December 1, 2025 • 13 mins
It really was the stuff of nightmares. A Swiss tourist, who was swimming with dolphins off the NSW coast, was suddenly mauled by a three-metre bull shark.
The 25-year-old died from her injuries, despite her heroic boyfriend, an exchange student also from Switzerland, fighting off the shark and carrying her to shore.
Today, environment and climate reporter Caitlin Fitzsimmons, on why the number of people killed by sharks in Australia is rising.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:01):
From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
This is the morning edition. I'm Samantha Seelinger Morris. It's Tuesday,
December 2nd. It really was the stuff of nightmares. A
Swiss tourist who was swimming with dolphins off the New
South Wales coast was suddenly mauled by a three metre
(00:23):
long bull shark. The 25 year old died from her
injuries despite her heroic boyfriend, an exchange student also from Switzerland,
fighting off the shark and carrying her to shore. Today,
environment and climate reporter Caitlin Fitzsimmons on why the number
of people killed by sharks in Australia is rising. Caitlin,
(00:48):
this topic is particularly pertinent right now because of a
shocking shark attack last week at an idyllic beach on
the New South Wales coast. So first off, can you
just tell us about what happened?
S2 (00:59):
Yes. It was a tragic circumstance. A couple from Switzerland,
in their mid 20s were camping at Calis Beach in
crowded national park on the Mid North Coast. They'd arrived
the night before and they were going for a morning swim,
apparently filming a pod of dolphins on the GoPro just
(01:22):
moments before. The young woman was attacked.
S3 (01:26):
A secluded beach blocked off to the public following a
horrific morning in the water.
S4 (01:32):
It's the shark attack that's left a young Swiss woman
dead and her partner suffering serious injuries, trying to save her.
S5 (01:39):
Fatal shark attack on the New South Wales mid-north coast
is raising concerns once again about beach safety.
S2 (01:44):
Her boyfriend went to try to help her. He was
also mauled. He got her to shore, but sadly she
died of her injuries on the sand and he was
assisted by a bystander and then rescued by helicopter and
taken off to hospital in a stable but serious condition.
S1 (02:08):
And you've been looking into the number of shark attacks
in Australia and shark bites specifically. So I'm just curious,
is there a distinction between the use of the term
shark bite and shark attack? Like what's that about?
S2 (02:21):
Okay, so I prefer to use the term shark bite.
I do use attack occasionally. I just did in my
previous answer, but I guess attack implies intent and often
sharks will bite just because they're curious. They're not always
in full blown aggressive attack mode. They may just be exploring,
(02:42):
seeing something unusual and checking it out with its mouth.
S1 (02:46):
Okay, well, let's talk about numbers. I mean, how many
bites or deaths have there been and how does it
compare to previous years?
S2 (02:52):
So there is generally in any given year either no
deaths from shark bite or one or maybe two. And
there have been since 2000 around Australia, 58 deaths by
shark bite, including the recent one and Mercury salakas on
(03:16):
the northern beaches in September. And that's according to the
Australian Shark Incident Database, which is maintained at Taronga Zoo
and is considered very comprehensive. And that is actually rising
over time. There are kind of reasons that are put
(03:36):
forward for that, but I think it's complicated. There are
many reasons, and it's not because the population of the
sharks is increasing. Many of these sharks species are vulnerable,
such as white sharks, which are responsible for the majority
of shark bites. We do know, though, that the behavior
(03:59):
and distribution and range of the sharks is changing, and
that's partly because of development pressures, and it's also because
of climate change. So white sharks, which are a cool
water species, are moving further south, and they are probably
going to be more predominant in the future in Victoria
(04:21):
and Tasmania. And the bull sharks and tiger sharks, which
are warm water species, will also be moving further south,
whereas at the moment they spend quite a lot of
the year in Queensland, northern New South Wales, they'll be
moving more into, you know, Sydney's waters, for example, and
the south coast. But one of the big reasons why
(04:44):
the shark bites are on the rise is because of humans.
Our population has been growing. Our population has been growing
strongest on the coastline, and water sports are more popular
than ever, so we're spending more time in the ocean,
whether it's swimming or surfing or diving. And of course,
(05:07):
that increases the chances of interactions.
S1 (05:10):
Now, you mentioned before that most of the deaths are
with great white sharks, but it was a bull shark
that was involved in the Bay incident with the death
of the Swiss tourist last week. So can you tell
us a bit more about the bull shark? Because they
are particularly aggressive, right.
S2 (05:25):
They are considered. So I think we we don't know
a lot about the behavior and why they behave in
certain ways, but certainly from our perspective we would consider
them aggressive. They are a warm water shark and I
think they really prefer it over 23 degrees. So when
it gets warmer down south, that's when they might come down.
