10-foot Great White Shark bitten nearly in half by 20-foot 'monster shark' near Australian beach

BY ETHAN SACKS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, October 26th 2009, 10:30 AM


A 10-foot shark was bitten nearly in half by a 'monster shark' twice it's size - and that Great White is still on the prowl off the coast of Queensland, Australian officials said.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

Swimmers were warned that a "monster shark" was prowling off a popular Australian beach, one that nearly bit a 10-foot great white shark in half last week, London's Daily Mail reported.

Based on the bite marks, experts say the larger shark must be twice its victim's size.

The smaller - relatively speaking - great white was hooked on a baited drum line when it was attacked, and was still alive when it was hauled onto a boat off north Stradbroke Island in Queensland.

The fatally wounded shark was found just a few miles away from the island's popular beaches, a haven for surfers and bathers.

"That cannibal thing is what great whites do; they'll eat anything, including their own kind," Hugh Edwards, a local shark expert, told Australia's 7 News. "It would be sensible not to swim in that area for a little while."

Though shark attacks worldwide dipped from 71 to 59 between 2007 and 2008, according to the International Shark Attack File, and few of them were attributed to great whites, the large shark had been vilified even before Steven Spielberg's 1975 thriller.

Speculation is that this "Jaws"-sized shark has been lured to the area by the rotting carcuses of three whales that were trapped in anti-shark netting surrounding the Queensland coast.

But Queensland Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin told Australia's Courier Mail that the grisly find shows why those nets were still essential.

Five people were fatally attacked in the late '50s, the Courier Mail reported, but only one since the nets were put in place in 1962.

"Whatever attacked and took chunks out of this big shark must be massive," surfer Ashton Smith, 19, told the Daily Mail. "I've heard about the big one that's lurking out there somewhere.

"We're all being very, very cautious."

Monster shark spreads fear off Queensland coast
Sarah Vogler
October 24, 2009 11:00pm

A MONSTER predator lurking off the Queensland coast is so big it was nearly able to bite this 3m white pointer shark in half.

The massive chunks were probably taken out by a giant white pointer that could easily be more than 5m long, based on the size of the huge bites on the sides of its smaller rival, experts say.

The shark-on-shark attack occurred off North Stradbroke Island, east of Brisbane.

The monster took advantage of the smaller shark being snared on a baited drumline set off the island's popular Cylinder, Main and Deadman's beaches.

Pictures: Great Whites
The State Government, which issues licences for shark nets and drumlines, has been under pressure in recent weeks to scale back the program after five migrating whales were trapped in nets off Queensland's coast.

But Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin said the capture of the 3m shark – and the indication of a larger one feeding in the area – bolstered the decision to keep shark nets and lines in place.

He said there were no special plans in place to hunt the monster shark but contractors had reset drum lines in the area.

There were shark jitters among some on North Stradbroke Island yesterday, where the water was packed with surfers for the annual Straddie Assault contest.

Ashton Smith, 19, of the Gold Coast, was menaced by a 2m shark while surfing with a friend off Frenchman's Beach at Point Lookout on Friday.

"It was quite close to us before we realised it was a shark. We came in (to the beach) because it was hanging around.

"I've heard about the big one lurking. Every surfer is always cautious over here."

Fishing charter operator John Gooding said shark numbers had dramatically increased in the area recently.

"They're everywhere. Some days you struggle to get a fish on to the boat before the sharks take them," he said.

There were no shark sightings yesterday from crew in the Westpac rescue helicopter which patrolled the Gold Coast, North and South Stradbroke Islands and parts of Moreton Bay.

On the Sunshine Coast, Marcoola Beach was shut down briefly yesterday morning after a reported shark sighting. But it turned out to be a 2.5m manta ray.

In the 47 years since the shark net and drumline program was introduced in Queensland there has been only one fatal attack on a protected beach. That was on the Moreton Bay side of Stradbroke Island when 21-year-old student Sarah Kate Whiley was killed at Amity Point in January 2006.

Australian Marine Conservation Society director Darren Kindleysides said recent figures on the number of sharks caught showed the nets were working but at huge cost to whales, dolphins and turtles.

Hervey Bay shark hunter Vic Hislop believes sharks nets are too damaging to the overall marine environment. He thinks methods should be explored to scare away sharks rather than capture and kill them.