SHARKS NOT MAN-EATERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27572, 14 December 1950, Page 10

SHARKS NOT MAN-EATERS

Authorities Say Dangers Are

Over-rated

By William Bennelong

Australians must be a very courageous people if some of the extraordinary ideas current overseas about the dangers of sharks on Australian beaches are to be believed. A recently-published book by an English writer (“ My Travel History,” by Roderick Cameron) gave a terrifying picture of a Sydney beach—sharks dashing through the waves among the surfers and the nerve-wracking din of the warning bell constantly ringing and the screams of bathers being torn asunder. He wrote of the “ villainous grey presence ” of sharks “ flashing near you ” as though he had swum cheek by jowl with them himself. His experience is unique—it is not shared by the ten million people who surf on Australian beaches every season.

Very few of the quarter million Australians who brave the infinitely greater hazards of street traffic to surf each summer week-end on the 30 miles of Sydney beaches from Palm Beach to Cronulla ever see a shark outside Taronga Park Zoo. There has not been a shark fatality on a Sydney surf beach since February, 1936. The State of Tasmania has been completely free from shark attacks and there have been very few in other parts of the Commonwealth. “ The shark menace is grossly overrated,” says Mr Gilbert Whitley, curator of fishes at the Australian Museum. “ From a statistical point of view the risk to surfers is negligible.” Superintendent of New South Wales Fisheries T. C. Roughley says: “You run much greater risk of death or injury every time you cross a city street.”

The native pearl-shell divers who go down naked to 10 fathoms rarely fail to see at least one shark in a day. They have no fear at all of sharks less than six feet long, and keep perfectly still if they see a large shark. They believe that the chances of attack then are very remote. Natives in the Cook Islands dive to large sharks among the coral and catch them by placing a noose over the tail. Black men generally fear large gropers (a giant cod) and eels much more than sharks.

Sharks have very poor eyesight and have difficulty in distinguishing anything but the brightest objects even from rather short distances. Actually they locate their food mainly by their sense of smell—the areas in a shark’s brain which control the smelling organs are as big as the main “thinking” brain. Little-known Facts

Most of the 80 species of sharks found in Australian seas would turn and make for the deep waters of the Pacific if they ever came across you in the surf. Giants like the 45-foot Whale shark, the world’s largest shark, and the 40-foot Basking shark are quite harmless. They feed on small fish and minute marine life. Even the White shark, or White Pointer, the most voracious monster of the seas, which grows to a length of 40 feet, has never attacked a bather on an Australian beach. The great majority of the sharks are small, relatively insignificant creatures, which, in the words of Mr Whitley, “make good peis in aquaria.” This, of course, is not to deny that sharks have attacked and even killed people in the surf. Most of the attacks which have taken place are believed to have been made by Tiger sharks or Whaler sharks, and most have been made in groups in a comparatively small stretch of water within a short time of one another, suggesting that one particular shark was responsible. The Tiger shark, having dark bars across the back and sides and often more than 16 feet long, is a scavenger who will swallow anything from beer bottles to full-grown dogs The Grey Nurse shark, up to 15 feet long, has attacked surfers who were unfortunate enough to be near schools of salmon it was pursuing. It generally remains in the open sea except when shoals of smaller fish lure it in shore.

There can be few creatures about which people have mdre false notions than the shark. For a start, it is not a fish. There are a number of features which distinguish it from the fish—it has a skeleton of cartilage, not bone, for one thing. Even more startling is the fact that sharks do not have teeth, at least true teeth like those of fishes and other animals. The shark’s body is covered with a tough skin studded with little denticles which are modified and enlarged in the mouth to perform the functions of teeth. Sharks may have anything from a hundred to several thousand of these modified scale teeth in each jaw. Some sharks, like the Mako, can protrude 'thir teeth to seize their prey. Another odd thing about sharks is that some of them give birth to their young alive while others deposit eggs on the sea bottom. Generally the larger sharks are viviparous and as many as 34 young sharks have been taken from one shark. The sharks which lay eggs usually produced only one pair at a time. The eggs are enclosed in t.ough horny cases, cream to black in colour, with hooks or tendrils to anchor them in the sand or mud. The young shark takes from five to eight months to hatch out. It is not known exactly how long sharks live, but a grey nurse shark known as Skipper V recently died in Taronga Zoo Aquarium in Sydney after 13i years in captivity. She swam round her pool for 20 hours every day, covering a distance of about 250,000 miles. Zoologists were able to study her habits and behaviour closely. Attendants have fallen into the shark pool at Taronga Zoo on four different occasions. Each time the “ man-eaters ” took fright and swam off as far as possible! Species other than grej; nurses do not live long at all in captivity;. Tiger sharks swim continually until after about a week they are exhausted Sharks seem to have a maximum speed of about 26 m.p.h. Contrary to popular belief, they can, and do. enter fresh water. Protective Methods Only two methods are used in Australia to protect the enormous crowds in the surf from marauding sharks. The first method and the only method which gives 100 per cent, protection is to erect a fence or net across beaches to form an enclosure for swimmers. The New South Wales Government lets contracts for the laying of nets 500 feet long and 20 feet deep across beaches in the still waters of Sydney Harbour. They are overhauled and renewed at regular intervals. The second precaution is a constant watch for sharks by observers in towers and in aeroplanes which patrol metropolitan beaches. The watchers signal the presence of any shark to the life saving patrol on the beach, who give the alarm by ringing the shark bell. A most efficient organisation has been developed which has the full confidence of Australians.

' Dangerous Months Most of the attacks in New South Wales have occurred in the summer months from December to April, not because sharks are more numerous or more dangerous then, but simply because there are so many more people surfing. On any Australian beach in those months you will see scores of people up to a quarter of a mile from the shore waiting for the big waves. Swimming is Australia’s favourite summer sport, and probably more Australians surf per • head of population than any other people in the world. It is little wonder that sharks enjoy some notoriety. Divers have found that sharks can be very friendly individuals even in New South Wales, whefe most sharp fatalities have occurred —many ' more people surf in New South Wales 'ban in any other State. A Newcastle (NSW) diver recently had to kick curious sharks out of his way so that he could get on with his work. Two 15-foot sharks visited him and another diver daily for three months while they worked on a wreck in 45 feet of water.

A diver at Glenelg, in South Australia, was dismantling an old jetty In 74 feet of water in February this year when two eight-foot sharks arrived to watch him. He released clouds of bubbles to scare them away, but they came closer to get a better look!