Shark attack victim Simon Nellist’s fiancee Jessie Ho breaks her silence

The heartbroken fiancee of shark attack victim Simon Nellist has shared a touching social media post following his death.

The heartbroken fiancee of shark attack victim Simon Nellist has shared a touching first social media post since his death.

Jessie Ho simply posted a photo of her and Mr Nellist, with the caption “06.2019” — the date they got engaged — on her Facebook late on Sunday night.

Smiling and showing off her ring, the photo was meant to show the start of the rest of their lives together.

But last Wednesday afternoon Mr Nellist was tragically killed when what is believed to have been a 4.5 metre Great White Shark attacked as he swam in the ocean at Little Bay.

Shark attack victim Simon Nellist and his fiancee Jessie Ho on the day of their engagement.

Simon Nellist was an avid scuba diver.

Simon Nellist has been described by friends as an “incredible human.”

It comes as dozens of Ms Ho’s friends shared words of support and tributes to her late partner on the post.

“I’m so sorry Jessie, haven’t stopped thinking of you. Sending lots of love,” one woman wrote.

“The most beautiful memory to share with the world. Sending you lots of love and the biggest virtual hug you could imagine,” another commented.

English-born Mr Nellist was a keen scuba diver who his family and friends said had embraced the ocean in the years since he moved to Sydney.

“The ocean and our world are now one incredible human short,” his friend Ruth Herring said.

“You will forever be our ocean protector, Simon.”

Simon Nellist was killed in a shark attack at Little Bay in Sydney last week.

Mr Nellist, was an avid nature photographer and videographer, who spent most of his time outside.

He had previously been a servicemen in the UK Royal Air Force (RAF).

In an interview with the BBC, his family said Mr Nellist was a “proud Cornishman” who had many “gifts”.

“Simon was funny, compassionate and always had time for people. He had a rare gift of instantly being able to connect with others, gaining their trust and respect,”

“Simon had a great passion for nature and the sea, as well as being a very talented photographer.”

Authorities closed many of Sydney’s beaches for 24 hours in the wake of the attack last week, while efforts to find the animal responsible for Mr Nellist’s death were unsuccessful.

Mr Nellist’s death was the first fatal shark attack at a beach in Sydney for almost 60 years.

It comes as experts have warned Sydney Harbour is teeming with bull and bronze whaler sharks just as the nets are set to be taken out at a popular eastern suburbs swimming spot.

Simon Nellist was killed by a great white shark at Sydney’s Little Bay last Wednesday, just days before NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services are expected to pull the shark nets out at Nielsen Park’s Shark Beach in Vaucluse next week.

Australian fishing guru Al McGlashan said Sydney Harbour had seen a proliferation with huge bull sharks enjoying the warm water.

“There’s a large number of them this year, I was fishing in Long Reef the other day and every bait got eaten by either a bull shark or a bronze whaler, like every single one,” McGlashan told The Daily Telegraph.

“The warmer current has pushed in close which brought the whalers in with it.

“Nature’s not changing but we’re changing it and with the warmer water sharks are obviously adapting and learning that they can get a free feed.

“We never used to have a big issue down here, sharks eating your fish was more of a tropical thing but now it’s a lot more prevalent down here.

“It’s made it hard to go kingfishing because this year you just keep catching sharks.”

Work is believed to start next week and will result in Nielsen Park being closed to the public until December. Picture: Toby Zerna

The shark nets at Nielsen Park will be removed to make way for seawall upgrades. Picture: Toby Zerna

The NSW NPWS will remove the shark nets early at Shark Beach at Nielsen Park to begin construction work on a replacement seawall in March.

“The nets are removed annually during the winter months (May-Sept) however this has been brought forward,” an NPWS spokesman said.

“Beach and water access for swimming will not be available to the public during construction, which is expected to be completed at the end of this year.”

With last weeks incident heightening shark fears among Sydneysiders, a fresh debate has ignited over NSW’s controversial shark nets which McGlashan believes to be “a waste of time”.

Screen grabs from a Tik Tok video of a large bull shark caught in Sydney Harbour.

The bull shark with the city skyline in the background.

“I don’t think they do anything. I’ve swam along them and they’ve got bloody big holes, sharks could swim under them, they can swim over it. The only thing they do is make people think they feel safe,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“They kill more wildlife and tangle more wales then they do for sharks and sharks aren’t stupid, they just swim around it.”

The popular TV personality said tagging, drones and drum lines are “a much better approach”

“The key to everything is research so we know what they’re doing so if we can get good at it we can go oh look the hotter water is coming through this year and this is going to see an increase in this,” he said.

“At the end of the day we can’t keep killing everything that might affect us because we’ll be killing bees and even magpies. We’ve gotta learn to live with things.”