With all due respect, statistically...based on the facts here...this is not quite correct...EL...if you have been bitten once or twice, how many times have you been run over by a bus?

I took a couple of Wwoofers out fishing and snorkelling a few weeks back...we found a nice 15m drop off/wall and I was cruising along in the deep water when I saw a reef shark lazily cruise by 10m below ..I followed along until he seemed to become a bit agitated and changed direction by zipping up above the wall and heading along the reef flat in a bout 3m of water..after kicking along trying to keep up with him I saw that he was headed straight towards the female wwoofer..he went in quite fast and then just 3m from her veered off and returned to the deeper water once more ...the male wwoofer jumped back in the boat soon after as the shark attacked and killed a fish close to him..he panicked and bolted..lol ..
Later on the female wwoofer mentioned that she was menstruating and had just pee'd in the water not long prior to the shark investigating her...

Hmmm...There might be something in that for the ladies to take on board...

He said you would have more chance of being KILLED by a shark than being run over by a bus..he has only had a couple of nips...anyone that has speared or fished the GBR or elsewhere will have been hasseled by sharks to some degree...mostly however they are just after your catch..I still dont trust the big Tigers and Hammers though...

I guess EmaraldLecky was lucky that 8ft Tiger only bit him on the Calf. A bit higher up on the thigh and a severed femoral artery out on the GBR would have a lineball survival scenario unfolding. I reckon I would prefer to get hit by a bus than bleed out on the back of your mates tinnie as he races you the 50kms to the nearest hospital.

Scarey thought that. I have been spearfishing up here over the last few years in the Nwest and it scares the crap out of me some days. Some places just seem a little isolated and sharkey not to mention croccy up on the peninsula. One trip up near Middle lagoon we kayaked around to out favorite camping spot and had a 4m tiger shark swim past and circle us twice before moving on. 20 min utes before that I was in the water. I havn't been back to that spot since even though I know it has the biggest Coral Trout and Bluebone just sitting there for the taking.

I took my 10 yr old son on his first open water scuba dives at the reef last week..
was surprised at how fearless he was around the reef sharks..dont know whether thats a good or a bad thing..he also found a monster moray eel and wanted to get some pilchards and hand feed it...maybe next time son..

Caught a 6ft bronze whaler on the beach Christmas weekend near Esperance, took 4 hours - Didn't realise they could swing their head so far behind them..

Have learned lesson.

Sharks are pretty cool when you are swimming with them. Having dived all over the world I have had many encounters including a swim by from a 3.5m Hammerhead. Carying dead fish when diving or spear fishing makes them look at you a bit differently as you have food. Just like a dog looking at your snag. Some dogs are gentle and some go beyond the snag and get your fingers. Moray eels are almost blind and when you feed them they often cant tell where the fish ends and your fingers start. Be carefull if you intend to feed them.

If you are going to feed a moray keep your fingers and thumbs as close together as possible.

Thanks for the advice...my missus would never forgive me if I bought our 10 yr old back from a moray feeding session and had to re-name him stumpy.

This made me chuckle. Maybe your new name would be 'Lumpy' - after being bopped on the head for bringing your son home re-modelled.
So....the new family photo could be tagged Mrs. Grumpy (no disrespects to your wife ), Mr. Lumpy and Master Stumpy.
......ok, that was a bit silly....

Sharks again hitting the headlines in WA. Another fatality off the Swest with a 33yo fella cray fishing from his boat taken by what is thought to be a 4metre great white. That is now the 4th fatal attack in the region over the last 7 months. Those numbers just seem too high. I spoke to someone about shark attacks today and he was saying that he read a report on shark attacks over the last 12 months and worldwide there have been 5 fataliltes, 4 of which were in SWest WA.

Edit, Just found this article which has WA now the world's deadliest shark attack region.

WA DEEMED WORLDS DEADLIEST

He was not actually taken was he. I thought they got his body back. Problem with a shark is they don't have hands. When they make the descision to see what you are they only have one way of doing it. A little grab in the mouth(or a big grab if they are in a feisty mood).
4 in 7 months is certainly a bad run though. Gotta feel for the victim and those affected.
However I do get sick and tired of the calls to kill the shark(as if they would know which it was).
It's not as though you hear everyone calling for all trees to be cut down when someone is killed by a falling branch.

Yeah they got him back. I heard somewhere seals had been seen in the area in the days/weeks leading up to the attack which you kind of expect along alot of that coast. I am not sure if he was wearing a wetsuit but no doubt the Shark may have thought he was a seal and went in for a surprise attack.

