Beaches closed amid calls for killer shark to be found and destroyed - NEWS.com.au

An Augusta-Margaret River Shire spokeswoman said Gracetown beaches from South Point to North Point, including Huzza's Beach and Cowaramup Bay, were closed today after the shark was spotted, reported PerthNow.

"There was a confirmed shark sighting at Huzza's at approximately 1:30pm," she said.

"We were contacted by the Department of Fisheries and asked to close the beaches."

It is believed a surfer first spotted the shark, but it is unknown what kind of shark it was.

The beaches will be closed for 24 hours.
 
Meanwhile, calls are growing for the shark responsible for the death of a young bodyboarder at Bunker Bay to be hunted down and slaughtered.

Boats and planes continue to scour the Bunker Bay area, 260km south of Perth,  for the shark that killed Mr Burden.

Shire of Busselton president Ian Stubbs said he wants the shark responsible killed.

"A lot of people say the water is the shark's territory," Mr Stubbs said.

"But I think if they can find the shark (responsible) they should get rid of it.

"It's a personal opinion, not a shire opinion but I personally think they should (kill it.)

"If they have attacked a human in one of those areas they may want to do it again and I think we should be stopping that."

At least one local surfer said it was well known among the surfing community that a great white shark, thought to be a female, about 4.5m long, was commonly seen in the region.

He also urged authorities to hunt and kill the shark.

Department of Fisheries research scientist and shark expert Rory McAuley says there are many complexities involved in catching and killing a shark that has just mauled someone to death.

"The first issue is how you would actually identify the shark that was responsible for something that happened nearly 24-hours ago," Mr McAuley said.

"It's not actually as easy to kill a large shark as some people might think.

"The first thing you have to do is catch the thing . . . taking pot shots at it from a boat is very unlikely to kill it or safely wound it."

Mr McAuley said the shark responsible for yesterday's attack could now be many kilometres away from the scene and that it was "unlikely" to have been a bronze whaler shark.

He said many reports had come through on what sort of shark had killed the young man.

"There is a lot of speculation on what it might have been," he said.

Mr McAuley confirmed white pointers, also known as great whites, are a protected species under Federal and State law and that special approval must be given for killing them.

"That approval is only given if the shark is deemed to pose an immediate threat to public safety," he said.

"Given that the beaches are closed…I'm not sure if a decision could be reached that it posed an immediate danger to safety.

"I don't see any practical benefit in taking a shark if one could be taken down there."

Mr Burden was bodyboarding with five friends off Bunker Bay near Dunsborough when he was killed in the water about 1.30pm yesterday.

The Department of Fisheries, the Department of Transport as well as local police are today searching the coast for what is believed to be a giant white pointer that killed the man.
 

Mr Burden is originally from the eastern states and had been living in WA for the past four years.

His mother who lives in Queensland will arrive in WA today.

The beach will remain closed until at least tonight.

The  Department of Fisheries is assisting local police with the search today with a plane doing flyovers near where the attack happened.

'Shark spooked nearby dolphins' - surfer

Kyle Smith, 25, of Dunsborough was surfing nearby yesterday and said he saw what he believed to be a bronze whaler shortly before the young man was attacked.

He said a pod of dolphins were behaving erratically in the water just moments before the young man was taken.

Mr Smith told 6PR radio this morning a swimmer nearby him saw a shadow pass underneath her believing it was a dolphin.

"A young girl was swimming behind me, she yelled and said 'I think a dolphin is behind me'," he told 6PR.

"We looked and it wasn't a dolphin. What we saw was a bronze whaler fin. We were pretty convinced that it was a bronze whaler.

"It moved away from us to the east to a pack of about 15 guys in the water.

"The shark went underneath me and to a guy on a long board."

Surfers call for 'drum line' protection

The bodyboarder's death has prompted a call from surfers for authorities to protect the surf breaks with baited drum lines off popular beaches.

``Surfers are feeling cautious in the water,'' Brad Farmer of the marine protection organisation Surfrider Foundation said today.

Queensland has used shark-specific drum lines - which comprise of a buoy, line and mullet - to avoid catching turtles, stingrays and sunfish, he said.

``It basically targets large, rogue sharks that cruise the coast,'' he told AAP.

``They go for the bait, rather than the surfer.''

Mr Farmer wants the WA government to start community consultation about whether to introduce shark-specific drum lines, particularly in the state's southwest.

``Surfers are in favour of protection of (shark) species, but we've got to have a balance here and clearly the number of shark attacks in WA is on the increase,'' he said.

Bodyboarder taken in 'perfecrt shark conditions'

Dark seas, whales and seals created "perfect shark conditions" when a  bodyboarder was bitten in half by great white in WA's South-West yesterday.

