Three sharks attack swimmers in two days

Authorities have stopped short of calling for a more extensive use of shark nets,
despite three attacks - two by great whites - in two days off Australia's east
coast.
In the latest attack, snorkeller Steven Foggarty, 24, said he fought off what he
thought was a bull shark that latched onto his right leg at the mouth of Lake
Illawarra, south of Wollongong on NSW's south coast on Monday morning.
"I just saw the blood all over both feet and had a quick look to make sure both legs
were there and they were there," Mr Foggarty told Network Ten as he stood on
crutches outside hospital on Monday.
He said he punched the shark trying to make it let him go.
"I just turned and started swingin'. I tried my best anyway, I think I got one on him."
Mr Foggarty, a wharfie, was left with up to 50 puncture wounds to his calf plus cuts
to his right fist, used to punch the shark until it released its grip.
He hailed a passing boat which took him to shore, where he was treated by ambulance
officers before being taken to Shellharbour Hospital in a stable condition.
Beaches along the NSW south coast were closed for several hours while aerial patrols
checked the area for sharks.
The incident follows separate attacks on Sunday that left a 31-year-old male surfer
at Tweed Heads, in far north NSW, and a 13-year-old girl in Tasmania with gaping leg
wounds.
In the first attack, surfer Jono Beard escaped with a 40cm tear to his thigh after
an attack by a great white off Fingal Beach on Sunday.
Stephen Leahy, Northern NSW Lifeguard Coordinator, said investigations by a NSW
Department of Primary Industry biologist revealed the shark to be a 3.5 metre great
white.
However, extensive aerial and sea searches had failed to find any sharks in the area
and the beaches in the Fingal area would be reopened on Tuesday.
Hours after the attack on Mr Beard, a five-metre great white shark latched on to the
leg of 13-year-old Hannah Mighall at Binalong Bay, near St Helens, in Tasmania's
north-east.
Her cousin Syb Mundy, 33, fought off the "monster" and the pair rode a wave into
shore with the shark close behind.
Shark expert Vic Hislop attributes the recent rush of attacks to overfishing in
Australian waters which sees the ocean predators now chasing "gentler" prey such as
dugong, turtles and dolphins.
"That's what's in their stomach now every day," Mr Hislop told Macquarie Radio.
"As the turtles disappear, which is inevitable, and the dugong herds disappear,
humans are next in line on the food chain. It will definitely get worse."
Mr Hislop said humans were tasty to sharks but managed to escape because they're
smarter than most prey.
"Don't ever believe this rubbish about 'they take a bite, they don't like humans',"
he said.
"That is just so wrong. They take a bite and wait for their victim to bleed to death
to finish them off. And that's why we escape."
However, three non-fatal shark attacks are unlikely to force any more extensive use
of shark nets along Australia's east coast.
Sharks can swim around the nets, Sea World shark expert Trevor Long said.
"Unfortunately what it does is create a perception that there is a net between the
people who swim and sharks," he said. "In actual fact that's not the case."
Environmentalists also strongly oppose any further use of shark netting, saying it
causes significant damage to other marine species killed in the nets.
"The program is more a psychological safety blanket that inflicts considerable
damage, rather than a means of protecting swimmers," NSW Greens MP Ian Cohan said.