But sharks have hit the headlines this year after an almost unprecedented incident off Stanley where a young boy was pulled from the boat on which he was fishing with his dad by a white pointer. His father jumped in to save the 10-year-old and he is recovering from his wounds.

Another father and son pair were out sightseeing on their boat at Tenth Island just 12 days later when a shark breached beside their boat and bit the anchor housing.

While not classified as attacks by Taronga Conservation Society Australia official record keepers – because the people involved were not in the water and fishing is listed as a provocation – the interactions raised levels of community concern about the perceived dangers sharks pose to us water-loving humans.

Tasmania Police were also quick to issue alerts as a flurry of reported shark sightings came through in the days that followed.

The most recent reported sightings include a 3-4 metre Great White shark spotted by a commercial fisherman about 150m from the boat ramp at Weymouth in Noland Bay ion October 10 and a five-metre shark seen in Okehampton Bay, near Triabunna.

Boaties and surfers on the State’s west coast are on alert as sharks come into Ocean Beach st Strahan and around to Trial Harbour to feed on hundreds of rotting whale carcasses - the remains of Australia’s biggest stranding.

“While shark attacks are very rare the kind of aggressive interaction seen at Stanley is virtually unheard of and seems to always involve fishing. It seems the sharks are hunting fish and seals and not humans in these cases,” Macquarie University shark expert Culum Brown said.

Shark attacks in Tasmania are not common with the State recording just 14 attacks/interactions in almost 200 years of record keeping.

Before Stanley’s dramatic incident, the most recent encounter was fatal and involved a recreational scallop diver in the Mercury Passage in 2015.

Six years earlier Scamander teenager Hannah Mighall was struck while surfing off the northeast at Binalong Bay - in what was then the first recorded shark incident in Tasmania in .16 years

A 5m white pointer bit Hannah’s leg and took a chunk out of her surfboard while she was out on the water with her cousin.

Most would be surprised to learn that, over history, most of Tasmania’s shark encounters have occurred in winter.

Hobart shark advocate and author of White Pointer South Chris Black says that is because white sharks are an apex predator which hunt young, inexperienced fur-seal pups in the State’s cold waters during winter.

“It should also be noted that dive-suit technology has enabled ever more humans to recreate and work in cold seas, leading to the increased likelihood of humans encountering or interacting with white sharks,” Black said.

Associate Professor Brown said the level of fear created by the sight of a dorsal fin did not match the statistics.

“Nationally it is about one death per year by shark. You are more likely to die in your car on the way to the beach and then more likely to drown when in the water than get attacked by a shark,” Associate Professor Brown said.

“Even in terms of deaths by animals, dogs, cows, bees and horses cause more than deaths than sharks.

“And unlike crocodiles, sharks don’t actually eat people so to say someone was ‘eaten by a shark” is incorrect. They bite people and spit them out and the person bleeds to death.”

It appears interactions between sharks and humans are increasing despite a fall in shark numbers.

“There is definitely something going on. It appears to be a combination of people’s changing behaviour and change in how sharks behave as well,” Ass. Prof Brown said.

“The human population is increasing, we live increasingly on the coast and its hot in Australia and we spend a lot of time in the water.”

Black says the blockbuster Jaws had a lot to answer for.

While the movie ignited a generation’s interest in the granddaddy of all sharks, the white pointer, it also lumbered the species with a near-hysterical reputation as a feared predator of humans.

Over the ensuing 35 years, the white pointer was hunted mercilessly, trapped in nets and generally regarded as a marine menace.

He says the word “attack” is also emotionally charged.

“It is used when animals are perceived to turn on us, to forget their place as it were, and merely reflects our notions of the unique sanctity of human life,” Black said.

“When a shark bites a human we call it an attack but when we kill sharks we talk of harvesting.”

He agrees that there appeared to be more interactions between sharks and humans in Tasmania and it was probably due to a combination of more reporting of sightings and incidents.

“There are undeniably more people in or on Tasmanian waters year round now than the past.” he said.

“The proliferation of diving and surfing as recreational pursuits, improvements in wetsuit designs and a vast flotilla of powerful small boats bristling with technologies that increase their range all facilitate the possibility of humans encountering or interacting with sharks.

“We also live in a digitally networked age which means that sightings and encounters can be documented and disseminated immediately.

“There are positive and negatives aspects to this. People can be warned of the presence of sharks at specific locations in real time and anything that keeps humans and sharks apart is a good thing, for both parties.”

“However, irresponsible sensational posting or uninformed commentary online can elicit a fearful response in people that often exceed what a particular incident warrants.”

