Shark Sightings

[crawf]

Sightings clear beaches
December 10, 2006 12:15am

SHARKS were spotted and beaches evacuated along Adelaide's coastline every day this week.

Yesterday, surf lifesavers cleared Moana Beach after a 3m shark was spotted 100m offshore. It is believed the same shark was seen at Aldinga later in the day.
A police spokeswoman said lifesavers sounded the alarm about 10am, before sending a jet boat and helicopter to shepherd the shark out to sea.

But a search from the air and sea failed to find the shark, and people eventually returned to the water. Lifesavers said the shark was probably a bronze whaler.

People at the beach told the Sunday Mail the shark was spotted by a fisherman. South Australian Disabled Surfers' Association patron Kym Richardson was at Moana with a group of disabled children.

"The whole beach was evacuated and around 25 people taken out of the water," he said.

Many beaches along Adelaide's coastline have been closed because of shark sightings this week. There were three recorded sightings on Monday, 13 on Tuesday, six on Wednesday, four on Thursday and one on Friday.

Most sightings were reported by the University of South Australia's fixed-wing shark spotting plane.

The university's Steve Thatcher said clearer water might account for the increase in sightings.

"Last year, we had floods putting silt into the Gulf and they were dredging Outer Harbor," he said.

"The water was murky and sharks were hard to spot.

"This year, the visibility is excellent."

Mr Thatcher said sharks were coming closer to shore than in previous years, with several 3m sharks spotted just 20m from the water's edge.