Four shark attacks in two days. Why Australia’s beaches are so dangerous this year

At least one bull shark was hidden in the muddy water below rocks in Vaucluse, where a 12-year-old boy and his friends were jumping into the waters of Sydney Harbour on Sunday.

Brisbane, Australia (CNN) — Australia’s long summer school holidays usually draws crowds to the beach but a spate of shark attacks in the country’s most populous state has triggered warnings to stay out of the water.

Around 40 beaches along the coast of New South Wales (NSW) remain closed after four shark attacks in 48 hours, with all attributed to bull sharks – a stocky species with powerful jaws that lurk in murky waters near the mouths of rivers after heavy rain.

Bull sharks typically inhabit warmer waters up the coast but move further down the coastline towards Sydney’s most popular beaches during the summer months. Last weekend saw some of the heaviest rainfall in Sydney over 24 hours for at least a decade, creating the perfect mix of conditions for potentially lethal encounters, experts say.

“We do get a lot of shark sightings, or people being bumped by sharks, but to have four incidents where all the victims have been actually attacked by sharks is really uncommon,” said Steve Pearce, the CEO of NSW Surf Life Saving, whose volunteers patrol the state’s beaches on weekends.

Bull sharks have the unique ability to live in both fresh and marine water. When heavy rain flushes food from the estuaries into the ocean, they tend to follow it, and feed by bite as the water quality makes it almost impossible to see.

At least one bull shark was hidden in the muddy water below rocks in Vaucluse, where a 12-year-old boy and his friends were jumping into the waters of Sydney Harbour on Sunday.

The boy was the first of four people attacked in separate incidents, and experts say until the water clears and the bull sharks move away, they may not be the last.

Temperatures are expected to surge over the weekend just ahead of the Australia Day public holiday when many people will head to parks and beaches.

“We know this weekend is forecast for a really extreme hot temperature. So, we know we’re going to have tens of thousands of people flocking down to the coastline,” said Pearce. “We know that they will go into the water regardless of whether they’re closed or not.”

“Beaches are shut. They’re shut for a reason. Stay clear of the water, both swimming and surfing.”

Four attacks in two days

The 12-year-old boy attacked on Sunday was pulled from the water by his friends, and first responders were quick to apply tourniquets to both legs.

He remains in critical condition in hospital, as does a 25-year-old surfer who was attacked on Monday on North Steyne Beach in Manly, a popular tourist destination in Sydney’s northern suburbs.

Another surfer Dayan Neave was on the beach when the attack occurred. He said two tourists helped drag the victim out of the water.

“I ran down and helped them bring him in because once the surfer stood up, he passed out and his leg was pretty severely lacerated,” Neave told CNN affiliate Nine News. “I grabbed my leg rope before we ran down the beach, and we just got them up to dry sand and just applied the tourniquet straight away.”

Earlier that day, a suspected bull shark took a 15-centimeter (6-inch) bite out of an 11-year-old’s surfboard at Dee Why Point.

The next day, another man was out surfing at Point Plomer on the NSW Mid North Coast when a shark took hold of his board. Police said he was treated for minor injuries and discharged from hospital.

But the attacks have not deterred everyone from the beaches.

Rob West told CNN on Tuesday he’d been out surfing at Bondi Beach, which remains open, that morning.

“I’ve been surfing since I’ve been 13 and I’ve never even seen one out there. They’ve probably seen me plenty of times and just realized what I was. I don’t look enough like a seal to be attacked,” he told CNN.

When asked why he and others braved the water despite the shark threat, he said: “We do risk it for the biscuit, absolutely.”

With northern beaches closed, council and volunteer surf life savers have been deployed to monitor the waters off the coast. Drones have been launched to scan waves, and a rescue helicopter has been conducting sweeps along the coastline. Surf lifesavers are also out on jet skis to check the quality of the water and look for sharks, said Pearce from NSW Surf Life Saving.

Vincent Raoult, a senior lecturer in marine ecology at Griffith University, said it can take up to a week after heavy rain for the water to clear and for the threat of bull sharks to ease.

“In the conditions where bull sharks do encounter people, it’s in those really brackish, murky waters, so they’re not relying on their eyesight,” said Raoult.

“Like most shark species, the way that they can really sense their surroundings is by biting things. And unfortunately, if you’re talking about a larger shark on a person, a nibble can be lethal.”

Raoult said research does not show a rising bull shark population around Sydney. Instead, he believes the spike in interactions is likely linked to more people using beaches and waterways while development continues to encroach on the sharks’ habitat.

He said more education is needed to warn people of the risks, a point acknowledged by NSW State Premier Chris Minns on Tuesday.

“I remember hearing from one of my aunts when I was a kid – that when there’s stormy weather, when the water is unclear – that’s when bull sharks, particularly, get in and about the lower estuaries,” Minns told local radio station 2GB.

“It can be incredibly dangerous. So yes, I think that probably our warning system and communication needs to be beefed up, particularly during stormy weather.”

CNN’s Angus Watson contributed reporting.

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