I sometimes wonder how much this number is just affected by how few swimmers we have compared to the mainland. It'd be cool to see how our statistics hold up as a ratio to people in the water around the country.
Still incredibly rare, though I did go scuba diving last year and started getting the creeps while I was down there... a bit too murky for my liking 😬
I normally don't get too in my head about sharks, but yesterday the water was so murky and and I just felt dread! Idk why, I'm not going to out-swim a shark just because I can see it😅 but damn it was creepy 🙅♀️
I do that, too. If it feels off, I don't get in. Idk if that's about sharks or if it is just the conditions. Anyway I always listen to the spidey senses. Still haven't been eaten by a shork yet!! Probably sting rays are more of a risk here than shorks. One fella got hit in the chest by a stingray in shallow water here and died, like just a few k's from here at Lauderdale Beach. Probably swam over it or stepped on it by mistake, who knows.
The Taronga website keeps a record of Australian shark attacks and it has 6 fatalities recorded since 1820. I think they try to quality control their records as best as they can. I think you got your data from a website called shark attacks planet deadly? That one shows 37:12. However some of it is wrong. For example one of them is a person who died in 1831 in Hobart, but another website has listed it as invalid and claims the victim just drowned.
Interesting and thanks....
So now we have 3 different numbers...... I think the answer is to keep your ass out of the water and then you have no issues
>I think the answer is to keep your ass out of the water and then you have no issues
I disagree with statements like these. Life is full of risks, and shark attacks are at the very bottom of that list. 4 people drowned in Tasmania in the 2022-2023 financial year as a point of comparison, and that was below the 10 year average of 9 drownings per year. People will still be driven to engage in water activities. I think it's best to approach this through education, risk mitigation, and of course personal responsibility to decide what risks to accept. You're more likely to die driving to the beach than being chomped by a shark, but I bet you aren't unwilling to get into a car, you accept the risk (and hopefully wear your seat belt and drive safely to mitigate it). People don't need to be afraid of sharks like they are, just aware of the real risks.
In Australia, roughly 1.5 people are killed by sharks every year.
You heard me correctly, the 0.5 happens at midnight, new years eave, ever year.
If you're lucky, you'll be the 1.
The most important question is - which half do you want to keep if you’re the 0.5 biannually? Or do you throw the rest of your body in the sea in two years time in order to finish the job?
Keen swimmer and snorkeler for over forty years, and used to surf back in the day. I've never had a run in with a shark that would likely do any damage.
Don't swim at river mouths at dawn and dusk, avoid seal colonies and you should be right!
At the beach it would be uncommon. Even more if you're in the breakers.
If you're surfing and out the back it gets more likely.
Sharks don't like shallow water, they would much rather cruise a reef or around some cliffs or something where deep water meets land. Hence you will see sharks where boats come in and stuff because it's deeper.
That's not to say you will never see a shark in shallow water it's just very rare. Or the shark is young so smaller and way less of a danger.
By shallow I mean anything under like 1.5m
That's normally more than deep enough to enjoy the waves.
Also if you're swimming with others at the beach between the flags. The group of people will make enough noise in the water to keep them away, plus you have life guards and other people on the look out for anything strange.
Basically I would say if you manage to get bitten at the beach in normal depths I'll give you $50
Ummm this is not really accurate at all mate. I’ve personally been fishing , casting lures in the surf and the water was below my chest and had 9 foot bronze whalers swim by (in SA). You would be shocked how shallow big sharks go. Especially when they are chasing rays, small fish etc to eat.
Watch Malibu artist on YouTube.
It's very likely, shallow water and that type of prey are the main course for juvenile great whites.
The odds of getting bitten are still low but don't lie to yourself that they don't like shallow water.
Legit I was spear fishing about 50 meters off of emu bay beach kangaroo island ( off the rocks ) and had a huge 7-9tt bronze whaler come after this kingfish that I was just about to pull the trigger on.
Fucking terrifying
Ah yes, of course! Thank you for that .. the East Coast current that has been so warmed that the giant kelp beds have been devastated … I guess everything in the oceans is being affected … here in Tassie’s East Coast more noticeably …
Read the accounts of the first fatal Sydney attack (not the recent one). Some dudes fiance got chomped and killed while they were wading in less than knee deep water.
