Things I definitely do not want to see on any beach – dead sharks. Also, the presence of any/all frisbees or other annoying spinny throwy game things.
But back to dead sharks. Chalk it up to seeing Jaws at an incredibly impressionable age (good one, Mum) but while I froth the beach, I am shit-scared of critters from beneath. Especially sharks – Australia’s got a lot of ’em, and while I do not condone nuking the fuck out of them to make our oceans shark-free, I also would like them to stay nice and far out in the deep bits where I will never, ever go. K?
Today’s early morning runners and surfers and green juice drinkers at Sydney‘s Bondi Beach were in for a rude sharky shock when a 3 metre long Mako beast was found washed up on the sand.
NSW Police were actually called at 11pm yesterday, but it’s believed the shark was potentially washed back into the shoreline once more with the tides.
Local Chris Selby told 9NEWS he first saw the big guy in the water, and got the shark onto the sand so as not to scare other swimmers.
“He was just lying there and I thought one or two of us could carry him, but it ended up being about six of us – he’s got to be close to 200 kilograms, he’s a big, heavy Mako,” he said.
Sadly, it seems the shark was the victim of some fishing gone wrong, as a hook had been discovered in his mouth.
“It’s still a sad outcome. Someone put him on a line and let him drown… If you leave him there, you get more panic and we don’t want panic on Bondi Beach,” Chris said.
However a spokesperson for the NSW Department of Primary Industries – Fisheries made a statement to 9NEWS.
The Mako shark is not listed as a threatened species in the NSW Fisheries Management Act, but it is listed as a species in the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act,” the statement said. Mako sharks are a popular recreational game fish in NSW. NSW recreational fishers may lawfully take and possess no more than one Mako shark per day. Commercial fishers in NSW are limited to taking Shortfin Mako sharks, only if deceased upon capture. Live Mako sharks must be released in accordance with a Commonwealth requirement. NSW DPI promotes responsible fishing and discarding any fishing waste responsibly.
The shark has since been removed from Bondi.
