On 7 March, a swimmer in her 50s was bitten by a suspected bull shark at Gunyah beach near Bundeena in Sydney\u2019s south. And last week, with south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales still reeling from the wild weather generated by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred \u2013 which has gouged out beloved beaches \u2013 came the news that a surfer on the other side of the country was killed by a shark, at remote Wharton beach in Western Australia.<\/p>\n
Will Salter, middle aged man with grey hair, sitting on surfboard in ocean<\/p>\n
With such such tragedies making headlines, the sense of unease felt by ocean-goers such as Daly is understandable. But is widespread fear of sharks justified?<\/p>\n
The University of Florida compiles data on the world\u2019s unprovoked shark bites \u2013 which excludes bites sustained while people spearfish or release sharks from hooks or nets \u2013 in its International Shark Attack File.<\/p>\n
It says Australia typically averages the second-highest annual number of reported bites and fatalities, behind the United States. But 2024, its researchers say, was an \u201cexceptionally calm year for shark bites\u201d, both here and abroad.<\/p>\n
Of 47 unprovoked attacks, only nine were in Australia \u2013 and none of them fatal. Four fatal attacks were recorded around the world. In contrast, 300,000 people drown around the world every year.<\/p>\n
The year prior, 2023, however, four of 10 fatal attacks were in Australian waters. And experts say that in Australia and around the world, shark bites on humans have increased steadily over the past few decades.<\/p>\n
But, they add, so too have human populations and the number of people taking up water sports such as surfing.<\/p>\n
James Cook University shark expert Dr Andrew Chin says a more useful metric than bites a year would be the number of bites per people entering the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the real statistic,\u201d he says. \u201cBut we don\u2019t count how many people are entering the water \u2026 we just don\u2019t have that data.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the only thing we can say is that the risk is extremely low and it is very difficult to pick out any signal from the data, given how rare these events are.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it is not just traumatic and high-profile attacks that have Daly on edge. For years, he says, more sharks have been biting catch off fishers\u2019 lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took a mob of people out on a charter boat the other day and everyone hooked up to a snapper,\u201d Daly says. \u201cOnly one was landed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all feel it, you know, as fishermen. It\u2019s a massive issue.\u201d<\/p>\n So Daly has decided to take matters into his own hands \u2013 he wants to organise a shark fishing competition in the bay. If he does, it won\u2019t be the first.<\/p>\n Last May, the Moreton Bay Game Fish Club competition \u201cfish of the month\u201d was shark.<\/p>\n \u201cWith sharks in plague proportions everywhere you turn, it shouldn\u2019t be too hard for those wanting to get on the board for this FotM comp,\u201d organisers wrote.<\/p>\n And Daly believes the sharks that dog his catch have not only become more numerous \u2013 but cannier.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re smart now,\u201d he says. \u201cThey know to follow boats. They know if you\u2019re fishing, that you\u2019re dropping lines.\u201d<\/p>\n Smart sharks may sound like the plot of a B-grade movie but, as it turns out, Daly is on to something. Scientists and authorities call the behaviour Daly describes as shark depredation \u2013 and most agree it appears to be on the rise.<\/p>\n A Queensland Department of Primary Industries spokesperson said shark depredation was \u201ca key issue\u201d, not only in that state\u2019s fisheries, but across the country.<\/p>\n The nationwide, industry-backed Fisheries Research and Development Corporation was funding the DPI to run a two-year project to work out ways to mitigate depredation and would be holding workshops with fishers, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n We\u2019re reporting and seeing those shark interactions more often than we have ever had before Griffith University shark management expert Dr Vincent Raoult agrees depredation is a \u201cwell-recognised issue\u201d. But that doesn\u2019t mean there are more sharks nor that the ocean has become any less safe for swimmers, Raoult says.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s definitely an acknowledgement from the experts \u2013 and by experts, I mean the scientists in this case \u2013 that there\u2019s more and more sharks being spotted, particularly bull sharks, by recreational and commercial fishers,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, that is very different to whether shark populations are increasing or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Raoult says there simply is no data to back up anecdotal reports of increasing shark numbers. The only hard evidence for changes in shark population comes from the state\u2019s lethal shark control program in Queensland.<\/p>\n Over the last two years there have been more sharks caught in Queensland. But year on year catch rates always fluctuate, Raoult says.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what you have to look at to understand populations is long-term trends over decades, really,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd there\u2019s not really any evidence yet to suggest that there\u2019s been a recent explosion in numbers of sharks.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, Raoult offers a number of alternative explanations for the growing concerns of encounters between anglers and the ocean\u2019s apex predators. Australia\u2019s population continues to grow, he says. More of those people, especially since the pandemic began, are game fishing. Prime fishing spots are attractive to both anglers and sharks. And, like Daly, Raoult says sharks are \u201cintelligent predators\u201d. This increased exposure might be teaching sharks to associate fishing boats with food.<\/p>\n Add to that, the scientist says, most fishers now carry phones capable of capturing and sharing their shark encounters.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019re reporting and seeing those shark interactions more often than we have ever had before,\u201d Raoult says. \u201cBut what fishers see is not necessarily representative of what happens if you just go for a swim on the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n One expert who is trying to provide evidence that could either back up or sink the claims of anglers such as Daly is the University of the Sunshine Coast\u2019s Dr Bonnie Holmes, who is midway through a three-year research project to tag and track bull sharks in the waters north of Brisbane.<\/p>\n Holmes says her team is \u201cprobably a couple of years away\u201d from obtaining \u201chard data to support these anecdotal assumptions\u201d about bull shark numbers. But she does describe many of the waterways she targets with drum and set lines baited with freshwater eel as \u201cpretty healthy ecosystems\u201d \u2013 by which she means home to plenty of sharks.<\/p>\n Unlike most shark species, bull sharks can survive in both fresh and saltwater and thrive in rivers and estuaries. In fact, researchers believe that if south east Queensland\u2019s bull shark population is growing, it may partly be due to the canals built for housing along the coast that are prime bull shark habitat.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us fishing on the water, it\u2019s very easy to catch bull shark in most places,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Already her team has tagged about 100 across three systems: the Noosa and Maroochy river systems and the Pumicestone Passage.<\/p>\n Those \u201csheer numbers\u201d are probably one of the other most interesting things her team has found so far, Holmes says.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, the thing is, these animals are there and have been there for quite some time, and we have a lot of people that use our lower estuaries swimming, paddleboarding, kayaking, fishing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019re already, for the most part, comfortably sharing the waterways with these animals and probably have been for a really long time.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no reason that we can\u2019t continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n And anglers like Daly could yet prove crucial in finding ways to do just that. The deckhand says he would like to feed data from his proposed shark fishing competition directly to scientists.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could catch and tag sharks,\u201d he says. \u201cSo that, actually, they can record all them numbers and see exactly where them sharks are going and what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we could give them that sort of data and knowledge about it that would be awesome \u2013 because, until that happens, you know, hands are tied.\u201d<\/p>\n This article<\/a> by Joe Hinchliffe was first published by The Guardian on 22 March 2025. Lead Image: Australia typically averages the second-highest number of reported shark bites and fatalities a year, behind the United States. Photograph: Mike Greenslade\/Australia\/Alamy.<\/i><\/p>\n Wildlife continues to face threats, which include hunting, poaching, illegal trade in animal products, habitat loss as well as a rapidly changing climate.<\/p>\n Become a Wildlife Champion today by supporting our conservation partners<\/a> with a monthly donation as little as $1.<\/p>\n
\nDr Vincent Raoult<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhat you can do<\/h2>\n