Sydney tightens beach safety after weekend shark attack

Sydney’s Coogee Beach reopened on Monday under heavy lifeguard supervision and jet ski patrols after a shark attack over the weekend left a woman critically injured and triggered a broader safety review of Australia’s popular coastal areas, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

The 35-year-old victim was swimming about 30 metres (100 feet) from shore on Saturday morning when she was bitten by a shark estimated to be three to four metres long. She suffered serious injuries to her arms and lower left leg and remains in hospital in stable condition.

Authorities urged swimmers to exercise caution as monitoring efforts increased.

“Our Lifeguards will continue JetSki patrols throughout the day, and Surf Life Saving NSW is operating a shark-spotting drone at Coogee Beach,” Randwick City Council said in a statement.

Coogee, located south of the iconic Bondi Beach, is closely tied to Sydney’s coastal identity. The beaches east of the city are known for their golden sands and dramatic cliffs, attracting millions of tourists each year, making water safety a major priority for authorities.

“I wouldn’t even dip my toe in at the minute,” said local resident Ryan Brady.

“I used to do a few lengths across the beach but I’d always have in the back of my mind is there sharks around but after the weekend, no. It’s kind of a nail in the coffin for me.”

Saturday’s attack is the latest in a series of shark encounters off Australian beaches. The week before, a man died after being attacked by a shark while fishing off the coast of Western Australia.

Last month, a 39-year-old man was killed in a shark attack while fishing on Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. Ten days earlier, a 38-year-old man was fatally mauled off an island near Perth in Western Australia.

Dozens of beaches along Australia’s east coast were closed in January after four shark attacks in just two days.

Although shark encounters remain statistically rare, a Reuters analysis of data from the Australian Shark Incident Database shows a gradual increase in incidents, with Australia averaging nearly 29 cases per year over the past decade, up from about 16 per year in the 2000s.

“We have seen more shark bites recently but that’s probably more to do with population increase,” said Leonardo Guida, a shark scientist at the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

He added that climate change may also be contributing, with warmer waters encouraging more people to visit beaches while also altering shark movement patterns.

“Climate is changing how our ocean works and sharks are just one aspect of it,” Guida said.

The attack has prompted a regulatory review of aerial surveillance measures. Although emergency drones were deployed on Monday, Coogee is usually subject to strict flight restrictions because it lies directly beneath Sydney Airport’s flight path.

New South Wales Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said on Monday that “nothing was off the table” as the state reviewed possible safety measures.

Some experts believe the shark involved in Saturday’s attack may have been a white shark, a protected species under environmental law.

However, the incident has again sparked calls from some quarters for shark culling, a highly controversial issue.

“It’s so wrong that we don’t cull sharks after attacks,” former conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a video posted on his Facebook page.

Australia already conducts shark culling as part of its shark meshing program, and experts say additional culling is unlikely to make a meaningful difference.

“Other safety measures, including drones and smart drum lines, and their help with understanding and then predicting when foraging sharks are likely to be present, have already shown to be highly effective,” said Emeritus Professor Rob Harcourt of the Sydney Institute for Marine Science at Macquarie University.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev