The 52-year-old surfer, local lifesavers and island boardriders fear the huge man-eater was responsible for the horrifying shark-on-shark attack off the island, east of Brisbane, which The Sunday Mail featured in graphic photographs in late October.

The smaller 3m white pointer, snared on a baited drumline set off North Stradbroke’s busy Cylinder Beach, was almost bitten in half by the bigger shark.

Mr Specht, who has surfed for more than four decades on the island, said he and fellow surfers who were used to swimming with sharks had switched to predator alert.

Surfer Russell Specht has survived a terrifying face-to-face encounter with a monster great white shark

“It was frightening. It was like a submarine heading towards me. I didn’t expect to live,” Mr Specht said.

He and several mates were surfing more than 100m off Main Beach when a younger boardrider shouted to them about the approaching monster.

“This thing came at me from behind. The other four guys with me, they took off to the beach and left me,” Mr Specht said.

“My first instinct was to paddle out to sea. Then I thought that this is not right, this is exactly what he wants me to do.”

Mr Specht bravely chose to sit quietly on his board and “eyeball” the shark – at least 4m long – as it came close enough to touch.

“He veered off, then he did a U-turn 10m away from me.

“I’m on a six foot three inch board. I’m thinking if he’s going to have a go at me he will eat me. But I thought you’re going to have to eat this board first,” Mr Specht said.

The champion surfer and Point Lookout Boardriders Club life member sat motionless on the board as the shark went directly under him, just 1m below, on its second pass.

Fellow surfers believe the same shark was hooked on a drum line off the beach later that day. The drumline “exploded” as the great white managed to free itself.

After spotting between 10 and 15 sharks off Main Beach in the past week, Mr Specht said he and other surfers were taking extra precautions and not surfing alone.

He said it was important to report his encounter just three weeks ago to warn holidaymakers that a dangerous great white shark was in local waters.

Surf Life Saving Queensland Gold Coast services co-ordinator Stuart Hogben, who has been on recent flights by the Westpac helicopter to North Stradbroke Island, supports Mr Specht’s suspicions about the great white being responsible for the attack on the other shark.

Mr Hogben saw several 2-3m sharks about 200-300m offshore along the island’s surf side during a flight last weekend. Other sightings were made off the Gold Coast.

Source: Paul Weston, The Courier-Mail

The shark did not attack her, and Ms Adamson said she only became aware of how close she was to the shark once she was out of the water. “There were people yelling at us to get out of the water, and I couldn’t hear because my head was under,” she said.

“But when I stuck my head up, people were yelling and screaming ‘Shark! Get out of the water’, so I got out of the water and up on the jetty I saw it just on the other side to where I was snorkelling. “It was probably about three metres long.”

Mrs Adamson said she had been looking down while snorkelling, so did not see the aquatic predator just metres away. “When you snorkel, you look down, not out in front of you,” she said. “But when I heard everyone yelling, I just swam, I didn’t look back.”

Tiger sharks are considered man-eaters, second only to the great white shark in the number of times they have attacked humans.

Mrs Adamson was thankful she had not seen the shark until she was out of the water. “It was scary enough as it was,” she said. “I don’t know what I would have done If I’d seen it in the water there with me.”

Michelle Adamson Narrowly Avoided Becoming Shark Food

A spokesman from the Department of Primary Industries told The Observer there were numerous shark sightings across the state at the weekend.

He said swimmers or snorkellers should leave the water immediately if a shark was sighted, not swim at night, in murky waters, alone or when bleeding. People should also avoid swimming near mouths of estuaries, artificial canals or lakes.

As for Mrs Adamson, she said it may be a while before she gets back in the water at all. “My husband went snorkelling again, but I didn’t go back in the water,” she said. “I was a bit wary. I might go back with a group of people, but never by myself.”

Mrs Adamson’s near miss comes after Gladstone free water diver John Pengelly was bitten by a bull shark at Lamont Reef, near Heron Island, last month.

Mr Pengelly was bitten on the arm, receiving deep cuts to his wrist and forearm. He is currently undergoing 12 weeks of physiotherapy.

Source: Nathan Paul, Gladstone Observer

At 7.30 on an overcast evening, Orgias was paddling for a wave in the centre of Australia’s most famous beach when he felt a tugging on his left arm. He thought it was a surfer jostling for position.

”I thought another surfer had grabbed me and was trying to stop me getting the wave,” the 34-year-old says. ”Then in a split second it all changed and something really powerful and massive dragged me straight under and started shaking me around.

”It bit straight through the wrist but the way it latched on it couldn’t bite through the elbow. It shook and it shook and it couldn’t get through so then it let go.”

After an estimated seven or eight seconds underwater, Orgias was released and popped to the surface. Scrambling on to his board, he saw the sea turning red. His left hand was dangling by a piece of skin. As he paddled frantically back to shore, he kept thinking about his pregnant wife. When he finally reached the sand, two surfers applied a makeshift tourniquet.

Glenn Orgias lost a hand after he was bitten by a great white shark while surfing at Bondi Beach.

”The great white is probably the best kind of shark to be attacked by,” Orgias says. ”They do one of two things: they bite and test, which is what happened to me, or they just decide they’re going to eat you and they swallow you whole. Bull sharks are more aggressive. They’ll bite something and then just because it’s injured they’ll go it again.”

In coast-loving Australia, the shark occupies a special place in the collective psyche. A scary monster for adults, it’s a creature from the depths of prehistory and our own unconscious, a dark shadow with dead eyes and razor teeth.

”As humans, we do not view it as acceptable to be eaten alive,” says Dr William Figueira, a keen diver and marine biologist at the University of Sydney. ”And we’re just very vulnerable in that realm [the sea].”

The surprise is how rarely sharks attack. According to the Australian Shark Attack File compiled at Taronga Zoo, there have been 24 recorded Australian fatalities due to shark attacks in the past 20 years. There has been, on average, one fatal attack a year since 1791.

Not that the figures have been stable. In the 1930s, with Aussies starting to embrace beach culture, 38 people were killed by sharks. In response, shark nets – or ”shark meshing” – were introduced in NSW in 1937. The meshing is still there, put in place each year from September to April. Costing the State Government $830,000 annually, the nets catch an average of 140 sharks a year – not to mention the turtles, rays and dugongs.

Since 1937 there has been only one fatality at a meshed NSW beach, Newcastle’s Merewether in 1951. In Sydney Harbour the last fatality occurred in 1963, while the most recent NSW death was at an unmeshed Ballina beach in 2008. And for every fatal attack, there are two non-fatal attacks. Of those attacked by a shark, about 70 per cent survive.

A marine ecologist at Macquarie University, Dr Iain Field, says the slim chances of being attacked by a shark can be further reduced by choosing when and where you swim.

”I don’t go out into the water at dawn or dusk if it’s a really grey day,” Field says. ”I don’t go out at cloudy river mouths and I tend not to go where there are great schools of fish.”

As Amy Wilkes from Sydney Aquarium says: ”If you see schools of fish behaving erratically it could possibly indicate the presence of a shark in the water. The safest option is to calmly exit the water.”

Many shark attacks are cases of mistaken identity. ”Being the cleaners of the sea, sharks take the infirm,” Field says. ”And a surfer splashing about on the surface can indicate an animal in distress.

”The other time attacks can occur is when sharks are being territorial. Sharks can have distinct home ranges, whether there’s a resource there or it’s babies they’re protecting, that’s when they attack to defend themselves.”

Australia has an amazing abundance of shark species, Field says, but we have detailed biological information for only about 10 per cent of them.

”We are still discovering new species and new subspecies,” he says.

Numbers are hard to gauge but Field says there is compelling evidence the populations of most species are in decline.

In recent years, dramatic innovations in shark repulsion include the Shark Shield, which creates an electromagnetic field around the user. Some universities have made them mandatory for underwater researchers. In the future, such technology could potentially be used to create electromagnetic shields around beaches.

At Bondi in February, Orgias never saw the shark that attacked him. He survived, he says, because of his pregnant wife.

”She’s the reason I got in to shore,” he says. ”The whole time I was thinking about her and not wanting her to have to go through having a baby by herself.”

Orgias and I are having lunch in a CBD courtyard full of pin-striped predators. In between mouthfuls of chicken schnitzel, he shows me his prosthetic left hand. It’s the same type of hand that de Gelder now has.

”My arm comes to there,” he says, pointing to his forearm. ”It’s got these little electrodes. I can open and close the hand and move the thumb around. It’s like having 25 per cent of your hand.”

Orgias doesn’t want notoriety. He gives interviews to promote the blood service that saved his life. ”I don’t support the culling of sharks,” he says. ”I support clean oceans and good ocean management and that means helping shark populations. It’s up to people to be aware of the risks. The one thing that I promote is the blood service. When you get attacked by a shark, what you need is blood.”

All in all, it’s been a big year. In July, his daughter, Bronte, was born. ”I’m so happy to be alive,” he says. ”The shark attack was horrendous but it’s been a great year.”

And, like de Gelder, Orgias is surfing again. He gets out into the line-up as often as he can at Bondi or Maroubra.

”I knew I’d be able to force myself into the water,” he says. ”What worried me the most was that I wouldn’t enjoy it. But I had fun. And sure, I worry about sharks. I just acknowledge it and say, ‘Right, I’ve got a fear but I’ve also got the ability to go out there and enjoy myself.’ I have no grudge against sharks.”

Source: Sacha Molitorisz, Sydney Morning Herald

In a world first, great white sharks will be monitored over the summer when they move to within 500m of metropolitan beaches from Ocean Reef to Garden and Rottnest Islands where satellite receivers are installed.

Surf-life saving groups, scientists and wildlife officials will be notified immediately a tagged shark moves near any one of 18 bright-yellow acoustic seabed devices.

Since the receivers were installed in May and December, Department of Fisheries’ senior research scientist Dr Rory McAuley said sharks had been picked up in Perth waters on four occasions.

The last detection was in September.

“The use of the technology that delivers real-time notifications of tag detections hasn’t been used in an operational sense anywhere else in the world,” Dr McAuley said.

“The information we are hoping to collect will hopefully provide us some answers to the questions we are always asking about how long white sharks spend off our beaches, whether they come back, is there a season, do they come back one year after the other.”

In all, researchers hope to tag 100 sharks over the next two years as part of a $400,000 government-funded project.

Great White Shark Near Bixby Ranch, CA

The sharks are fitted with the satellite-tracking darts by researchers who shoot or stab the devices into the flank of the animals.

So far, 74 white sharks have been tagged. Of these animals, 67 were from South Australia and seven were in tagged WA waters.

“It’s not a complete blanket. We have put the receivers out the front of surf life saving clubs because that’s where, if we are able to implement a response, that is where it is most likely to happen,” Mr McAuley said.

“The system is live now.”

Great white sharks are vulnerable to extinction and are a protected species. A total of six people have been killed by sharks in WA in the past 20 years.

Source: Narelle Towie, Perth Now, Sunday Times

The whale died after desperate efforts by up to 50 people who rushed to Twin Waters on a rescue mission. The 3.8 metre female was first spotted at 6:30AM south of Mudjimba Island.

Originally thought to be a pilot whale, it was later identified by an attending Australia Zoo rescue team as a “pseudorca crassidens” – a false killer whale.

Workers Attempt to Revive False Killer Whale

The rescue team brought the whale into the shallows to conduct the identification, and efforts then continued to save the distressed mammal, which was believed to be an adult.

The injured whale had a damaged dorsal fin and evidence of “superficial” shark bites.

The rescue efforts stretched well into the morning as volunteers and veterinarians fought to keep the stranded mammal alive.

Australia Zoo veterinarian Tim Portas conferred with Sea World veterinarians during the rescue efforts.

A rescue unit spokeswoman said staff and volunteers were able to move the large whale from the beach and transfer it to a truck for transport to the Australian Wildlife Hospital at Beerwah.

“Unfortunately, despite everyone’s best efforts, the whale did not survive,” she said. “It underwent a necropsy at Australia Zoo to identify the cause of the stranding. The full cause of the stranding will not be known until the pathology results are completed.”

Those involved in the rescue were said to be devastated over the death of the whale.

Sources said sightings of the extremely sociable false killer whales are not common on the Coast. They prefer deeper waters away from land.

Source: Nikkii Joyce, Sunshine Coast Daily

Mr. Sojoski, 55, of Copacabana, was teaching his visiting granddaughter Summer, 12, to surf at Avoca Beach, when he struck trouble about 11am on Saturday. “I stepped on it originally,” Mr Sojoski said.

“But then when I stepped off it, it latched on straight away and it was the weirdest sensation. It was like a vice squeezing and squeezing. Then it started shaking my leg and moving it off the ground.”

John Sojoski of Copacabana was bitten by a shark while surfing at Avoca Beach.

Mr Sojoski managed to kick the shark away and still send Summer in on a wave, without telling her what had happened. “She didn’t know until we got back to the clubhouse,” he said. “I figured if I freaked her out, she might fall off the board.”

Water and air patrols were unable to locate the shark, with the beach reopened mid-afternoon on Saturday.

Mr Sojoski, a surf board manufacturer, counted 36 punctures in his lower left leg and was told to stay away from the water for 13 days. But as soon as he gets the all-clear, he’ll be back.

“I’ve surfed for 30 years and haven’t seen a shark – I didn’t even see this one,” he said. “But the water is the sharks’ domain and we have to respect that.”

The incident hasn’t dampened Summer’s enthusiasm for the water, with Mr Sojoski’s girlfriend Amanda her likely replacement “surf coach” for the rest of her holiday.

John Sojoski, Avoca Beach Shark Attack Survivor

Mr Sojoski couldn’t praise enough the actions of the people who helped him, thanking surf lifesavers, ambulance officers and Gosford Hospital staff – who he said were “so understaffed but still managed to have smiles on their faces”.

Source: Emma Herd, Central Coast Express-Advocate

The revelation follows a large, aggressive tiger shark menacing two kayakers as they paddled to shore from Mudjimba Island on December 20.

Queensland shark control program manager Tony Ham said the increased movement of tiger sharks was an annual event signifying the end of the breeding season and the start of feeding frenzies as the feared predator gorges on large schools of bait fish along the Queensland coast.

Mr Ham warned people against swimming in dirty water, near large schools of bait fish and in rivers, creeks or canals. “There’s nothing particularly to be alarmed about – it’s just that spring-summer movement of sharks around the place,” he said. “(But) people should obviously take care when they swim.”

A recent spate of Tiger shark catches off Sunshine Coast beaches has triggered a warning for swimmers.

Well-known shark hunter Vic Hislop said tigers were now coming closer to shore to feed on turtles, stingrays and dugongs because heavy fishing had thinned their traditional big-fish diet.

He said for every tiger caught in a net or on a drumline, hundreds more were lurking in the area. “Scientists are trying to work out what’s happening to all the turtles. “But I know what’s happening to them – they’re being eaten by tiger sharks,” he said.

“That’s why there have been more attacks and more people disappearing right around Australia. It’s not going to get better. People have got to learn to be careful.”

The Coast’s shoreline is protected by 11 shark nets and 78 drumlines. A total of 79 sharks, mostly tiger and bull sharks, were caught in 2008 – 25 more than the previous year.

A four-metre tiger shark can weigh between 400kg and 450kg, although five-metre-plus tigers can weigh more than a tonne. Their potential contact with humans is increased because they regularly visit shallow reefs, harbours and canals.

The tiger is second only to the great white shark in the number of recorded attacks on humans.

Source: Mark Bode, Sunshine Coast Daily

The Copacabana resident fought off the shark by kicking his leg in and out of the water. He was taken to Gosford Hospital with deep cuts to his lower leg.

The beach was closed while lifeguards and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter searched the water, but there was no sign of the shark.

Source: The Post News

Avoca Beach, Shark Attack Site

The 19-year-old suffered deep lacerations to his wrist and lower forearm while spearfishing at the reef, 44 nautical miles east of Gladstone.

After receiving treatment from medical staff on Heron Island he was flown to Rockhampton and airlifted to Brisbane for surgical assessment.

Diving with fellow Curtis Coast Spearfishing members David Jenson and Nat Keene, it was their first dive of the day when the shark came from below and bit Mr Pengelly.

“There were two guys together and to the shark they probably looked like a turtle,” said Mark Brookes, president of Curtis Coast Spearfishing club, who was also diving at the time.

Source: Miranda Cashin, Brisbane Times

A Great White Shark

At first the 24-year-old gardener thought it was one of his mates having a laugh as they enjoyed a dip in the ocean under the warm Spring sunshine. But when Mr Brougham turned around he saw what every ocean dweller dreads the most: the face of a ferocious shark staring straight back at him.

“I came up, as soon as I got to the surface I felt someone, something pulling my leg and I thought it was just someone being a smart a**e and I turned around and just saw the big face looking at me,” he recalled earlier today from his hospital bed where he was being treated for shark wounds to his ankle.

“And then I just started beating it, just trying to get rid of it and then it let me go and then I was just [swimming] straight towards the cliffs [beach].”