The young man, originally from an east coast state, had been living in the Dunsborough area for the past four years. He was taken by the shark while surfing at nearby Boneyards in Bunker Bay, 255km south of Perth.

Surfers had seen several great whites in the area recently, which had possibly been lured by pods of whales passing Cape Naturaliste. A colony of seals also lives about 800m from the surf spot.

Last night, police had not released the man's name but were trying to contact his next of kin. They said he also had a girlfriend.

He had been in the water with a friend and three other surfers when the shark struck at about 1pm. "Out of nowhere it would appear the young fella was taken," Sergeant Craig Anderson said.

There was no hope

"Nobody actually saw the shark itself, but they've observed the young fella's body in among some blood. His mate and somebody else who was surfing with him have brought the body to shore."

He was dead before he arrived at the beach. The shark had bitten off the lower part of his body, police said.

A local woman, who did not want to be named, was walking down the beach with her husband and two children when they saw two surfers running towards them. They were screaming at other surfers to get out of the water. "They said he was cut in half and there was just no hope, that he was already dead," the woman said.

"And even up the beach you could see red, but we don't know if it was his surf board or blood. These guys were in shock as well. They handled it really well, they were just getting everyone else out of the water."

Sergeant Anderson praised the deceased man's friend for his bravery. "I spoke to his mum this afternoon, so she's aware that her son was quite heroic in his action.

"This morning you could have described it as perfect shark conditions; dark and gloomy waters, overcast skies, light rain falling, whale action early on in the morning in the bay, seals about."

The man's body was taken to Busselton hospital, where a post mortem will be conducted. Surfer Barnaby Mills said there had been a lot of sharks around lately.

"We've seen a lot of big sharks lately, we go out on the jet ski and tow-in a lot," Mr Mills said.

"We've seen great whites, five metres long. Maybe it's the whales; a local fisherman told me there were big whales out there this morning. They were probably following them."

The beach has been closed and is expected to remain closed until at least midnight Monday.

Meanwhile, a vessel is sweeping the bay in search of the shark, which has yet to be spotted or identified.

SHARK ATTACK TIMELINE

Recent fatal shark attacks in Australia:

September 4, 2011: Man in his 20s killed while bodyboarding with friends at Bunker Bay, near Dunsborough, in Western Australia.

February 17, 2011: An abalone diver is taken in an attack by two sharks, believed to be white pointers, while surfacing near Perforated Island in Coffin Bay, South Australia.

August 17, 2010: A 31-year-old man died from serious injuries after a shark attacked him while he was surfing near Gracetown in Western Australia's south-west.

December 27, 2008: Fisherman Brian Guest, 51, taken by a great white while snorkelling at Port Kennedy in Perth's south. His son and beachgoers saw the shark attack and swim off with him in its mouth.

April 8, 2008: A 16-year-old boy from Wollongbar killed by a shark while bodyboarding off Ballina's Lighthouse Beach on the NSW north coast.

January 7, 2006: Sarah Kate Whiley, 21, mauled by up to three bull sharks while swimming in waist-deep water with friends at Amity Point, off south-east Queensland's North Stradbroke Island.

August 24, 2005: Marine biologist Jarrod Stehbens, 23, taken by a shark, believed to be a white pointer, while diving for cuttlefish eggs with colleagues off Adelaide's Glenelg Beach.

March 19, 2005: Geoffrey Brazier, 26, attacked by a six-metre shark, believed to be a great white, as he snorkelled near the Abrolhos Islands, off Geraldton, 500km north of Perth.

December 16, 2004: Nick Peterson, 18, killed instantly when attacked by a great white shark as he was towed behind a boat on a surfboard 300 metres off Adelaide's popular metropolitan West Beach.

December 11, 2004: Mark Thompson, 38, attacked by a shark while spear fishing with two friends at Opal Reef, about 75km from Cairns in north Queensland. He died from a cardiac arrest soon after the attack.

July 10, 2004: Brad Smith, 29, attacked by two sharks, believed to be a great white and a large bronze whaler, as he surfed near Gracetown in Western Australia's south-west.

February 8, 2003: Bob Purcell, 84, attacked by a 2.5-metre bull whaler while swimming in Burleigh Lake on the Gold Coast.

December 16, 2002: Beau Martin, 23, attacked while swimming in Miami Lake on the Gold Coast.

April 30, 2002: Scallop diver Paul Buckland, 23, dragged from a mate's arms by a six-metre white pointer while trying to get on board a boat in Smoky Bay in the Great Australian Bight, South Australia.

05 Sep, 2011

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