Australian officials are ramping up drone patrols after four shark attacks over two days around New South Wales, an unusual spate of violence that left three people injured, two of them critically. In one incident, a child narrowly escaped injury after his surfboard was bitten by a shark in a Sydney suburb.
All four attacks were reported within 48 hours of one another, said Donna Wishart, a spokeswoman for Surf Life Saving New South Wales, a water lifesaving organization. The state’s agriculture minister called the string of attacks “unprecedented.”
In an email Tuesday, Wishart said recent heavy rainfall had increased the risk of shark attacks, warning surfers and swimmers to avoid coastal waters for the next few days. “Conditions have resulted in murky, messy water and surf off the New South Wales coast in the last few days,” Wishart said, reducing visibility for swimmers and surfers.
She said bull sharks, which can grow more than seven feet in length, were the likely culprits behind the attacks.
As a precaution, officials in Sydney said they were more than doubling drone patrols — which can monitor for potential attacks — around the city’s beaches.
“If you’re thinking about going for a swim, just go to a local pool,” Surf Life Saving NSW CEO Steve Pearce said in an Instagram postMonday.
On Tuesday morning, police said, a surfer sustained minor injuries after being bitten by a shark at Point Plomer on the Mid North Coast, around 270 miles north of Sydney. The 39-year-old sustained a wound to his chest after a shark “took hold” of his surfboard, officials added, prompting the closure of nearby beaches.
Tuesday’s attack capped a series that began Sunday, when police said a 12-year-old boy was bitten by a shark in Sydney Harbor and sustained serious leg injuries. Police said he was receiving hospital treatment and in critical condition.
The following day, a man was bitten on the leg at Manly Beach, a northern suburb of Sydney, and taken to a hospital in critical condition. Members of the public pulled him to safety, police said.
Nearby at Dee Why Beach, Wishart said, another incident was reported the same day but there were no injuries. ABC News reported that a shark bit a child’s surfboard.
In a video statement shared on Instagram on Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said the spate of shark attacks over a few days was “unprecedented.”
She added: “Please listen to the warnings about dangerous conditions. It is too dangerous and high risk for shark attacks in murky waters following storms.”
The state’s shark safety program also linked the attacks to wet weather. “Rainfall washes nutrients into the ocean, attracting fish and other marine life — which can then attract sharks,” the initiative, SharkSmart, said in an Instagram post Monday.
State officials say bull sharks are more common in New South Wales beaches, rivers, harbors and estuaries when water temperatures rise above 66 degrees Fahrenheit — particularly during the autumn and summer.
According to data from the Australian Shark-Incident Database reported by Nine News, there have been 23 deadly shark attacks across the country since 2020. By comparison, there were 22 fatal encounters between 2010 and 2019 and just 15 reported between 1960 and 2009.
The attacks have sparked fears that warmer waters caused by climate change are making sharks linger in some locations, just as increasing temperatures and growing populations drive more people to the water.
According to Taronga, an Australian conservation society, around 20 people are injured by sharks each year on average, according to data collected over the past 10 years.
As part of their shark-monitoring efforts, officials maintain a network of 37 tagged shark-listening stations across New South Wales. When a tagged target shark swims within 500 meters of a listening station, an alert is sent to the public via app and social media.
In addition, Australia has implemented a sprawling coastal drone-surveillance operation and installed nonlethal traps, or drumlines, that alert authorities when a shark takes their bait.
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