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Down Under
Australian surfer eaten by sharks
2004-12-16
Two Great White Sharks have killed a teenage surfer off a popular beach in southern Australia. The 18-year-old man was attacked after falling from a surfboard being towed behind a boat at West Beach in the city of Adelaide, authorities said. Officials said they had been unable to find any sign of the surfer or the sharks since the attack. He is the second man to be killed by sharks in Australian waters in less than a week. The surfer was being towed by three friends in a small speedboat about 300 metres (980 ft) from shore.
Also known as "trolling".
"They were just boys having a good time, the weather was perfect and they were just out doing what young lads do," rescue worker Fraser Bell told reporters. The friends on the boat witnessed the whole attack. One shark attacked the man after he fell from the surfboard and the other shark took the man's remains, Mr Bell said. The first shark was described as 5m (16.5ft) long while the other was around 4.5m (14.7ft), he added.
That's a couple of really big fish.
Despite Australia's reputation for shark attacks, there are relatively few per year in the country. A 38-year-old died after he was mauled by a shark while spearfishing off the north-east coast of Queensland state last week. The latest death is the first off an Adelaide beach for 14 years.
Sharks, why do they eat us?
Posted by:Steve

#30  Some places are experimenting with a mild electric field near a beach; it repels the sharks and other critters that might drown in anti-shark netting. Safer for all parties. Probably expensive.
Posted by: mom   2004-12-16 11:37:38 PM  

#29  lol!
Posted by: 2b   2004-12-16 11:37:01 PM  

#28  2b - Lol! Of packrats, you mean, lol!

Here's another shot, clean / legit like the first, and a photoshopped image.
Posted by: .com   2004-12-16 11:34:31 PM  

#27  .com...you are the God of graphics
Posted by: 2b   2004-12-16 11:29:26 PM  

#26  Two Great Whites attack together.

Good Lord. They're learning.
Posted by: Spaimble Whomoper3883   2004-12-16 11:28:37 PM  

#25  Here's the ultimate image for this encounter, IMHO.
Posted by: .com   2004-12-16 10:46:50 PM  

#24  When I'm down in NZ next week, I will stay on the beach and watch for the sharks with my binocs. Someone else can be shark bait. Sharks---Why do they love us? Cause we's so sweet n juicy!
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2004-12-16 10:32:33 PM  

#23  ZF, like all things, sharks have their place. Some unfortunate gives his life up to remind us of that every year
Posted by: Frank G   2004-12-16 6:56:41 PM  

#22  We're going to kill off the sharks because?? Just who is intruding in who's back yard? Do sharks hang out in back alleys to knock people over the head? These folks have been around a couple of hundred million years. We're just the next bunch of suckers to present themselves for a quick lunch.
Posted by: Weird Al   2004-12-16 5:57:02 PM  

#21  I've seen footage of multiple great whites feeding on the same kill. Oddly enough, the biggest one eats first. Note that this is not cooperative hunting ala lions, just a group chow down.

Mucky's right on this one ZF. There just aren't that many shark attacks to justify killing already pressured species.
Posted by: Remoteman   2004-12-16 4:55:40 PM  

#20  You want to stop shark attacks? Stop Swimming While Delicious!
Posted by: BH   2004-12-16 4:37:16 PM  

#19  Well they have shark fences in places for a reason.

I am all for leaving them alone. The number of folks killed by sharks every year is trivial. Inline skates fill more.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-12-16 4:32:43 PM  

#18  Yikes! That was brutal. You okay ZF?
Posted by: Shipman   2004-12-16 4:05:18 PM  

#17  zf ifn their scare you that much stay outta the water. they are get enuff fishing preshures from em asian fishermans. theren other dangerus animals in em water to. are you kill all them off as well? and how are you do that? poison the waters? thatn make fer good swimmin won't it.
Posted by: muck4doo   2004-12-16 2:35:28 PM  

#16  What would you do if, as you lay soaking up rays, a bottle of beer and a hamburger placed themselves in your hands?

