Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate says city’s beaches are safe
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has urged families to keep their Glitter Strip school holiday plans, despite a shocking fatal shark attack and a spate of near-misses in recent weeks.
QLD News
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GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate says families should not fear swimming at Glitter Strip beaches over the school holidays, despite last week’s fatal shark attack and a spate of fresh shark scares.
A 5m great white reportedly bumped a surfer at Burleigh Heads last night, while a 4m white pointer was seen earlier circling near one of the Coast’s most popular family swimming spots, Tallebudgera Creek.
A 3-4m shark attacked a surfer at Cabarita on the Tweed Coast on Wednesday, leaving a tooth embedded in his board.
The terrifying encounters come as large schools of baitfish churn up Coast beaches, a week after local real estate agent Nick Slater was fatally mauled by a 3.5m great white while surfing at Greenmount last week.
Cr Tate said it was the first fatal attack on a Gold Coast beach in more than 60 years and holiday-makers arriving this weekend should be ‘alert but not alarmed’.
“I jumped on my motorbike today to go for a ride and someone mentioned to me that I had more chance of being killed on that than going for a swim or a surf in the ocean,” he said.
“Our lifeguards will be extra vigilant over the school holidays and will not hesitate to close beaches if there are any shark sightings.
“Holiday-makers coming here, especially the kids, won’t be swimming out too far so we will be keeping a close eye on them.
“But my advice to everyone is to only swim between the flags and definitely not at dusk.”
Shark monitoring service Dorsal Shark Reports put out alerts yesterday to two great white sightings – one about 1pm at Tallebudgera Creek and another at Burleigh Heads about 5.30pm when a shark reportedly a surfer.
“Large white shark came from below and bumped into the back of my board,” the surfer reported.
“Turned around to see it take off and head up the coast. Scariest encounter of my life!”
The shark was reportedly almost double the size of a 3m paddleboard, Dorsal Shark Reports said.
On Wednesday, a Cabarita surfer named on social media as Christian Bungate also had a terrifying brush with a large shark, which left a tooth embedded in his foil (large-finned) board.
Photos of the board with bite marks and the tooth still stuck in it were shared on Facebook by a local woman Linda Sinclair.
“Don’t go surfing at Caba (Cabarita) headland,” she posted.
“Big shark attacked foil … all ok but scary.
“All three guys involved with the attack said it was about 3-4 metre . (Bite marks) Must be one of its inside teeth???”
Dorsal Shark Reports said a monster great white measuring 4-5m was seen at Cabarita at 5.08pm on Wednesday.
“A tank,” the service said of the shark.
“Swam through line-up and under surfers.”
Cabarita, about 20km south of Greenmount, was the scene of this week’s Tweed Coast Pro World Surf League event, starring the likes of former world champion Tyler Wright who won the women’s division.
The contest had to be halted on the first day due to a large shark stalking the line-up.
The WSL deployed jet skis and drones to chase the shark out of the area.
A shark sighting forced the closure of southern Gold Coast beaches on Tuesday as large schools of baitfish turned the water black.
Last night a man was rushed to hospital after being bitten by a shark off Fraser Island.
The attack happened about 3.35pm.
It is understood the man was on a fishing vessel 35km off the eastern side of the island, when he caught what is believed to have been a whitetip shark.
The patient told rescuers he was attempting to unhook the animal from his fishing line when it attacked his arm.
He sustained significant hand injuries and was flown to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital this afternoon in a stable condition.