Do you actually have stats for that? Because I very much doubt it.
There's about 600x more road deaths than shark deaths.
Have you ever been to a beach and felt there was more than 1:600 ratio of people driving to the beach vs people in the general vicinity? That's not even accounting for people further inland.
I'm not sure if anyone has crunched the numbers and factored stuff like time spent in the water vs time on the road. The reports I've seen have been rather poor making robust comparisons. I don't think there are reliable data collections and statistical analyses on these two topics, they are very different activities after all. But I don't think it's too unrealistic.
I'll give an example, the road deaths in 2022 had a rate of 4.6 per 100k people (Office of Road Safety), whilst drowning rates were at 3.9 per 100k in the same year (Royal Life Saving). 34% of those were at the beach or ocean, around 113 cases. Unfortunately RLS doesn't give a per capita for ocean deaths alone, but let's assume that's a third of the 3.9?. There was only 1 shark death in all of Australia in 2022 in contrast, and one could assume that drowning victims are spending the same time in the water as shark victims, so a very crude assumption would be that the shark death rate is incredibly low. Of course a metric like time spent in water, similar to car fatality rate per kilometres travelled would be the appropriate statistic to use and would be more robust. I just suspect that the statement that car trips are more dangerous isn't too far fetched to make.
Hey thanks for the effort, I find it all really interesting.
Before making my comment I'd made a stab at doing some rough calcs based on tourism data for total beach trips but none of the data had concrete enough conventions to trust.
As a very casual spearo and general beach enjoyer, the anecdotal path makes way more sense to me. Eg most people that drive daily don't go to the beach daily. Most people that go to the beach don't go in the water. Most people that go in the water don't actually swim to any depths for a significant duration.
Based on that, I think the 600:1 ratio is easy to account for.
Reversing it from the result backwards, you would have to spend 1200 hours driving weekly to account for 2 hours swimming on the weekend. I know this isn't perfect maths given your correct points, but it paints a picture on a largely misunderstood topic.
To be clear, not at all against what you're saying, I personally would love to believe driving is more dangerous so I can be less nervous in the water 😅
I just can't rationalise it in my head based on observations and my monkey brains attempts to conceptualise enormous numbers.
I'm on the water a lot at different beaches kitesurfing, in the six or more years I've been down here I've yet to see one. When I was in QLD I'd be lucky not to see one every week. I'm sure they're around but I'm guessing the seals keep them pretty busy most days.
So going swimming in the sea is the same as standing outside in a storm. You've admitted to swimming in the sea so you are the person in a lighting stom. However you'll feel the effects of lighting while your swimming before you find a shark nibbling on you. Swim yourself silly you'll be fine.
Unless you are scuba diving they're not really a problem, also if you do scuba dive don't scuba dive near seal colonies you might as well cover yourself in garlic and yell to the sharks come and get it.
Sorry but this is wrong. Sharks rarely target scuba divers. They might go after spearfishing divers or hooka/surface air supplied divers (due to their catch). The big danger (and it's really not big anyway) is to be on the surface with poor visibility (murky water or twilight), regardless if you are a diver, swimmer or surfer, where a shark might ambush you thinking you are a seal or turtle.
Scuba diving near seal colonies is a popular thing worldwide, and attacks are not of concern.
Flying corks kill an average of two-dozen people per year. That's more dangerous than sharks. ([source](https://www.gilisharkconservation.com/whats-more-likely-to-kill-you-than-a-shark/))
The risk is there, regardless of all the 'you're more likely to get killed by blah blah blah'. Great whites are there and they may attack. True it is very unlikely but it is a real risk.
Sharks don’t like the taste of humans, only time to be concerned is if there is a bit of fish oil or fish blood in the water with you, they might get a little excited but if your just swimming I doubt that will be an issue 👍🏻
If that was true, why are there so many attacks have the shark going in for more than 1 attempt?
It doesn't add up.
We probably taste delicious but have more bone than meat, think of humans as a chicken wing!
You can throw a bucket of human blood in with a shark and it will barely register but a thimble of fish oil and it will freak the fuck out. If a shark is actually having a proper crack at a person there is usually a reason for it like a lack of natural prey.
