Speaker 1: Already and this is this is the Daily art, this
Speaker 1: is the Daily ears.
Speaker 2: Oh now it makes sense.
Speaker 3: Good morning and welcome to the Daily Odds. It's Wednesday,
Speaker 3: the twenty first of January. I'm Elliott Laurie.
Speaker 2: I'm Billy fitz Simons.
Speaker 3: This week, three shark attacks were reported at Sydney Beach's
Speaker 3: over just two days. It's left swimmers along the coastline
Speaker 3: asking the question what's going on. To help us understand
Speaker 3: what's driving the spike and what it means for public safety,
Speaker 3: we're joined by Associate Professor of Environmental Science, doctor Daryl
Speaker 3: McPhee from Bond University. In today's podcast, we're going to
Speaker 3: chat to doctor McPhee about why there's been so many encounters,
Speaker 3: what swimmers need to look out for, and how he
Speaker 3: thinks the government should respond.
Speaker 2: Elliott, I feel like every single conversation I've had over
Speaker 2: the past couple of days has been about the shark
Speaker 2: attacks in Sydney, because it's unusual that there are so
Speaker 2: many any such a short period of time. Do you
Speaker 2: want to take us back to the first one that
Speaker 2: happened this week?
Speaker 3: So it all started on Sunday when a twelve year
Speaker 3: old boy was attacked near Shark Beach in Sydney's East.
Speaker 3: He was taken to hospital in a critical condition, with
Speaker 3: police at the time saying he's quote in for the
Speaker 3: fight of his life now. It was reported that his
Speaker 3: injuries were consistent with what is believed to have been
Speaker 3: a large shark, most likely a bull shark.
Speaker 2: Okay, And so that was the first attack, that was
Speaker 2: on Sunday, and then on Monday we heard of another one.
Speaker 3: Right, yes, exactly, so we had this first incident. Then
Speaker 3: on Monday we heard two more reports of shark attacks
Speaker 3: in Sydney. The first one was an eleven year old
Speaker 3: boy who had a surfboard bidden by a shark at
Speaker 3: d Y, which is on Sydney's northern beaches. He was
Speaker 3: not injured in the incident, but his board certainly was.
Speaker 3: Did you see the pictures of this I did.
Speaker 2: It was a legitimate bite out of the surf a chomp,
Speaker 2: a chomp, that is a great way to describe it.
Speaker 2: And luckily the boy wasn't injured, which is easy to
Speaker 2: think about when you see this photo of the surfboard
Speaker 2: that has a big chunk taken out of it.
Speaker 3: It was certainly a narrow escape and that shark would
Speaker 3: have got a mouthful of styrofoam at the very least.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 3: Now, a few hours after that, a man in his
Speaker 3: twenties was attacked by a sharknear Manly Beach, which is
Speaker 3: also in the city's north, not too far from d
Speaker 3: Y and he was a surfer as well, and it
Speaker 3: was reported that he was taken to hospital in a
Speaker 3: critical condition. Now, I just wanted to flag that there
Speaker 3: has actually been a fourth bite in New South Wales,
Speaker 3: which came yesterday, so that's Tuesday this week, and this
Speaker 3: time it was a surfer on the mid North Coast
Speaker 3: who managed to escape with just a few grazes. Now,
Speaker 3: while this one wasn't in Sydney, so we won't count
Speaker 3: it as part of the sort of total going on
Speaker 3: in Sydney, it does contribute to that sense that there's
Speaker 3: a lot of shark activity happening in the state this week.
Speaker 2: And in the office we have had so many questions
Speaker 2: just internally about what is happening, why now, what is
Speaker 2: it about, you know, weather conditions, if it is that
Speaker 2: that is causing all of these shark bites, And we
Speaker 2: put you to the task of asking this to an
Speaker 2: actual expert, and I believe we're about to hear that interview.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. So I spoke to doctor Daryl McFee.
Speaker 3: He's renowned for being assarlily sort of go to experts
Speaker 3: on sharks and coastal safety. His work includes a study
Speaker 3: of shark bite incidents in particular and control measures for sharks,
Speaker 3: as well as how human activity impacts the behavior of
Speaker 3: marine life, and he joins us now, Darryl, welcome to
Speaker 3: the Daily Oz.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3: Now we're talking today because there's been three shark attacks
Speaker 3: in just two days at Sydney Beaches. Can you start
Speaker 3: by explaining why it feels like there's been a surge
Speaker 3: in activity over the past week.
Speaker 1: It's unusual to have those series of three bytes in
Speaker 1: twenty four hours, and we've just had a fourth byte
Speaker 1: in the mid North Coast as well. So at a
Speaker 1: decaytal trend, the number of shark bites is increasing. We're
Speaker 1: also getting better at spotting sharks, recording sharks and circulating
Speaker 1: that information around through various platforms. So it's a common
Speaker 1: of things, but certainly in New South Wales the number
Speaker 1: of shark bites has been increasing over.
Speaker 3: Time and how does that figure compare to maybe the
Speaker 3: national trend or the historical trend.
Speaker 1: There have been increasing trends in other states, with the
Speaker 1: exception of Tasmania. The more recent bites have been occurring
Speaker 1: in northern New South Wales and now we're seeing that
Speaker 1: series of bites in that short period of time in
Speaker 1: the greater Sydney area. In the Sydney area, what do we.
Speaker 3: Know about the sharks or the type of sharks that
Speaker 3: are responsible for these bites.
Speaker 1: There are three shark species responsible for most serious bites
Speaker 1: and fatalities. That's the white shark, the tiger shark and
Speaker 1: the bull shark. At least two of the incidents in
Speaker 1: Sydney and possibly the third are probably from bull sharks.
