A shark fisherman who sounded the alarm a day before four attacks along the NSW coast has warned Australians could be unable to safely swim in the ocean within a decade.
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Australians → sound → decade
Joel Nancarrow, the owner of Hunter Shark Jaw Restoration, urged swimmers to steer clear of river mouths and murky surf after heavy rainfall earlier this year.
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Nancarrow → urge → rainfall
'We always give our honest opinion on these fish and this is not the week to be swimming anywhere near river mouths or dirty water in the surf,' he wrote online on January 17.
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he → give → January
The next day, 12-year-old Nico Antic was fatally attacked by a suspected bull shark near Shark Beach in Sydney's east – one of four attacks reported within 48 hours.
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Antic → attack → hours
Mr Nancarrow now claims he is hauling in more sharks, and bigger ones, than a decade ago, prompting him to call for expanded commercial fishing to bring numbers under control.
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he → claim → control
'It’s not just getting a little bit worse.
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It → get → ?
It is getting a lot worse every single year,' he said on the Deep Mission with Scott Thorrington podcast.
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he → get → podcast
I fish beaches that have got shark nets on them and catch 300 kilo bull sharks.
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that → fish → sharks
In 10 years time I guarantee you we'll go, "They should have listened back then," because now our kids and grandkids can't swim.'
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kids → guarantee → you
Shark fisherman Joel Nancarrow claims Australians could be unable to safely swim in the ocean within a decade as he calls for expanded commercial shark fishing
Nancarrow says he caught 34 sharks this year, compared with 14 last year, and claims the sharks he encounters are getting bigger
But Bond University shark expert Dr Daryl McPhee said there was no evidence to support that prediction.
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McPhee → claim → prediction
'Those sorts of statements are right up there with Nostradamus,' he told the Daily Mail.
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he → tell → Mail
'When we talk about shark populations, there isn't one.
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we → talk → populations
For the three species of shark that bite people, like bulls and whites, we don't have a handle on the population trends.
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we → bite → trends
But Mr Nancarrow said his frequent fishing trips had convinced him the danger was growing.
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danger → say → him
'I go out fishing five out of seven days a week and it's getting a lot worse every single year,' he said.
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he → go → days
'I caught 34 sharks by myself this year.
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I → catch → myself
Last year, we got 14.'
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we → get → 14
He claimed the average weight of sharks he encountered had almost doubled, from about 130kg a decade ago to about 250kg, and that he was catching large sharks further into winter.
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he → claim → winter
'It used to be Anzac Day when we stopped fishing.
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we → use → ?
I got three of them in a day at the end of June this year... and one of them was an absolute monster, one of the most healthy ones I've ever seen in my life,' he said.
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he → get → life
Mr Nancarrow said expanded commercial fishing would reduce the number of juvenile sharks surviving to adulthood, claiming existing beach protection measures were failing to control numbers.
Bond University shark expert Dr Daryl McPhee says there is no evidence to support the prediction, dismissing it as 'right up there with Nostradamus'.
NSW has 37 coastal shark listening stations that provide real-time alerts when tagged sharks are detected near popular swimming and surfing locations
Dr
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sharks → say → locations
McPhee described NSW and Queensland as 'world leading' in shark bite mitigation, with drones among the measures used to help protect beachgoers
'
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drones → describe → beachgoers
Culling is not going to work.
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Culling → go → ?
Drum lines aren't doing anything in terms of numbers.
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lines → do → numbers
I fish beaches that have got shark nets on and then catch 300-kilo bull sharks on them.
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nets → fish → them
'In 15 years time, you'll still have your bigger fish that they're not going to put to market.
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they → have → market
But you're not going to have these numbers...
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you → go → numbers
for example, out of 100,000 juveniles now, realistically, 80,000 of them will probably grow up to be big fish.
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80,000 → grow → them
'If you do commercial fishery, there might only be 30,000.'
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you → do → fishery
He also advocated eating the catch, describing how he had recently prepared a large mako shark he caught.
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he → advocate → shark
'I got it, brought it home, cleaned it all up, skinned it, cut it up into little chunks probably like lamb cutlet chunks...
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I → get → chunks
it's awesome,' he said.
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he → say → ?
Commercial shark fishing is already permitted in NSW, including for bull sharks.
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fishing → permit → sharks
Eligible operators can take up to 2,000kg of whole sharks a week, or 1,200kg if any are processed, across the species covered by the scheme.
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any → take → scheme
A combined annual commercial catch limit of 85.9 tonnes in processed weight also applies.
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limit → combine → weight
Great white sharks are protected and cannot be commercially targeted.
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sharks → protect → ?
Dr McPhee challenged the idea that a larger commercial market for big sharks would provide a solution.
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market → challenge → solution
'There's no significant market for it because they potentially pose a health risk in terms of mercury and heavy metal,' he said.
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he → be → mercury
'So when people think they're eating shark, they're eating a small southern Australian species, the Gummy Shark, which is fantastic eating.
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which → think → species
But this quality does not transfer to large white, tiger or bull sharks.
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quality → transfer → sharks
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