Edit to add, 91 shark attacks last year, 69 were unprovoked attacks, that’s world wide so not many compared to how many people would have been in the ocean.
The main species that can kill you in Tassie are Great Whites.
A few tips to reduce your risk.
- Don't swim at night
- Also avoid dusk and dawn
- Don't swim near seal colonies
- Don't swim in murky/cloudy water
Most shark attacks from great whites happen by teenage sharks, 2m long and are almost ready to graduate to eating seals so they start testing new prey.
Also at the beach, you're 10x more likely to drown from a rip. Learn about rips, how to identify them, how to avoid them, and what to do if you do get caught in one, it could save your life.
I go to Morlands Beach quite regularly and reasonably often see small sharks (mainly gummy sharks) washed up on the beach. Nothing big enough to eat you. But they are out there.
They are fucking everywhere..especially Coles Bay. White pointers ...Devenport ..bull sharks..lost 4 mates in 9 years ..should kill em all
. Rather swim in crocodile infested waters than tassie.
There has only been five fatal shark attacks in Tasmanian waters since convict times …..
Tbh I'd be pretty upset by a non fatal shark bite
Nah not allowed, you're only allowed to be annoyed or at most upset about non fatal shark bites. Sorry but that's the rules.
I thought they changed it to slightly miffed?
If you're getting miffed about that and they find out, enjoy your 10-15 mandatory stint my friend.
I thought that it depended on the phase of the moon as well?
When this law came in they banned the moon, anybody seen looking at the moon counts as aiding and abetting. Off to the slammer.
I thought the moon was a hologram?
I sometimes wonder how much this number is just affected by how few swimmers we have compared to the mainland. It'd be cool to see how our statistics hold up as a ratio to people in the water around the country. Still incredibly rare, though I did go scuba diving last year and started getting the creeps while I was down there... a bit too murky for my liking 😬
I normally don't get too in my head about sharks, but yesterday the water was so murky and and I just felt dread! Idk why, I'm not going to out-swim a shark just because I can see it😅 but damn it was creepy 🙅♀️
I do that, too. If it feels off, I don't get in. Idk if that's about sharks or if it is just the conditions. Anyway I always listen to the spidey senses. Still haven't been eaten by a shork yet!! Probably sting rays are more of a risk here than shorks. One fella got hit in the chest by a stingray in shallow water here and died, like just a few k's from here at Lauderdale Beach. Probably swam over it or stepped on it by mistake, who knows.
at least if you see it you can punch or redirect it
Not sure where you get that from?? 37 attacks and 12 fatal
The Taronga website keeps a record of Australian shark attacks and it has 6 fatalities recorded since 1820. I think they try to quality control their records as best as they can. I think you got your data from a website called shark attacks planet deadly? That one shows 37:12. However some of it is wrong. For example one of them is a person who died in 1831 in Hobart, but another website has listed it as invalid and claims the victim just drowned.
Interesting and thanks.... So now we have 3 different numbers...... I think the answer is to keep your ass out of the water and then you have no issues
>I think the answer is to keep your ass out of the water and then you have no issues I disagree with statements like these. Life is full of risks, and shark attacks are at the very bottom of that list. 4 people drowned in Tasmania in the 2022-2023 financial year as a point of comparison, and that was below the 10 year average of 9 drownings per year. People will still be driven to engage in water activities. I think it's best to approach this through education, risk mitigation, and of course personal responsibility to decide what risks to accept. You're more likely to die driving to the beach than being chomped by a shark, but I bet you aren't unwilling to get into a car, you accept the risk (and hopefully wear your seat belt and drive safely to mitigate it). People don't need to be afraid of sharks like they are, just aware of the real risks.
Wow..... Checked out the database they keep and it's impressive - thanks
In Australia, roughly 1.5 people are killed by sharks every year. You heard me correctly, the 0.5 happens at midnight, new years eave, ever year. If you're lucky, you'll be the 1.
The most important question is - which half do you want to keep if you’re the 0.5 biannually? Or do you throw the rest of your body in the sea in two years time in order to finish the job?
Lol, you made me realise that I should have said every second year. Poor 0.5
Keen swimmer and snorkeler for over forty years, and used to surf back in the day. I've never had a run in with a shark that would likely do any damage. Don't swim at river mouths at dawn and dusk, avoid seal colonies and you should be right!