Mr Brougham was swimming about 20m off the shore looking for shellfish at a cove near the town of Normanville on SA’s Fleurieu Peninsula when he was bitten by the shark, which was estimated to be almost 3m (10ft) long.

He said he was resurfacing after diving down to the ocean floor to see if there were any fish to catch when he felt something bite. After fighting off the shark he swam to the cliffs where the brother of his girlfriend was fishing, to raise the alarm. “The swim from where it happened to the cliff felt like forever,” Mr Brougham said.

He was treated by doctors at a nearby hospital and will need further surgery on his ankle after his Achilles tendon was almost ripped off in the attack, but Mr Brougham said he is simply happy to be alive.

“I’m lucky to be here, I’m lucky to have all my limbs attached,” he said. When asked when he would get back in the water, he said: “not anytime soon”.

The manager of the nearby Wirrina Resort, Aaron Batts, told The Times there had been a number of bronze whaler sharks sighted over the weekend, which may have been attracted to the large schools of salmon which are regularly seen off nearby beaches.

“There’s also a resident great white that comes through every summer,” Mr Batts said. “He’s about 6m (19ft) long, but as far as I know he hasn’t attacked anyone yet.”

The attack on Mr Brougham was the first of Australia’s current summer season, but the 50th attack in South Australia’s history – 19 of which have been fatal.

Last summer there were a number of shark attacks all around the country, one of which was fatal.

Brian Guest, 51, disappeared while snorkelling off a beach in Western Australia in December. He was last seen in the area where a 14ft great white shark was seen thrashing around. His body has not been found.

As a result of Mr Guest‘s death, the West Australian premier Colin Barnett has announced extra funding to allow for daily shark patrols on the state’s most popular beaches over the peak summer season from mid-December until the end of February.

“It is important the community feels safe while swimming and enjoying our beaches,” Mr Barnett said.

Source: Times Online Reported by Sophie Tedmanson in Sydney

Tiger Shark, a ruthless killer with an appetite for flesh

The Queensland State Government yesterday released its annual shark count data, revealing more than 500 specimens had been caught since the start of the year and warning beachgoers to be careful in the water.

A 4.1-metre (13 foot) tiger shark was the largest shark to be caught in beach protection nets this year, demonstrating how close swimmers can come to the predators of the deep.

The animal was snared in drumlines off Townsville in October. Of the 505 sharks caught so far this year, more than 100 of them have been in Townsville waters.

On average, about 50 have been caught at Cairns, the Capricorn Coast, Mackay and Gladstone between January and November this year.

Fifty-two sharks, including a 4-metre specimen and 27 others larger than 2 metres, were caught further south at Rainbow Beach.

Catch data also shows decent shark activity in southern waters, with a 3-metre great hammerhead found in shark control nets on the Gold Coast and a 4-metre tiger shark among 24 animals caught off Stradbroke Island.

Primary Industries and Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin said shark numbers were down on last year, when 578 were caught, however, there was still a month to go and conditions were ripe.

Rain and warm weather in recent weeks would increase shark movement, particularly among bull sharks.

”More than 500 sharks have been caught in shark nets or in drumlines since January since January, with 2009 set to be on par with previous years,” Mr Mulherin said.

”Two of our most dangerous species comprise a large proportion of this catch, with 182 tiger sharks and 72 bull sharks.”

He said the catch demonstrated the importance of shark control nets, which came under scrutiny earlier this month when the Gold Coast City Council debated whether or not to scrap them.

Some councillors believe the nets are ineffective and only serve to harm other marine life, including dolphins and turtles. Eight dolphins have been killed by shark nets on Gold Coast beaches int he past 12 months.

”Any size shark can cause serious injury or death if they attack, however sharks more than 2 metres long are particularly dangerous and are more likely to cause fatal injuries.

”Beaches protected by shark control equipment and lifesaving services are certainly a safer option if going for a swim.”

To avoid the risk of attack, bathers should avoid swimming near river mouths, in canals, artificial lakes and waterways, with sharks more active early in the morning, evening and at night.

Source: Christine Kellett, Brisbane Times

BIG FUCKING SHARK TERRORIZES AUSTRALIA

The image –showing a great white bitten in half– is causing a buzz on the Web. The violent shark-on-shark attack is raising fears along the Queensland coast. Authorities have warned swimmers to stay out of the waters around Stradbroke Island, a popular tourist destination for Australians, while the giant shark remains on the prowl.

