Man killed by great white shark while fishing in Australia

AOL Travel

Updated January 16, 2015 at 12:54 p.m.·2 min read

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A 28-year-old man has been killed by a great white shark while fishing with friends off Australia's south coast.

The diver was spear fishing with a group of seven friends at Goldsmith Beach, near Edithburgh, on the Yorke Peninsula, west of Adelaide, at midday on Saturday when friends saw him dragged away by the shark.

South Australia Police Senior Constable Mick Abbott said authorities had been searching for him, but no trace of his body has been found.

He told the Sydney Morning Herald: 'It would have been traumatic and terrifying for his friends.

"He was spear fishing, so he wasn't wearing scuba gear, just a wet suit and snorkelling equipment."

The group had been preparing for the Yorke Pensinsula Classic, a spear fishing competition, which was to be held on Sunday.

According to the Daily Mail, locals said the great white had been in the area for about a week, after being attracted by an abundance of snapper fish.

The attack comes just as the Western Australian Government fights off criticism over its decision to introduce a shark cull programme in a supposed bid to protect swimmers.

The policy allows for great white, tiger and bull sharks larger than three metres to be killed.

The Federal government gave state authorities a special exemption from environmental laws to kill great white sharks, a protected species, in response to seven fatal shark attacks in Australia's southwest in three years.

But opponents say there is no evidence to suggest that killing sharks will reduce the threat to swimmers.

A number of protests have been held against the killing policy, including one on Manly beach (above) in Sydney at the beginning of February, and another at Cottesloe Beach in Perth (middle picture), where thousands descended to voice their concerns over the cull.

<p>New Smyrna Beach in Florida has the dubious honour of having more shark attacks annually than any other beach. The beach is part of Volusia County, which accounts for roughly 37% of Florida’s 663 attacks since 1882. </p>

<p>It is estimated that anyone who has swam there has been within 10ft of a shark, according to <a href="http://natgeotv.com/ca/human-shark-bait/facts">National Geographic</a>. However, there have never been any fatalities on New Smyrna.</p>

<p>However, that can't be said for the rest of Florida. Since 1988, there have been 6 fatalities.</p>

<p>The number of fatal, unprovoked shark attacks in South African waters between 1990-2009, is 22, according to the <a href="http://www.shark.co.za/">KwaZulu Natal Sharks Board</a>. There have been 136 attacks in total.</p>

<p>In 2012, there were four shark attacks in South Africa, three of them fatal, according to the International Shark Attack File.</p>

<p>Picture: A woman enters the water as workers aboard a boat, right, place a shark exclusion net at Fish Hoek beach, on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, April 5, 2013.</p>

<p>There have been 207 unprovoked shark attacks in Australia over the last 20 years, and 124 of those occurred in the last 10 years, reports <a href="http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/" target="_blank">Australian Geographic</a>.</p>

<p>According to <a href="http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/13318209/wa-deadiest-for-shark-attacks/">The West Australian newspaper</a>, Western Australia has become the deadliest place in the world for shark attacks, after the fourth death in seven months occurred in 2012.</p>

<p></p>

<p>Picture: Shark warning sign on Botany Bay beach. Sydney, Australia.</p>

<p>In the past 20 years Brazil has become an increasingly hazardous place to go swimming. </p>

<p>While the north-east coast might have a stunning coastline and bath-temperature waters, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-radio-and-tv-19720455">the BBC report</a> that off the shore of Recife are many aggressive sharks, which has made this one of the most dangerous places in the world to swim. </p>

<p>Brazil's sharks appear to be some of the most dangerous in the world. The death rate of 37% (21 of the 56 attacks in 20 years) is much higher than the worldwide shark attack fatality rate, which is currently about 16%, according to the Florida State Museum of Natural History.</p>

<p>Picture: Placard warns about a shark hazard in Boa Viagem beach in Recife, northeastern Brazil on September 11, 2012.</p>

<p>Hawaii</p>

<p>After 14 unprovoked shark attacks were reported in Hawaii in 2013, according to <a href="http://www.hawaiisharks.com/index.html">hawaiisharks.com</a>, locals have become increasingly nervous about the risk posed by sharks</p>

<p>From 1828 to December 2013 there have been 128 total unprovoked shark attacks in Hawaii, 10 of which were fatal attacks, according to the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History.</p>

<p>Picture: Japanese tourists stroll along Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, following a shark siting in 2001, which closed the beach.</p>

<p>California has had 109 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks since 1926, according to the International Shark Attack File, and the state ranks second in the U.S. for shark attack frequency. </p>

<p>There have been 10 fatal attacks, and the last was just two years ago in Santa Barbara in 2012.</p>

<p></p>

<p>Papua New Guinea has had nearly 50 shark attacks (half of them fatal) .</p>

<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/13/shark-attacks-feeding-frenzy-media">The Guardian report</a> that the country has a disproportionately high number of shark attacks, considering its small population size, <span style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;">because of the country's location, with extensive seas coasts and warm climates.</span></p>

<p></p>

<p>Picture: Trobriand Island In Trobriand, Papua New Guinea</p>

<p>Since 1837, 71 shark attacks and two fatalities have occurred in South Carolina, according to the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History.</p>

<p>Of those, 16 attacks are recorded off the beaches of Horry County, where the town of Myrtle Beach is famous as a tourist destination, according to Yahoo. </p>

<p>Luckily, there have been no fatal shark attacks in South Carolina since 1852. But in 2012, South Carolina had a worryingly high level of incidents, when five attacks were reported.</p>

<p>Picture: Myrtle Beach</p>

<p>Despite its size, New Zealand has a relatively high incidence of shark attacks, according to The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.</p>

<p>Since 1852 there have been 44 recorded unprovoked attacks (compared with 39 in the whole of Europe since 1847). </p>

<p>A third of New Zealand attacks occurred between Ōamaru and the Otago Peninsula, probably because sharks are attracted by the high numbers of seals, dolphins and pilot whales in that area.</p>

<p>Picture: A flower tribute at Muriwai Beach near Auckland, New Zealand, after a shark killed Adam Strange in 2013.</p>

<p>Mexico has had 42 shark attacks (22 fatalities) since 1880.</p>

<p>Picture: People walk along Troncones beach in Mexico's Pacific Coast village of Troncones in 2008, after sharks attacked three surfers in the area in less than a month, two fatally. </p>

New Smyrna Beach in Florida has the dubious honour of having more shark attacks annually than any other beach. The beach is part of Volusia County, which accounts for roughly 37% of Florida’s 663 attacks since 1882.

It is estimated that anyone who has swam there has been within 10ft of a shark, according to National Geographic. However, there have never been any fatalities on New Smyrna.

However, that can't be said for the rest of Florida. Since 1988, there have been 6 fatalities.

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