Speaker 1: We expect bull sharks to be present in Sydney Harbor
Speaker 1: and in the coastal areas around Sydney during these warmer months,
Speaker 1: particularly during January and February, so it's no surprise that
Speaker 1: bull sharks have been there. The first recorded bite on
Speaker 1: the European in Cidney Harbor was eighteen oh seven, so
Speaker 1: it is something that has happened for a long time.
Speaker 3: And why this week is there anything happening with the
Speaker 3: climate that could have spurred this on.
Speaker 1: There's significant rainfall in the catchments. Bull sharks are very
Speaker 1: well adapted to feeding in murky water. That rain also
Speaker 1: flashes down the prey of bull sharks and can concentrate
Speaker 1: them in areas such as the mouth of rivers, estuaries
Speaker 1: and embayments like Sydney Harbor. It's always the case at
Speaker 1: low light levels you expect to see more activity from
Speaker 1: sharks but also other fish predators. Particularly for bull sharks,
Speaker 1: that later afternoon period seems to be one where they're
Speaker 1: a little bit more active. So you've got the right
Speaker 1: time of the year, you've got the right conditions. That
Speaker 1: doesn't guarantee, thankfully, that a bite will always occur, but
Speaker 1: there is an elevated shark activity inshore during those set
Speaker 1: of conditions, and that's what sadly has been experienced.
Speaker 3: A common reaction from people reading the headlines is maybe
Speaker 3: to have a little bit of panic and maybe stay
Speaker 3: out of the water. Are you able to put into
Speaker 3: context what the chances of a shark attack are.
Speaker 1: The chance of an unprovoked shark by occurring is very low.
Speaker 1: It was low last week, it's low this week, and
Speaker 1: it'll be low again next week. It just doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like it with this series of bites. But to put
Speaker 1: it in a perspective, there's been four bites in Sydney
Speaker 1: Harbor over the last fifty years. Is substantially a greater
Speaker 1: risk of drowning at a surf beach than you are
Speaker 1: being killed by a shark. But the government has has
Speaker 1: closed the beaches silly on the Northern Beaches for forty
Speaker 1: eight hours, and I think that's a prudent move. If
Speaker 1: you're a Sydney sider, I wouldn't be getting back in
Speaker 1: the water until that murky water from that rainfall event
Speaker 1: has cleared, and avoiding particularly that late afternoon period. It's
Speaker 1: probably some of the key tips I can give Sydney siders.
Speaker 3: And you mentioned there that the new South Belles government
Speaker 3: they've shut down these beaches and will probably be considering
Speaker 3: a series of measures that they could take to help
Speaker 3: with these types of incidents. When we hear about things
Speaker 3: like culling, increased tracking and shark NEETs. What of those
Speaker 3: solutions do you think are the most responsible steps to take.
Speaker 1: I think in the short term, once the beach is reopened,
Speaker 1: I think the state government should increase its drone surveillance.
Speaker 1: There's some practical challenges with drones, but they're a very
Speaker 1: important and relevant tool for identifying sharks and providing an
Speaker 1: information back to surf life savers on the beach. There
Speaker 1: is no one hundred percent way to eliminate shark bites altogether,
Speaker 1: but we can reduce the risk.
Speaker 3: And on the point of shark nets, there's been a
Speaker 3: lot of discussion over the last year about trials of
Speaker 3: removing them in places, or you know, potentially expanding them.
Speaker 3: What's your take on shark nets.
Speaker 1: I think the long term approach is that we do
Speaker 1: need to transition away from lethal methods to more non
Speaker 1: lethal methods. But these sorts of events obviously do not
Speaker 1: hasten that transition. So we need to stop looking at
Speaker 1: shark nets as a binary choice. Shark nets in, shark
Speaker 1: nets out. We need to be more nuanced and look
Speaker 1: for that longer term transition and bring the beach communities
Speaker 1: along with that transition.
Speaker 3: Now, before we finish, I was wondering if there's anything
Speaker 3: about sharks that you want our listeners to know, or
Speaker 3: maybe a myth that you'd like to dispel.
Speaker 1: Look something that's I've always asked about, is that we
Speaker 1: think we're pretty cool on top of the food chain
Speaker 1: because we've got five sensors. Sharks have eight, so they
Speaker 1: have had four hundred and fifty million years of evolution
Speaker 1: to work out how they set the environment, so they
Speaker 1: probably think we're pretty primitive with just our five senses.
Speaker 1: They can detect magnetic fields, so some shark species can
Speaker 1: migrate large distances based on detecting magnetic fields in the Earth.
Speaker 1: They can detect electric pulses in the water, and that
Speaker 1: means electric deterrence can be an effective personal deterrent tool.
Speaker 1: And like other fish, they can also sense vibrations in
Speaker 1: the water to their sensory system as well, so they
Speaker 1: get by with eight sensors.
Speaker 3: That is amazing. Well, Daryl, thank you so much for
Speaker 3: your time today and thanks for joining the Daily ODS.
Speaker 2: Thank you such a fascinating chat. Thank you so much
Speaker 2: to doctor Daryl McPhee for doing that interview with us.
Speaker 2: I imagine he's very busy at the moment with the
Speaker 2: media asking for all of the shark experts to explain
Speaker 2: to us what is going on, so we really appreciate
Speaker 2: his time and thank you so much for listening to
Speaker 2: this episode of The Daily os. We'll be back this
Speaker 2: afternoon with your evening headlines, but until then, have a
Speaker 2: good day and stay safe.
Speaker 3: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 3: Bunjelung Kalkatin woman from Gadighl country.
Speaker 1: The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on
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Speaker 1: all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and nations.
Speaker 3: We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries,
Speaker 3: both past and present.