fatality and called for the seaborne predators to be culled.
“This is a completely unnecessary heartbreaking tragedy, and all North Queensland mourns with this family tonight,” he wrote. “We understand there be more clarity over the coming days about what eventuated, but locals have been raising concerns about the exploding shark populations, particularly bull sharks, which are completely out of control, for years.”
Katter cited a local charter boat operator who told him that as they were reeling in a Spanish mackerel, six bull sharks began fighting over it.
“So much for them being a so-called endangered species,” he said, adding, “Another North Queenslander is dead. Another family is shattered. And still the people sitting in cushy air conditioned offices in Brisbane and Canberra think they know better than the people who live and work in these waters.”
But Richard Fitzpatrick, a marine biologist with James Cook University in Cairns, cautioned that the true size of the bull shark population remains unknown.
“We don’t know the population structure for these sharks at all,” he told 7News Australia. “We simply do not know how many are out there,” he added, noting that the school and government partners are only just now about to launch the first comprehensive bull shark population study covering Australia’s entire East Coast.
The pooled data sets will allow researchers to “finally work out what that population structure is.”
Great White Shark
A Great White is observed during behavioral research studies being conducted on Great White Sharks off of Isla Guadalupe, Mexico on September 15, 2008. Club Cantamar, primarily a tour operator has branched into conducting coordinated research with Isla Guadalupe Conservation to protect the species of sharks while offering tourists to Mexico the ability to also observe the sharks as they migrate through the area. The Conservation agency reports its findings to the Mexican Government which maintains authority on granting this activity. (UPI Photo/Joe Marino) | License Photo
