Experts confirm shark sightings in Botany Bay are of a great white

A SHARK which has been spotted multiple times in the last week by swimmers in Botany Bay has been confirmed by experts as being a juvenile great white.

An unidentified couple race to leave the water at Botany Bay after a shark was discovered trailing dogs and bathers. Picture: Lance Broad

• Shark in shallows at La Perouse
• All kids must learn to swim

BOTANY Bay has a curious new resident.

A juvenile great white shark was first spotted inquisitively exploring the shallows just feet from swimmers in La Perouse.

A few days later there was a sighting at Brighton Le Sands.

And on Saturday one even made its way 10km inland, spotted by swimmers in the Alexandra Canal — a stone’s throw from Sydney Airport.

The Department of Fisheries has since confirmed the canal swimmer was a juvenile white pointer.

SHARK SPOTTED IN ALEXANDRA CANAL

“Although unusual in such narrow canals, the waters where it was seen are still marine in nature, so the shark is quite comfortable there,” a department spokeswoman said.

The elusive predator was snapped by Steph Robin in a very close encounter at La Perouse.

“It was surrounded by many people watching it and stayed many minutes showing off,” she said.

“It came back a few times as if looking for attention. It was beautiful.”

A leading Sydney shark expert confirmed the animal at La Perouse was also a juvenile great white, not a bull shark as initially identified.

“They aren’t uncommon but seeing one right in close to the shore is uncommon,” Rodd Stapley, Taronga Zoo’s wildlife conservation operations manager and curator of the Australian Shark Attack File, said.

The shark swimming the shallows at La Perouse last week. Pic: Steph Robin

“Larger white sharks usually follow schools of fish and are generally offshore ... Juveniles are probably more common in shallower safer areas.”

“Some beaches are recognised as ‘nursery’ areas for juvenile white sharks, (but) Botany Bay is not one.”

Great white sharks are protected in Australia and a DPI tagging program is underway along the north coast of NSW, however it does not extend to Sydney due to the lack of great white attacks in and around the harbour.

The more common bull shark is tagged in Sydney.

Although shark nets are not used in the area, Mr Stapley said they were not the best solution.

“Shark nets are very controversial, they don’t provide an guarantee against shark attack as the net actually starts some meters under the water surface. What they do is catch and kill sharks (and other non target species) over time and hence reduce numbers in the area,” he said.

“A netted swimming area is the best solution to humans playing in marine predators space.”