Port Stephens is the 'sharkiest' place to fish

My last post covered the recent shark attack at Port Stephens, where 24-year-old Lisa Mondy was  mauled on the face and arms by a great white shark after she fell off a wakeboard at Jimmys Beach. She underwent 15 hours of surgery to re-attach a severed left arm.

I have lifted the following facts from David Lockwood's weekly fishing column in The Sun-Herald. It does help explain why Mondy was attacked.

Lockwood writes that of all the places he's fished over the years Port Stephens, on the NSW mid-north coast, is the 'sharkiest'.

'Stand on the basalt rocks at Tomaree Headland, one of the sentinels to Port Stephens, and you can see the sharks shadowing the vast migrating sea mullet, Australian salmon and slimy mackeral schools,' he writes.

Lockwood claims to have spotted 27 sharks during a low-altitude flight over the Hunter coast, which encompasses Port Stephens.

He talked to an aerial shark-spotting tour operator who said a fatality from a shark attack was 'imminent'. Lucky Lisa.

A local fisherman said he saw a 'white shark' (I assume we're talking about GREAT whites) 'leap out of the water and take a seagull just metres from where he was surfing', while another bloke photographed great whites feeding in water 'less than waist deep'.

Autumn is the peak season for sharks on the Hunter coast, where schools of baitfish trace the beaches and headlands during their northerly migration. The 50 kilometres along the coast from Stockton to Seal Rocks is also a well known great white nursery.

The most recent news report is at:
http://www.news.com.au/national/joyride-ends-in-the-jaws-of-maneater/story-e6frfkvr-1226023659041

Lockwood advises readers to 'play if safe in Port Stephens'.

I'll take that onboard and stay there.

Photo of Lisa Mondy from http://www.news.com.au/ story (link is above).

Sharks in Sydney Harbour

I start blabbing about sharks and my know-it-all friends (two actually) come onboard with fresh information. 
Mrs Onyabike refers me to a story in The Weekend Australian magazine, which compares the great white's hunting behaviour to that of a serial killer. According to the research quoted in the story, great whites are particular about their prey and return to the same location when about to hunt for food.

Supposedly to confirm the validity of the research, the journo then goes on to describe in gory detail those fatal shark attacks in Australia where the victim appears to have been the 'chosen one'.

I would like to mention that two of the fatalities were off the coast of South Australia and another was in WA (the breeding grounds for great whites) and another in a boating accident kilometres from the shore in Northern Queensland in 1977.

The weirdest of all though were two attacks off Byron Bay, 10 years apart, where both male victims had the last name 'Ford'.

My advice is to be careful swimming at Byron Bay if your last name is Ford. There's a local serial killer great white seeking out all Fords.

But really, what's the white pointer of this story? 

There were no dates provided, so the research obviously isn't new. My guess is it was commissioned by an editor who suddenly realised it was summer. And that's when Australians go to the beach. LIGHT BULB MOMENT. He then gets his hands on a couple of shark photos bound to scare the crap out of your average joe and sends his hack reporter off to research serial killer great whites. If you're interested, here's the link: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/kill-zone/story-e6frg8h6-1225971145872

The next lot of news comes from Davo, who should be mowing the lawn on a Sundee, but instead has his mug (this is slang for 'face') in the paper (which means he was reading the newspaper when he should've been doing domestic chores*).

In The Sun-Herald, fishing columnist David Lockwood advises readers not to swim in the harbour because there's lots of sharks about.

I reckon this is scarier than Mrs Onyabike's story - according to local fishermen, whaler and bull sharks were spotted breeching in the harbour last week. Mary Mother of God (dunno how the rest goes as I'm not Catholic, but you get the gist).

Lockwood writes: 'Fishing guides report seeing sharks up to two metres cruising in the harbour this month.

'The potential maneaters have been spotted off the Opera House, in Darling Harbour, at Dobroyd Point and even in Middle Harbour.'

CRIKEY. My daughter Miss Hissy sailed at Middle Harbour today - she's also there tomorrow and Wednesday.

While summer 2010 was relatively free from shark sightings, it looks like the big fellas are back because of the abundance of fish in Sydney Harbour, including bonito and kingfish.

There are two Sydney Harbour swims coming up in the next few months. Am I worried? At the moment I'm more concerned about The Hiss. I reckon she's about as tender as Wagyu beef!

*explanation for anyone born after 1965