Shark feeding frenzy spotted near shore at popular Australian surf beach | Queensland
Sharks have been spotted feeding close to shore near a popular surf spot on the Gold Coast on Australia’s east coast.
The large group of predators surprised onlookers on Tuesday at the southern tip of Rainbow Bay, near the famous Snapper Rocks surf spot.
It was not clear which species the sharks were, although the Tweed River, which reaches its mouth just south of Snapper Rocks, is known to be a bull shark breeding ground.
In the images shared on social media, animals were seen being hunted.
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Rob Harcourt, retired professor of marine ecology at Macquarie University, said sharks often swim close to shore when there are large numbers of forage fish.
“Proximity to river outflows is where we’re more likely to find bait fish, and therefore where we’re more likely to find sharks. Especially after a lot of rain.”
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Wildlife scientist Dr. Vanessa Pirotta said it was “awesome” for people to see sharks so close as they go about their daily lives.
“They were doing this close to shore and people had the opportunity to see them naturally foraging.”
Their sightings come amid renewed criticism over the use of shark nets and drum lines after a two-year-old humpback whale was found dead entangled in a net off the New South Wales coast on Tuesday.
Gold Coast sharks have been recorded swimming in shallow water despite shark nets and deadly offshore drum lines.
“Shark nets are not a magic bullet, and animals can swim around and under them,” Pirotta said.
From Griffith University, Dr. Olaf Meynecke said there was “basically no evidence” that shark nets and drums prevent shark bites.
In June a leading shark researcher resigned from his consultancy post in Queensland after the state government announced an $88 million expansion of its deadly shark control programme.
Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said in a statement: “Do governments need further evidence that shark nets do not work and may even attract sharks to beaches where they can feed on sea creatures caught in these barbaric walls of death?”
