No attempt will be made to hunt down the shark responsible for the attack on a man at Port Kennedy in Western Australia, police say.
No attempt will be made to hunt down the shark responsible for the attack on a man at Port Kennedy in Western Australia, police say.
A search resumed on Sunday for 51-year-old Brian Guest, who is believed to have been taken by a shark on Saturday morning while snorkelling for crabs with his son off their local beach near Rockingham, south of Perth.
Senior Sergeant Greg Trew, of Fremantle Water Police, said six search vessels and a helicopter were taking advantage of good conditions to cover an area up to 4km offshore for any signs of Mr Guest.
He said the search would be reassessed later if there were no sightings.
“The forecast is good for this morning but we expect strong winds to move in early this afternoon, with choppy water and white caps giving us poor visibility,” Snr Sgt Trew said.
Police have so far only found pieces of wetsuit believed to have been worn by Mr Guest when he was snorkelling about 30 metres offshore with his son at about 7am at Cote D’Azur Gardens beach.
A witness who said he saw the shark thrashing around in the water estimated that it was between four and five metres long.
Two sightings of a large shark were reported on Saturday in the area where the attack occurred, and Snr Sgt Trew said there had been none since.
He said even if there were, no attempt would be made to find the shark believed to have attacked Mr Guest.
“There’s no way of knowing which shark it would be,” he said.
“We could hunt down every shark from here to eternity without knowing whether we had the right one.”
News Limited newspaper The Sunday Times reported that the family of Mr Guest did not want any sharks hunted as a result of the attack.
A relative of Mr Guest told the paper: “He was doing something he loved.
“It was a freak accident and we are in their territory.
“He was a man of the sea. We are just glad he went on the ocean. It was his passion.”
Mr Guest told Western Angler website forums in 2004 and 2005 that he did not believe in killing sharks.
In 2004, he wrote: “I have always had an understanding with my wife that if a shark or ocean accident caused my death then so be it, at least it was doing what I wanted.”
In the 2005 posting, he said: “They got a right to be there, we got a right to go there and there are risks associated with everything, but I don’t believe the correct way of reducing our risk is to kill the shark.”
Snr Sgt Trew said the search for Mr Guest may be scaled back tomorrow if no evidence of his whereabouts is found on Sunday.
“We just want to be able to assure the family that we’ve done everything in our power to find something that gives them some closure,” he said.
Meanwhile swimmers at Perth’s Cottesloe Beach have been cleared from the water after a shark sighting from a helicopter searching for a man believed to have been taken by a shark.
Fremantle Water Police spokesman Mike Weir said the crew of the chopper sighted the shark moving south, about 200 metres off Cottesloe Beach, about 10am on Sunday.
He said swimmers at Cottesloe and nearby South Beach were ordered from the water until the shark moved away.
Sgt Weir said the helicopter had earlier resumed the search for missing local man Brian Guest, who is believed to have been taken while snorkelling with his son at a beach near Rockingham, south of Perth, on Saturday morning.
By: steve rowell - 21st October 2010 at 11:22
Now we’ve got giant Piranha’s
By: DazDaMan - 5th August 2010 at 07:39
A nice story, but a shame it didn’t end well for the shark.
It looks like it was only a youngster, too, at that sort of size (6-7 feet).
By: steve rowell - 5th August 2010 at 00:45
They breed ’em tough down under
http://www.news.com.au/great-white-shark-rescue-anyone-here-know-mouth-to-mouth/story-e6frfkor-1225901349878
By: Mark Hazard - 4th August 2010 at 21:56
Great quote (blunt and to the point) ref the Taipan, but would it ever make the British press without the use of asterisks: “I was getting out of the shower and this big bloody thing was hissing at me,” she said.
By: steve rowell - 4th August 2010 at 04:46
A nice surprise
http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2010/08/04/120945_local-news.html
By: steve rowell - 7th June 2010 at 01:31
The sharks even attack in winter down here
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/walpole-surfer-knocked-off-board-mauled-by-shark/story-e6frg14u-1225876140666
By: DazDaMan - 16th May 2010 at 08:43
I’d rather watch sharks from something like that…
Which reminds me, my mate was mooting a shark-dive up the road at some point. Would be fun to do that again!