Offer them to the nearest shark?
Posted by: lex   2004-12-16 2:13:32 PM  

#15  It was revenge. Revenge for what?

For this.
The Shark took off towing the 42 foot fishing boat backwards through the water at about 7 Knots. Just like in JAWS. The boat was taking on water, the Shark would jump completely out of the water at times.
Posted by: growler   2004-12-16 2:10:15 PM  

#14  Mmmmm, chocolate. Now I miss living in Brussels, three blocks from two chocolate shops.

I saw a thing on one of the good science/nature channels the other night. It appears that sharks like relaxing by hanging out near the beach, just like humans do. Because the waves move oxygenated water over their gills, they don't have to move constantly as they do in deep, still ocean, and as a bonus the sun-warmed water warms their cold-blooded bodies. What would you do if, as you lay soaking up rays, a bottle of beer and a hamburger placed themselves in your hands?
Posted by: trailing wife   2004-12-16 1:39:55 PM  

#13  NGuard wrote:

O.K., I'll bite.

Fortunately you are not a shark

Why do sharks hate us? Because of Sharks fin soup, overfishing, (insert eco-freak rant here)..

Actually they don't hate us. They loooove us. JUst as I love chocolate
Posted by: JFM   2004-12-16 1:31:30 PM  

#12  Me: The ocean is the wilderness. It's like the forest 300 years ago. Sharks are wild animals. You act like food, you might be eaten.

Don't play with wolves, bears, lions, sharks, et cetera.

I think the problem is that shark-fishing isn't permitted. The easiest way to fix this problem would be to allow commercial shark-fishing off the beaches.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-12-16 12:09:08 PM  

#11  The ocean is the wilderness. It's like the forest 300 years ago. Sharks are wild animals. You act like food, you might be eaten.

Don't play with wolves, bears, lions, sharks, et cetera.
Posted by: Me   2004-12-16 11:51:25 AM  

#10  ... they were just out doing what young lads do

And the sharks were just doing what sharks do...
Posted by: mojo   2004-12-16 11:07:39 AM  

#9  If it happened off American shores, the sharks would sue the family of the deceased due to the fact that the surfer had a high fat content, and the sharks developed a case of coronary artery disease.

John Edwards is available to take the case after Jan 3.
Posted by: BigEd   2004-12-16 11:01:58 AM  

#8  I guess this is what they call the circle of life. Humans eat little fish. Big fish eat humans. Little fish eat the scraps.

Seriously, though, they really need to stop being politically correct and start wiping out the shark population within a few miles of the beach. We don't tolerate land carnivores within miles of human habitation. We shouldn't make an exception for the shark, which has no natural predators.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-12-16 10:56:38 AM  

#7  LOL!
Posted by: Shipman   2004-12-16 10:46:22 AM  

#6  Ever once in a while you hear about these but I've never heard of TWO great whites attacking at once.

Pretty obvious: It was a dinner date
Posted by: Frank G   2004-12-16 10:31:22 AM  

#5  Rantburg really needs a "Fish are Friends, Not Food!" category.
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2004-12-16 10:29:11 AM  

#4  Whoops. They were in New Zealand.
Posted by: Seafarious   2004-12-16 10:06:20 AM  

#3  There was a neat story a few weeks ago about a group of Oz swimmers who could not get away from a pod of dolphins. The 'fins swam in a fairly tight circle around the people, keeping them together and sort of herding them towards shore. They did this for about 20 minutes before one of the swimmers noticed the shark fin in the distance...
Posted by: Seafarious   2004-12-16 10:02:12 AM  

#2  Ever once in a while you hear about these but I've never heard of TWO great whites attacking at once. That part just stuns me.
Posted by: Dar   2004-12-16 9:49:29 AM  

#1  O.K., I'll bite.

Why do sharks hate us? Because of Sharks fin soup, overfishing, (insert eco-freak rant here)...
Posted by: N Guard   2004-12-16 9:44:20 AM  

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