Adelaide’s Easter holiday makers brave the beach despite ‘massive’ shark sightings

Experts say a single shark may be behind multiple sightings along South Australia’s southern coast – as another is spotted off West Beach.

• Alert after chilling shark sighting

   

Monster sharks are stalking holiday makers on South Australia’s southern coast as tourists flock to the region for the Easter long weekend.

Two shark sightings were reported on Friday – one at Maslin Beach in the morning, where a 4m shark was spotted 300m offshore; and another 2.5m shark seen early afternoon at diving site Grange Tyre Reef, 4km offshore at West Beach.

Anton Covino, founder of Shark Watch SA, shared videos of the sharks on his Facebook page.

The 28-year-old, who has run the reporting site since 2014 said he could not recall “seeing this many sightings at this time last year”.

“I can’t answer the question as to why there is more,” Mr Covino said.

“It could be that there is one hanging around … they’re always out there, there’s just more people looking for them.”

Mr Covino did not dismiss the possibility that the Maslin Beach shark could be the same shark that was spotted at Aldinga Beach a week ago.

“It’s about the same size,” the shark enthusiast said.

“The only real way to tell is if we examine the back of the dorsal fin profile.”

Despite warnings from SA Police’s Water Operations Unit, who have increased water patrols across inland and coastal location, hundreds gathered at Aldinga Beach on Good Friday to make the most of the public holiday.

Matt Jones from Highbury was enjoying the day with his family and said he was “not that fussed” about the shark threat.

“It’s nice when you’ve got a chopper above you to just know they’re taking care of it,” Mr Jones said.

“I wouldn’t say (the kids) are going deep, I’d see a fin.”

“(Sharks) live out there, they’ve been there forever.”

Ada Joyce, Sylvie Jones, Matt Jones and Nifty the dog at Aldinga Beach. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Claire Joyce said she had no intention of going into the water “past (her) feet”.

“I don’t really want to be responsible for getting (my children) out of the ocean quickly if there is a shark,” the mum-of-three said.

“It does make you a bit more wary.”

Mrs Joyce said while she had talked about the danger of sharks with her young children, she “(does) not see the point in making them worried about things they can’t control”.

“It’s a part of living in Australia … not even just the sharks, in general the beach I have to be pretty cautious,” she said.

A Shark spotted off Maslin Beach on Good Friday. Picture Shark Watch SA/Facebook

Minutes away from Aldinga, a baby great white was found washed up on the sands of Port Willunga at about 10am Friday morning.

Caroline Hockney was walking on the beach with her husband Richard when she spotted a crowd formed near the Port Willunga jetty.

“We go walking every morning, we’ve had this beach house (at Port Willunga) for 20 years and we’ve never seen something like this,” Mrs Hockney told The Advertiser.

“I was bewildered, it’s abnormal. We always have sharks over summer but why has this happened.

“We noticed as we were walking a couple of surfers, lots of families on the beach but not a lot of people swimming, I think it’s scared people, they’re on alert and there's this sort of vibe.”

A dead baby great white shark was taken off Port Willunga beach by fisheries. Picture: Caroline Hockney

The culmination of onlookers thought the dead juvenile great white was the pup of the big shark seen at Maslin Beach and that it was trying to find its baby, Mrs Hockney said.

“Apparently when sharks give birth they come in close to the shore is what they were saying,” she said.

The dead juvenile shark was on the shoreline but later pulled onto the beach by a “very brave person”, Mrs Hockney said.

A PIRSA spokeswoman said they were investigating the death of the 1.7m juvenile shark discovered at Port Willunga.

The spokeswoman said another great white juvenile, this time 2.7m, also washed up on the Port Moorowie reef on Friday about 15 minutes south of Yorketown on the Yorke Peninsula.

“The cause of death for both incidents is still under investigation,” she said.

Another shark was spotted at Maslin Beach beach on Saturday “cruising up and down very close to shore”.

SA Police’s Water Operations Unit has a fixed wing shark patrol conducts routine flights between 9am and 5.30pm, which will sound a siren when a shark is sighted.

Over the long weekend, a jet rescue boat will be deployed across the southern beaches aiming to provide coverage between 10am and 6pm.

Mrs Hockney said she noticed two helicopters going “back and forth” on Friday and there had seemed to be more patrols around the area.

Originally published as Adelaide’s Easter holiday makers brave the beach despite ‘massive’ shark sightings