By: steve rowell - 16th May 2010 at 04:48
Just another way to extract the tourist dollar
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/holiday-ideas/cage-of-death-designed-to-thrill-not-kill/story-e6frfhgf-1225809087708
By: Bmused55 - 15th April 2010 at 08:23
I’ve never really understood why people get angry when a surfer/swimmer gets bitten/ eaten in water where sharks are known to be.
Surely if you put your hand in a bowl of boiling water you’re likely to get scolded, right?
If you go dancing around a mine field you likely to get a leg blown off, right?
Walk into an aligator or crocodile infested river and you might end up as lunch.
So why is it any surprise when a shark attacks a human who is swimming, paddling, surfing over their hunting grounds?
Why is the shark then vilified for doing what comes naturally to it? Why does it deserve to die?
Last I looked, a human does not have gills, nor webbed feet or fins. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that we do not belong in the water. Whereas sharks do.
I’ve read that many if not all surfers calls sharks “Landlords”. I can think of no better word to describe it!
By: DazDaMan - 15th April 2010 at 07:16
Vic Hislop is known to be a monster shark-hunter. He’s more butcher than enthusiast, though.
The shark was obviously caught and killed for purposes other than being put in a museum. From the sounds it of, the shark happened upon the smaller shark on the hook and ate it, and thus became caught itself.
It looks like a Great Hammerhead:
Very large and, yes, very dangerous.
By: benyboy - 15th April 2010 at 02:52
Kill a shark to put it in a museum. Does not make sense. If you were to have a shark museum surely it would be because you love sharks. So why kill it ? The only reason I can see is that its actually a museum of `look what I can do`, `look how big my …. is`.
Would have been a good idea to put it in a large, professionally run aquarium where it could be studied or used to educate the public. Thats if it needed to be taken at all.
This is not like me, I`m no eco geek. Must be time for bed !
Ben
By: Al - 15th April 2010 at 02:51
Whatever the species, any predator will come off a poor second when it comes to a showdown between them and us. Sad, because we’re the one species that the world could safely do without. Why do we expect to go unhindered in their invironments?
There seems to be much macho posturing involved in killing animals bigger than us, from big-game hunting to bull fighting. To me, anyone who kills living creatures out of misplaced fear, or simply for fun, is a cowardly moron, and that includes fox hunters, too…
By: steve rowell - 15th April 2010 at 01:45
What a monster 😮
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/monster-hammerhead-shark-heads-to-queensland/story-e6freoof-1225853776227
By: DazDaMan - 18th March 2010 at 07:38
I’ve seen that done with Great Whites – but that doesn’t make it any more sensible to do, especially where there’s a LOT of food around!
Having said that, I remember in one of the documentaries about Great Whites, they filmed them feeding on a whale carcass, and they seemed to be in some kind of stupor – they kept bumping the cages, the carcass, even each other, and didn’t seem to react at all!
By: steve rowell - 18th March 2010 at 03:47
Only if you were foolish enough to dip your fingers in their tank…. 😉
Talking about fools..or better still imbeciles
By: steve rowell - 13th February 2010 at 01:31
Rare Albino Croc spotted up north
http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2010/02/12/123351_ntnews.html
By: DazDaMan - 5th February 2010 at 22:21
That clip shows you why tiger sharks are one of the most dangerous sharks around – they’ll simply bite first and ask questions later!
Interesting to see a zebra shark in there as well.
I’m puzzled by the term “shark ray”, though. I’ve never heard of it called that before. It’s a guitarfish to everyone else! In fact, I don’t know why science doesn’t just classify it as a shark – it’s more like a shark than a ray!
By: steve rowell - 5th February 2010 at 21:35
A video that may be of some interest to you Daz
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,1,26682535-952,00.html
By: DazDaMan - 10th January 2010 at 17:13
God, that’s the stupidest idea I’ve heard in a long time…
By: steve rowell - 9th January 2010 at 21:55
I’m afraid you won’t like this one Daz
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/killer-sharks-to-be-shot-slaughtered/story-e6frg13u-1225817663520
Sign In
December 28, 2008 at 10:00 pm