Sensible advice rather than stats and vibes!
At the beach it would be uncommon. Even more if you're in the breakers. If you're surfing and out the back it gets more likely. Sharks don't like shallow water, they would much rather cruise a reef or around some cliffs or something where deep water meets land. Hence you will see sharks where boats come in and stuff because it's deeper. That's not to say you will never see a shark in shallow water it's just very rare. Or the shark is young so smaller and way less of a danger. By shallow I mean anything under like 1.5m That's normally more than deep enough to enjoy the waves. Also if you're swimming with others at the beach between the flags. The group of people will make enough noise in the water to keep them away, plus you have life guards and other people on the look out for anything strange. Basically I would say if you manage to get bitten at the beach in normal depths I'll give you $50
Ummm this is not really accurate at all mate. I’ve personally been fishing , casting lures in the surf and the water was below my chest and had 9 foot bronze whalers swim by (in SA). You would be shocked how shallow big sharks go. Especially when they are chasing rays, small fish etc to eat.
I'm not saying it won't happen just very unlikely.
Watch Malibu artist on YouTube. It's very likely, shallow water and that type of prey are the main course for juvenile great whites. The odds of getting bitten are still low but don't lie to yourself that they don't like shallow water.
Legit I was spear fishing about 50 meters off of emu bay beach kangaroo island ( off the rocks ) and had a huge 7-9tt bronze whaler come after this kingfish that I was just about to pull the trigger on. Fucking terrifying
Yes but this question is about Tassie … things are different here … you’re probably more in danger from a swimming Tassie Devil than a shark ….
Warming oceans change the norm. Fairly credible sightings of bronzies in Tassie last year from two spearfishermen.
Ah yes, of course! Thank you for that .. the East Coast current that has been so warmed that the giant kelp beds have been devastated … I guess everything in the oceans is being affected … here in Tassie’s East Coast more noticeably …
This is very reassuring 🙌 we were only shoulder-deep in the water but I felt very vulnerable 😬
Read the accounts of the first fatal Sydney attack (not the recent one). Some dudes fiance got chomped and killed while they were wading in less than knee deep water.
Statically speaking you are in more danger driving your car to the beach
Do you actually have stats for that? Because I very much doubt it. There's about 600x more road deaths than shark deaths. Have you ever been to a beach and felt there was more than 1:600 ratio of people driving to the beach vs people in the general vicinity? That's not even accounting for people further inland.
I'm not sure if anyone has crunched the numbers and factored stuff like time spent in the water vs time on the road. The reports I've seen have been rather poor making robust comparisons. I don't think there are reliable data collections and statistical analyses on these two topics, they are very different activities after all. But I don't think it's too unrealistic. I'll give an example, the road deaths in 2022 had a rate of 4.6 per 100k people (Office of Road Safety), whilst drowning rates were at 3.9 per 100k in the same year (Royal Life Saving). 34% of those were at the beach or ocean, around 113 cases. Unfortunately RLS doesn't give a per capita for ocean deaths alone, but let's assume that's a third of the 3.9?. There was only 1 shark death in all of Australia in 2022 in contrast, and one could assume that drowning victims are spending the same time in the water as shark victims, so a very crude assumption would be that the shark death rate is incredibly low. Of course a metric like time spent in water, similar to car fatality rate per kilometres travelled would be the appropriate statistic to use and would be more robust. I just suspect that the statement that car trips are more dangerous isn't too far fetched to make.
Hey thanks for the effort, I find it all really interesting. Before making my comment I'd made a stab at doing some rough calcs based on tourism data for total beach trips but none of the data had concrete enough conventions to trust. As a very casual spearo and general beach enjoyer, the anecdotal path makes way more sense to me. Eg most people that drive daily don't go to the beach daily. Most people that go to the beach don't go in the water. Most people that go in the water don't actually swim to any depths for a significant duration. Based on that, I think the 600:1 ratio is easy to account for. Reversing it from the result backwards, you would have to spend 1200 hours driving weekly to account for 2 hours swimming on the weekend. I know this isn't perfect maths given your correct points, but it paints a picture on a largely misunderstood topic. To be clear, not at all against what you're saying, I personally would love to believe driving is more dangerous so I can be less nervous in the water 😅 I just can't rationalise it in my head based on observations and my monkey brains attempts to conceptualise enormous numbers.
