Expert, witness say search for shark attack victim is futile and search to be called off

A man killed by a shark near Streaky Bay will likely never be found, a witness and an expert say.

There is little hope of search teams finding any remains of the body of the 55-year-old male surfer killed in a shark attack near Streaky Bay, with a witness calling for an end to the hunt and an expert saying recovery is unlikely.

The attack occurred near Granite Rock off Westall Way Loop, 700km from Adelaide on SA’s west coast, about 10.20am Tuesday.

On Wednesday police and emergency services resumed an air and sea search for the man’s body in deep waters where sharks are known to reach 6m.

Jeff Schmucker was one of the first people on the scene, and is questioning the decision to search for the body. Picture: Andrew Brooks

Shark expert Andrew Fox from the Fox Shark Research Foundation. Picture: Martin Neon

Jeff Schmucker, who was one of the first on the scene on Tuesday, posted a video on Instagram on Wednesday questioning the decision to search for the body.

“I’m not sure why you would have a helicopter out here this afternoon, looking for what?” Mr Schmucker said.

“I’ve argued with the water police today that I know where the body of the surfer is – it’s inside the shark.

“I can get you that shark before the sun sets and get you that body back.”

Mr Schmucker said he did not think twice about attempting to rescue a 55-year-old surfer.

“I don’t have any issues with my own self-preservation really I mean, it wasn’t my day yesterday but it could’ve been,” he told The Advertiser from his Streaky Bay home on Wednesday.

“In a situation like yesterday, those kids needed someone and people look for leadership, you know. People were coming up to me and asking different questions about, ‘what do you think, what are you gonna do now’.

“That’s why we have a captain of the footy team, mate. You want someone to keep you going.”

Mr Schmucker, who raced to the scene of the attack on his jetski but was “two minutes too late”, has been working in the fishing industry for the past five decades and surfing for almost as long.

He said there was little hope of search teams finding any remains of the 55-year-old male surfer as “it’s inside the shark”.

Mr Schmucker said many surfers hadn’t returned to coastal waters off Elliston, 120km south-east of Streaky Bay, since teacher Simon Baccanello was taken by a great white shark in May.

“Six months ago at Elliston, there hasn’t been anybody going back in the water from all the smaller wave surfing groups, they haven’t entered the water at all I believe,” he said.

“The waves are a bit more expert level here with people surfing all the time so we have a more hardcore group of surfers that probably will enter the water over the next two to three months.”

Following the fatal attack that happened in front of shocked onlookers at Granite Rock, Mr Schmucker said he had no issue with using his voice to raise concerns about great white populations in South Australia.

“I will try to use this situation as leverage in fisheries management issues with the fisheries managers,” he said.

“I was speaking to the director yesterday and today I was speaking to the head of compliance. I’ve already been putting my right foot forward for fisheries management issues with the great white shark and where to from here in South Australia.”

Mr Schmucker said he supported reducing the population but it had to be done “properly” and “accurately”.

“In this situation, to reduce interactions with humans in the water, they need to reduce the shark numbers,” he said.

“I guess it’s called culling, but to reduce the shark numbers, it needs to be done critically, and carefully, and sustainably and it needs to be managed properly.”

Mr Schmucker said one of his daughters was at Elliston when Mr Baccanello was attacked and it was starting to “hit home” a bit too much for him at the moment.

“It’s (shark attacks are) quite negative for outcomes but people have got to get up again and work through it I guess, but everybody handles it differently and that can cause some issues in our communities too,” he said.

“I mean, some kids can go off the rails with these sorts of things and it can really tick them over with feeling all sorts of different sensations I guess so it’s worrying.”

On Tuesday night following the attack in Streaky Bay, young surfers and locals who witnessed the shocking incident found their way to the local pub to deal with what they had seen.

About 200m down the road, the Shell Roadhouse displays a 5m great white shark that was caught by local fisherman Dion Gilmore in April 1990.

The display is a scary reminder to locals and warning to the many visitors and tourists who travel through the town, just what lurks beneath the surface of the waters in the area.

Shark researcher Andrew Fox said it was “not unusual” that great whites “consume a human with no trace”.

“Off southern Australia there is a percentage of attacks where the body is consumed and that’s unusual,” he said.

“It’s not that rare in South Australia that the body gets completely consumed.”

The area is a known feeding spot for great white sharks.

“White sharks seasonally follow various fish schools … and that’s where white sharks will also be found migrating along,” Mr Fox said.

“We call it the white shark highway, where white sharks migrate along regular routes along the bottom of Australia.”

He said sharks are known to travel thousands of kilometres and one shark he tracked migrated between Queensland and Western Australia “several times”.

And while humans are not usually prey for sharks, they can be known to change their eating patterns if they are hungry.

“We don’t seem to trigger the motivational cues for what they usually like to eat which includes marine mammals with brown fatty tissue,” Mr Fox said.

Streaky Bay SES search the rocky coastline at Granites Rock for the remains of a shark attack victim. Picture: Andrew Brooks

“Even great white sharks usually just test bite us and then abort us as a prey item.

“But if they’ve sampled us and bitten us and they’re particularly hungry, there’s no reason they shouldn’t continue to eat us.”

And there seems to be more attacks at this time of year as “a lot more people are starting to enter the water now”.

Mr Fox said while shark attacks are rare, often occurring just once a year, there has been an increase in incidents recently.

“As soon as you get two or three, all of a sudden you’ve got 200 or 300 per cent increase in shark attacks,” he said.

The search for a man’s body continued at Granite Rock, near Streaky Bay, on Wednesday. Picture: Andrew Brooks

But Mr Fox pushed back against calls for sharks to be culled in the area despite acknowledging “the emotion involved” in the conversation.

“I’m of the opinion that sharks do an important job and that reaction is out of fear,” he said.

“They’re listed as vulnerable and they don’t hand out those categories willy nilly.”

He said an analysis of shark numbers show there are about 2000 adult great whites west of the Bass Straight, and there is no “big increase”.

Mr Fox advised swimmers and surfers to look at shark sightings in their area before entering the water.

“Whenever there is a shark attack, you’ll find there is a history of recent sightings in the area,” he said.