Are there lots of sharks in Adelaide ?

[Guest dibdobs]

Just as i thought we had made our final decision on which part of Oz to move to a friend of mine has thrown a spanner in the work by saying " i don't think you can go in the sea there coz of all the sharks"

 

I know that people surf and obviously do go in the water but how much of a problem are sharks. (is he pulling my leg !!!!)

 

I have 3 little boys and the thought of one of them being eaten by a shark is a tad bit upsetting, i would much rather it ate my husband !!!!

 

What are the beaches like ? Is my dream of little boys playing happily in the surf a bit far fetched ?

 

Any information would be great,

 

Deb

[Rachiegarlo]

It is very rare for sharks to come into the suburban beaches, especially the shallows. Most sharks stay out in the deeper water where the real food is. The shark attacks that have happened off our pleasant sandy beaches are few and far between, infact only about 2-3 in the last 100 years. The beaches here are usually safe, The sea is the gulf waters rather than open ocean. Your boys will be able to frolic away fairly safely. In summer there is a shark spotting plane that flies up and down the coast and should any be seen, people on the beaches are warned and the shark is encouraged out to sea.

[Anne B]

Yes there are shark attacks in South Australia, but you have to get it into perspective. You are much more likely to get killed in a car crash than killed by a shark. My kids are fascinated by sharks so we went to the Shark Museum in Glenelg on our last trip (sadly it was about to close down), and when you look at the statistics you realise that attacks are very few and far between.

 

Two recent deaths in the metropolitan waters have probably received a lot of publicity. Unfortunately on our previous trip in 2004 we had only been in Adelaide for a day when a teenager was killed at West Beach (very close to home!). We had to hide this information from my then 5 year old son, otherwise he would have refused to go in swimming, so we were constantly turning the TV off and hiding the newspaper. But when you look at the facts the guy who was killed wasn't swimming near the beach but was riding on a surf board which was being pulled by a boat 300 metres from the shore (which is a long way out). There is a theory that sharks attack surf boards because they look like seals. The man who was killed in 2005 at Glenelg was actually diving (not swimming) at a man made reef, again a fair way out.

 

So if you keep close to the beach in the shallows and swim on beaches where there is a surf patrol and swim between the flags you will be fine.

[Moosh]

I didn't know that the Rodney Fox Shark Museum had closed down.

I took my niece and nephew there when they were here last year. I think my 9 yr old niece was quite disturbed by the pictures though as she was still going on about it a week later!

[Guest chippie74]

Just as i thought we had made our final decision on which part of Oz to move to a friend of mine has thrown a spanner in the work by saying " i don't think you can go in the sea there coz of all the sharks"

 

I know that people surf and obviously do go in the water but how much of a problem are sharks. (is he pulling my leg !!!!)

 

I have 3 little boys and the thought of one of them being eaten by a shark is a tad bit upsetting, i would much rather it ate my husband !!!!

 

What are the beaches like ? Is my dream of little boys playing happily in the surf a bit far fetched ?

 

Any information would be great,

 

Deb

 

 

Afew months ago i seen 2 sharks while surfing at moana beach.At first i thought they was dolphins but a local fisherman shouted and waved me in.

[Diane]

So if you keep close to the beach in the shallows and swim on beaches where there is a surf patrol and swim between the flags you will be fine.

 

Just do what we do, and always make sure someone else is swimming a bit further out than you - then the shark will get him/her first!

 

The theory on the guy who got taken off the board being towed by a boat was that on shark spotting trips, they often trail a piece of meat behind a boat to attract sharks, so the poor things can't really be blamed for learning that something being towed = dinner!

[Guest Bodie]

Yes ,lawyers and estate agents are the same the world over! I'll log off now and stand by for incoming...

[Guest katsmajic]

Weve seen loads of dolphins off Moana beach, and hubby is adament he saw a shark off there too - this ties in with a fisherman telling us there was 2 sharks just off the shore there - either tigers which are extremely rare here (only half dozen ever caught round here) or bronze whalers which are usually harmless.

Nurse sharks come pretty close to shore, but again dont bother humans.

 

They do get alot of great whites/white pointers here, 1biggy was off glenelg last week apparently....

but at the end of the day they dont tend to come in that close to shore and we're in their water...

 

Quite scary that people weve been away with this weekend were actually involved in a shark attack near streaky bay a few years ago....she was knee deep in the water and the 7m + great white shark was only 10foot away from her!!!

 

Also - dolphins in the water does not mean its safe - the sharks follow the dolphins as the dolphins are following the fish in - the sharks let the dolphins do the hard work and just follow them around, following the fish...

[Guest milly123]

I haven,t seen any shark, but then again i have not been in the sea past my ankles, 2 yrs ago a marine bio, got eatern.