Premier Chris Minns has paused the trial to remove shark nets from three Greater Sydney beaches ahead of a report to be handed down from the Department of Primary Industries into Saturday’s fatal shark attack at Dee Why Beach.
Mercury “Merc” Psillakis, 57, was surfing with friends about 100 metres from the sand in a netted area at Dee Why beach at about 10am on Saturday, when a large shark bit him and his surfboard. His board was cut in two and he lost both legs.
The scene on the beach on Saturday; and Dee Why shark attack victim Mercury Psillakis.Credit: James Brickwood; Facebook
The attack came just a week after shark nets were installed at Dee Why and 50 other beaches between Wollongong and Newcastle on Monday, the first day of spring.
“Given this terrible event, we believe the right thing to do is to wait for the investigation to come back about how this happened, what happened and the circumstances surrounding it,” Minns said. “It did happen on a netted beach... but I want to get the information in front of us, so we can make a decision.”
The shocking and violent death – described as a “freak accident” by police – has devastated Psillakis’ family and the broader surfing community on the northern beaches, some of whom had gathered with locals on the foreshore on Sunday.
Kevin Young at Dee Why Beach on Sunday morning, 12 years after he lost his own son Zac in a shark attack.Credit: Lucy Macken
“From talking to friends and surfers here today it’s clear that this guy, Mercury, is a hero. This is not about the shark, it’s about what he did in a critical situation that matters,” said beachgoer Kevin Young, who lost his own son in a shark attack in 2013. “[Psillakis] died, saving his friends.”
Young’s son, Zac, was aged 19 when he died while bodyboarding in a tiger shark attack off Coffs Harbour’s Reich’s Point.
Young, a Port Macquarie-based chaplain who is visiting Dee Why, said the surfers in the water with Psillakis had already spotted the shark, and Psillakis had encouraged all the guys to huddle together.
“The other surfers were in closer [to shore] than him, and he told them to huddle together and paddle to shore. They were doing that, and because [of that] he was out slightly further ...”
The shark breed remains unknown, but a 2.09 metre great white shark was tagged and released from a SMART drumline at The Kick, Collaroy at 09:27am on Sunday, the Department of Primary Industries reports.
The attack has devastated Psillakis’ family and the broader surfing community on the northern beaches.
Described as a “keystone” of the surfing fraternity on social media, he was a life-long northern beaches resident who had been heavily involved in the local board-riding community for decades along with his twin brother Mike Psillakis, the owner of popular surfboard brand Psillakis Surfboards.
The two men have been members of the Long Reef Boardriders club since the 1980s, and both brothers won a club champion award in the 1990s. Mercury had recently helped organise a paddle-out tribute after the death of another Dee Why surfer.
Graphic footage of the moment Psillakis was attacked was captured on a local beach camera as he paddled at the back of a huddle of surfers 100 metres off Long Reef, but this masthead has chosen not to show it.
Police at the scene on Saturday, where two pieces of surfboard were taken for further examination.Credit: James Brickwood
Beaches across the region remained closed on Sunday morning, as local, friends and fellow surfers descended on Dee Why to share their stories, and watch on as members of the Dee Why Surf Life Saving Club patrolled the water on two jetskis and by drone.
Rod McGibbon, president of the Surf Life Saving - Sydney Northern Beaches, said the beach would remain closed for between 48 and 72 hours, depending on what they observe from their surveillance.
McGibbon confirmed that the attack took place just south of the lagoon at Long Reef. That section of the beach is netted.
Among the scores of people at Dee Why Beach on Sunday morning was Scott Romain, a long-time friend and fellow surfer of Psillakis, who had travelled with him in Indonesia in the late 1980s.
Romain was marking the loss of his friend by playing the didgeridoo on the beach, and said he plans to return to the water as soon as the beach reopens. Others are not so sure.
“I’m rattled. I’m not sure I want to go straight back out,” said fellow surfer Angela Edwards, 46, who was surfing the same break just a few hours before Psillakis was taken.
“I might need a little pause and reset on it. This is very close to home. You won’t ever go out if you think about it, and it’s certainly front of mind.”
Edwards echoed the sentiments of many bystanders when she said she is opposed to the use of shark nets and culling. “I don’t know that they do a great job. I mean they didn’t work here,” she said.
“I’d like to see more tag-and-release and more drones to warn people. We have to co-exist, and we have the technology.”
Luca Fiaschr, who migrated from South Africa with his wife and two children nine months ago, said Australia and South Africa are the only two countries in the world where shark nets are deployed.
If they worked so well this wouldn’t be happening, and the loss of all other forms of sea life is too great, Fiaschr said.
Oscar O’Shea, a 14-year-old surfer, who was in the water at the time of the fatal shark attack in Dee Why.
Local 14-year-old surfer Oscar O’Shea was surfing just 100 metres away when the attack took place on Saturday. “The waves did look really good down past the lagoon, but there were about 20 or 30 surfers there, so we stayed up the [north] end of the beach,” he said.
“We were just surfing when all these people on the beach were waving and whistling out to all of us in the water to come in,” said O’Shea, from Collaroy.
“Normally, it’s pretty clear out there, but I couldn’t see the bottom or anything, so that could be one factor.”
O’Shea doesn’t plan to let it deter him from returning to the water any time soon or “as soon as the waves are good again”.
Former pro-surfer Toby Martin said Psillakis’s heroic move once he’d spotted the shark, to corral his five or six mates in to shore ahead of him, was a testament to the type of man he was.
Martin urged people to not let the attack put them off enjoying the ocean. “The ocean is a beautiful place. Don’t be afraid of it. Don’t let a really random incident put you off. We’re here to enjoy it,” he said.
Minns described Saturday’s attack as an “awful tragedy”.
“My heart goes out to the victim’s family and friends. I also want to thank the first responders and community members who tried to help in such tough and confronting circumstances,” he said.
“Shark attacks are rare, but they leave a huge mark on everyone involved, particularly the close-knit surfing community.”
The NSW government spends more than $21 million on its annual shark management program, with nets installed annually at 51 beaches between Newcastle and Wollongong from the start of September.
As part of a trial to remove nets from some beaches, three councils – including the Northern Beaches, Waverley and Central Coast council – were asked to nominate a beach where nets could be removed.
NSW Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty invited the councils to nominate a beach, but all three councils asked the Department of Primary Industries to make the final decision, since it was legally responsible for the program and would have the relevant data. In her letter to Moriarty, Northern Beaches Mayor, Sue Heins, said the council “would not object” to Palm Beach having nets removed.
Central Coast Council said it will continue to work with the department on shark mitigation measures.
This is only the second death recorded from shark bites across Sydney’s beaches in 60 years. In 2022, Simon Nellist was killed at Little Bay, in Sydney’s east, by what authorities believed was a great white shark.
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