“The availability of more powerful, and more affordable vessels has given the current generation of Tasmanian water users access to vast Swath of offshore waters that would not even have been contemplated by their predecessor.

“With more eyes watching the shark’s habitat it is inevitable that more sharks will be seen.”

“Until we accept responsibility for our decision to enter the ocean, our fear of sharks comes form an ignorant and disingenuous place. We should not panic at the sight of a shark’s dorsal find, rather we should take it as an indicator of a healthy marine ecosystem where predators exist alongside the prey fish we are so fond of hunting ourselves.”

HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY OF TASMANIAN SHARK / HUMAN INTERACTIONS

(14 in total) TO JULY, 2020:

1. Circa 1825 – FATAL. A convict labourer known only as ‘Amphibious Jack’ is bitten on the lower leg by a shark at Pittwater near Sorell. Dies during rescue attempt by witnesses.

2. Summer 1890 – NON FATAL. Frederick Johnson is bitten on the right leg by a shark at Bridgewater in the upper reaches of the Derwent Estuary. Undergoes surgery and wounded leg is saved.

3. August 16, 1949 – NON FATAL. Victorian fisherman Robert Kay is bitten on the buttocks and hip by a shark while swimming ashore from his boat on the east coast of Flinders Island in Bass Strait. Undergoes surgery in Victoria and eventually recovers.

4. January 17, 1959 – FATAL. Brian Derry, a young naval rating from East Melbourne is taken by a very large white shark while swimming to his ship, HMAS Cootamundra, which is anchored in Safety Cove near Port Arthur.

5. August 8, 1972 – NON FATAL. Commercial abalone diver Gordon Johnson is bitten on the left foot by a 3.6 metre shark at Tasman Island. Johnson fights off the shark and regains his boat without further injury.

6. July 30, 1975 – FATAL. Commercial abalone diver Bobby Slack is taken by a 4.8 metre white shark at Fluted Cape on Bruny Island.

7. April, 1978 – NON FATAL. Diver Colin Wrankmore is bitten on the upper thigh by a 2.4 metre shark while diving for crayfish at Beechford on the north-east coast. Bite is not life-threatening and Wrankmore regains his boat without further incident.

8. February 28, 1982 – FATAL. Hobart customs officer Geert Talen is taken by a 6.0 metre white shark while spearfishing close inshore at South Cape Bay.

9. October 22, 1989 – NON FATAL. Novice surfer Steven Jillet is charged by a 3.0 metre white shark at Shelly Point near Scamander on the east coast. Jillet sees shark approaching and manages to place his board between himself and the shark as it lunges. The shark mauls the surfboard but Jillet escapes the interaction unharmed.

10. June 5, 1993 – FATAL. Recreational Scuba diver Therese Cartwright is taken by a 4.0 metre white shark while diving at Tenth Island, a fur-seal colony located six kilometres off the central north coast.

11. January 11, 2009 – NON FATAL. Teenage surfer Hannah Mighall is bitten on the right leg by a 4.0 metre white shark at Binalong Bay on the east coast. Mighall’s cousin, Syb Mundy, goes to her assistance and the pair manage to fight off the shark and catch a wave to shore on Mundy’s board. Prompt first-aid on the beach, surgery, and prolonged physiotherapy save Hannah’s leg. Hannah makes a public appeal not to hunt the shark that bit her.

12. July 25, 2015 – FATAL. Recreational scallop diver Damian Johnson is taken by a 4.0 metre white shark at Lachlan Island, in the Mercury Passage off Maria Island on the east coast.

13. July 17, 2020 – NON FATAL. Ten year old Lucas Arnott is snatched from a 6.0 metre boat by a breaching 3.6 metre white shark, five kilometres from Stanley on the north-west coast. Lucas’ father, John Arnott, immediately dives into the water and recovers his son. Lucas sustains non-life-threatening lacerations to one arm, chest and head. Undergoes surgery at Launceston General Hospital.

14. July 29, 2020 – NON FATAL. Father and son, Sean and James Vinar, are sightseeing at Tenth Island (the fur-seal colony where Therese Cartwright was taken in 1993), when a 4.0 metre white shark breaches beside their 5.5 metre boat and bites the anchor housing on the bow. Mouth tissue left on the anchor indicates that the shark may have been injured during the interaction. The Vinars do the right thing and vacate the area immediately. Both express humane concern for the shark’s welfare. Shark was likely actively hunting fur-seals at the time.

helen.kempton@news.com.au