“It certainly opened up my eyes. I mean the shark that was caught is a substantial shark in itself,” Jeff Krause of Queensland Fisheries told the Sydney Daily Telegraph.

In one swift bite the larger shark, estimated to be 5 feet longer than the fictional shark in the movie “Jaws,” apparently tore into the side of a 12-foot great white that had gotten tangled in netting near north Stradbroke Island.

“That cannibal thing is what great whites do. They’ll eat anything, including their own kind,” shark expert Hugh Edwards told Channel 7 News in Australia. “It would be sensible not to swim in that area for some little while because obviously the big shark has been there.”

The big bite is not settling well with the local surfers. “Whatever attacked and took chunks out of this big shark must be massive,” 19-year-old surfer Ashton Smith told the Courier Mail. “I’ve heard about the big one that’s lurking out there somewhere. We’re all being very, very cautious.”

About 500 feet from the shore, shark nets line the popular beaches of Queensland to protect swimmers from the violent sea predators. Environmentalists have complained the nets are taking the lives of migrating whales.

Australian Marine Conservation Society Director Darren Kindleysides told the Courier Mail that “recent figures on the number of sharks caught showed the nets were working but at huge cost to whales, dolphins and turtles.”

Shark hunter Vic Hislop also told the Courier Mail he “believes shark nets are too damaging to the overall marine environment, and that methods should be explored to scare away sharks rather than capture and kill them.”

Source: ABC World News

The boy, named in media reports as 14-year-old local Zac Skyring, was out for an early surf off Broken Head, just south of Byron Bay, when he was knocked off his board just after 6am (AEST) today.

He was reportedly thrown into the air by the impact of the shark, which punctured his wetsuit, but later went to school.

Witness Neil Cameron told the ABC the teenager had several small puncture marks on his lower arm.

He says the boy and his father paddled back out to warn him other surfers of the danger.

“His dad had the idea – he wanted to get him back in the water. Otherwise he reckoned … he’d never get him in the water again,” he said.

Tony Lewis, manager of the Broken Head Holiday Park, said his staff had told him about the incident.

“All we really know is that some kid was knocked off his board and he got a bit of grazing,” he said.
“It was no big deal, just a little mark on his board and a little graze on his body was apparently all that he got.

“My groundsman here is a surfer and he says it happens all the time, so they weren’t even concerned.”

The shark was believed to be a one-and-a-half-metre bronze whaler, according to the ABC.

A Hungry Great White Shark... Frightening.

Should you be afraid of the man in the grey suit? Of course you should.

There’s a distinct possibility that climate change is affecting the number of fatal shark attacks. Soon the sharks will take to the streets and hunt us in our beds as we sleep.

You have nothing to fear except for The Fear Beneath!

Would you like to be food for a Great White Shark

Abalone diver John Rudge does not muck around when he enters the domain of the great white shark.

When diving near seal colonies, he spends as little time as possible on the surface forming a silhouette to any great whites that might be hunting below.

“They are the top of the food chain to us, an absolutely brilliant predator and something to be respected,” he said. Four of his industry colleagues have had encounters in Victorian waters in the past year.

“I figure if one comes along, I’ll either see it and have an encounter or I won’t see it and that will be the end of me,” he said.

Mr Rudge, a second-generation diver from Mallacoota, and Blairgowrie surfer Kent Stannard are helping the CSIRO place listening devices along the Victorian coastline to track the movements of tagged great white sharks.

The abalone industry has a vested interest in knowing more about the seasonal movements of the sharks they share their “office” with. Already the research is paying dividends.

Victorian waters appear to be the pupping grounds for the species, along with the Great Australian Bight. Sharks tagged in NSW and South Australia have been tracked using a Bass Strait corridor, travelling as far north as Rockhampton and south to Tasmania.

Barry Bruce, Australia’s eminent white shark expert from the CSIRO in Hobart, said satellite tracking and acoustic tags implanted under sharks’ skin were offering a glimpse into a species that had been largely a mystery. “It is incredible how the movements of these animals are linked,” he said.

The tracking has helped dispel some myths. Great whites were believed to follow the migration of humpback whales, but they appear to follow the whales’ route only along the east coast of Australia. On the west coast they move in the opposite direction. Great whites were also thought to live at seal colonies, but are only occasional visitors.

A 2.1-metre juvenile shark was tracked swimming the Tasman Sea to New Zealand and diving to nearly 1000 metres