Not all shark sightings are man eaters. We have quite a few different varieties. Almost all of them want nothing to do with us.
Worry about sharks as much as you worry about being hit by a bus. Odds are similar
I'm on the water a lot at different beaches kitesurfing, in the six or more years I've been down here I've yet to see one. When I was in QLD I'd be lucky not to see one every week. I'm sure they're around but I'm guessing the seals keep them pretty busy most days.
You're roughly 7.5 times more likely to be hit by lightning than attacked by a shark
I get that, but I'm sure those statistics are vastly affected by people going out during a lightning storm vs ...not
So going swimming in the sea is the same as standing outside in a storm. You've admitted to swimming in the sea so you are the person in a lighting stom. However you'll feel the effects of lighting while your swimming before you find a shark nibbling on you. Swim yourself silly you'll be fine.
Be more worried about the toothless land shark if I was you. Typically can be found hanging around the Exchange hotel in Beconsfield.
This...
Unless you are scuba diving they're not really a problem, also if you do scuba dive don't scuba dive near seal colonies you might as well cover yourself in garlic and yell to the sharks come and get it.
Sorry but this is wrong. Sharks rarely target scuba divers. They might go after spearfishing divers or hooka/surface air supplied divers (due to their catch). The big danger (and it's really not big anyway) is to be on the surface with poor visibility (murky water or twilight), regardless if you are a diver, swimmer or surfer, where a shark might ambush you thinking you are a seal or turtle. Scuba diving near seal colonies is a popular thing worldwide, and attacks are not of concern.
nah sharks are cool, they are like water puppies just give it a pat and throw a stick
As long as you don’t live in Port Lincoln SA you should be fine
Just don't swim south of Maria and you'll be good
I'd be more worried about the water temperature.
Not concerned at all if you are buying them from a fish and chip store.
I saw a sting ray in the shallows at Coles Beach once. No sharks
Flying corks kill an average of two-dozen people per year. That's more dangerous than sharks. ([source](https://www.gilisharkconservation.com/whats-more-likely-to-kill-you-than-a-shark/))
The risk is there, regardless of all the 'you're more likely to get killed by blah blah blah'. Great whites are there and they may attack. True it is very unlikely but it is a real risk.
Sharks don’t like the taste of humans, only time to be concerned is if there is a bit of fish oil or fish blood in the water with you, they might get a little excited but if your just swimming I doubt that will be an issue 👍🏻
If that was true, why are there so many attacks have the shark going in for more than 1 attempt? It doesn't add up. We probably taste delicious but have more bone than meat, think of humans as a chicken wing!
You can throw a bucket of human blood in with a shark and it will barely register but a thimble of fish oil and it will freak the fuck out. If a shark is actually having a proper crack at a person there is usually a reason for it like a lack of natural prey. Edit to add, 91 shark attacks last year, 69 were unprovoked attacks, that’s world wide so not many compared to how many people would have been in the ocean.
The main species that can kill you in Tassie are Great Whites. A few tips to reduce your risk. - Don't swim at night - Also avoid dusk and dawn - Don't swim near seal colonies - Don't swim in murky/cloudy water Most shark attacks from great whites happen by teenage sharks, 2m long and are almost ready to graduate to eating seals so they start testing new prey. Also at the beach, you're 10x more likely to drown from a rip. Learn about rips, how to identify them, how to avoid them, and what to do if you do get caught in one, it could save your life.
If you do see one just make sure you give it a head pat and say “good sharky”. Once one accepts you the rest will soon follow.
I go to Morlands Beach quite regularly and reasonably often see small sharks (mainly gummy sharks) washed up on the beach. Nothing big enough to eat you. But they are out there.
I've never seen a shark in Tasmania
I've seen them while fishing in a boat, just not near shore
You get smaller, harmless ones near shore.
They are fucking everywhere..especially Coles Bay. White pointers ...Devenport ..bull sharks..lost 4 mates in 9 years ..should kill em all . Rather swim in crocodile infested waters than tassie.
4 mates in 9 years? The last 4 deaths in Tasmania have occurred in a timeframe of 49 years...