I understand that black wetsuits are used for a reason ie attracting sun and warmth whilst in the water but it must confuse the buggery out of those sharks to suddenly see a black object freediving/diving for crays right in front of it. I wonder if the initial brain response and reaction of a shark would be different if divers wore different coloured wetsuits, red, yellow, light blue, hot pink (lol). Sharks know what their prey looks like and they are usually pretty good at getting it. Why make yourself look like their prey.

Another possibility may be the distress noise that a crayfish could make when being handled and the attraction of nearby predators to investigate. I remember once we went fishing but we had no bait so I snorkelled out and harrassed an octopus with a spear. The noise that thing made under water drew every big NWEST snapper in a 500m radius towards the distressed octopus. It was amazing to see. The same as when you spear a fish everything comes in for a look. Wouldnt be nice though for a 4 metre hungry great white to be the thing that comes in for a look.

Great whites freak me out. I have gotten used to Tiger sharks and hammerheads and feel OK near them but the big whites just sit that higher up on the amazing predator scale that I dont want to be in the water with.

Knee jerk human reaction is to destroy something that causes death. In this case the hunt would more than likely be pretty pointless as the shark that bit him was probably 30 klms away by the end of that day and a couple of hundred away the next day.

If you dress like a lettuce and lie down in a field expect to be eaten by a rabbit, same thing in the water
dress like prey expect to be treated as by sharks.

Another fatal attack over the weekend. Its getting pretty regular now. From nothing in decades to 5 fatalities in 10 months. Something has shifted the balance down in SW WA. Sharks are hungry, more seals around, more surfers in the water. Scarey stuff. What are peoples thoughts.

Deal with it. Everyone knows the potential risks. No shark deserves to die because someone thinks they have more right to the water than the sharks.

Yeah I agree that we should deal with it for now and see how the next 12 months pans out. BUT.... If the spate of attacks continues through this season now onwards then there will come a time when some form of action will have to be taken. Rogue crocodiles are removed from areas in the interest of public safety. Great whites are not as easy to trap as big crocs so I guess the issue of a Big Great white lurking or frequenting a popular area is that the only way to effectively deal with the situation is to shoot on sight, set lines and destroy.

Whether this stops the attacks is the big question. Check this footage out from last week in WA. INSANE!!!

GREAT WHITE FOOTAGE LAST WEEK OFF GERALDTON WA - WATCH THE MOVIE

This my feeling too. However, the number of fatal shark attacks in WA is quite concerning.

Something I wonder about though, we have great whites along the east coast of Australia yet the number of fatal attacks by great whites is much lower. I wonder what the reason for this is? Number of great whites? Distance from the coast? Diet?

I feel safer being around sharks then people and with all this overfishing of course there is goen to be more shark attacks on humans

About 10 years ago I kayaked around that Wedge Island near where the last fatal attack took place. Beautiful spot, Shallow sand bar heading across to the island with 3/4 of it having a sheltered lagoon area around the back. From memory there were Australian Sea lions and NZ fur seals in the water and a couple on the beaches on the northern end of the island. In the lagoon it felt safe but if you were to head out the back of the reef into the open waters I reckon it would feel a bit more unsettling. I reckon Surfers have guts hanging out there on their boards waiting for waves and I can understand fully how anything resembling a seal floating on the surface would get attacked.

To the North of Wedge is Cervantes/Jurien Bay and that is the breeding sites for the Australian Sea lions, Off Perth you have Carnac, Little, Rottnest, Garden and Seal islands which are all popular haul out areas for seals. Busselton, Bunker Bay and Margaret river all the places where fatal attacks have taken place are also big seal and sea lion areas.

WA has some pristine wild places and I believe the big increase of seal numbers in the waters off the South West has resulted in an associated concentration of Great White sharks who's primary source of food is Seals and sea lions. Throw in a few thousand surfers, spear fisherman, swimmers, body boarders, divers etc on any given day of the week and the law of averages is saying that there will be mistaken attacks by the great whites and if they happen to be hungry they may decide to eat their kill human or not. The days of Whites biting and letting go once they attack are less with the sharks actually consuming their prey these days.

Scarey stuff but I don't see an end to this issue any time soon. South West WA and South Africa are big white country and with the Great white and seals protection and an ever increasing population who are water based it will only mean one thing. More attacks.