(05:47):
So they might often be Breeding up on the north
coast and mid-north coast. Then they might. As adults swim
around for food so they can tell from the tagging program. Actually,
that certain individuals will come to Sydney Harbour every year.
It's almost as if they have a holiday house in Sydney,
is what the researcher was telling me. Um, and, you know,
(06:10):
every year, a certain time, um, they're like, oh, it's
time to go visit my mates in Sydney. And then
they'll stay here year round. And that's going to become
more common as the season will last longer. The waters
in Sydney will be warm enough for them to stay
here for longer. And then, uh, eventually it drops below
a certain point and they'll swim back up north again.
S1 (06:31):
Okay. But you wrote about, I guess what we're looking
to see will happen in the future with regards to
the warming of the oceans and how it's actually going
to change the behaviour or the swimming grounds of sharks.
So tell us, I mean, are Victorians and Tasmanians, are
they sort of set to be on notice by about
2060 that they're going to experience this more because the
sharks will be going there.
S2 (06:51):
The white sharks will be more prevalent down south by 2060.
That's under a high emissions scenario, though. So if we
can curb our greenhouse emissions, then those can stay terrorising
us Sydneysiders instead.
S1 (07:10):
We'll be right back. And so we know that these
horrific deaths that we've unfortunately been reading about have led
people to question the current safeguards that are in place
to try and keep us safe from shark attacks. We
know that Maria Psilakis, who's the widow of Mercury Psilakis,
who died after being mauled by a shark at DUI
(07:32):
in September, that's at Sydney's northern beaches. She's called for
an overhaul of alert systems at Sydney beaches. So do
you have any tips? I guess after researching these shark
deaths about how we can best protect ourselves, given that
we are always sharing the ocean with sharks.
S2 (07:48):
So I think she specifically called for more drone surveillance.
And I think that is one of the most effective
things that we can do is actually knowing what sharks
are out there. And that's also done through this network
of drumlines and acoustic tagging and sensors that will ping
(08:09):
in certain places. So you can look at the Shark
smart app and see where all the tagged individuals are
and where they were last spotted, which is quite cool.
The Drumlines in our smart drumlines all that basically means
is that rather than the fisheries people having to go
round and check each one, they get an automatic pin
(08:29):
from a satellite sensor when it's been activated, and then
they can go directly to the correct one. Then they can,
you know, tag and release the shark in another location.
So it's a non-lethal measure. I think the biggest tip,
apart from. Of course, we do need to understand we're
going into a wild environment. It's the sharks home and
(08:51):
so on. I mean, I think that's absolutely true, but
we also all want to swim and not feel that
we're going to be terrorized. So I think we know, um,
that the odds are very, very low of encountering a shark,
but they're going to be higher if the water is
(09:12):
turbid and there's not much visibility. And that's not because
you don't see the sharks. It's because the sharks don't
see you. And we're not their natural food. They're more
likely to come and check us out and try to
take a bite out of us. If they can't see
us properly and they think we're something else. So that's
why many of the attacks occur in, uh, at dusk
(09:34):
and dawn. It's less because of there being more sharks there,
but more because there's less visibility. And it's also the
case if there's been rain and the water's waters turbid.
They also come where there's fish. So if you had
rain and you've had a lot of nutrients wash offshore
and there's a lot of fish feeding that's going to
attract sharks. So I think you can be smart about
(09:55):
the risks. And then there's interesting research on prevention measures.
So there is some evidence to say that some of
the electronic deterrents that are out there will deter sharks,
and that some of the new wetsuit materials that are
meant to be bite resistant are also effective. However, you
(10:16):
want to maybe look up which specific ones, because I
think there's a lot of snake oil out there as well.
S1 (10:21):
Oh I bet. And what about shark nets? I mean,
do we need more of them? Because I know that
this has been a big issue in Sydney in particular.
S2 (10:28):
So there's two types of shark nets. So in the
harbour and, um, you know, many other areas where there's not,
you know, giant bays and fast swells and so on.
You might have a rigid net that completely encloses the
swimming area, and that's very effective. And it's also not
(10:49):
destructive to marine life. What we also have at many beaches,
and I can speak for New South Wales here every
summer from about September to March, we have these mesh
nets at 51 beaches from Wollongong to Newcastle. And that's
basically this short, little flexible fishing net that's just floating
(11:12):
out in the ocean like a handkerchief, indiscriminately killing whatever
comes its way unless rescuers can get to it first.
And they have been used since the 30s. They were
never intended to deter sharks from coming in or block
them or provide any kind of barrier. They were just
designed to cull them and that's all that they've ever done.
(11:36):
They also kill dolphins, turtles, many other creatures and and
harmless sharks like the grey nurse shark, which is critically endangered.
And there's not really any evidence that they reduce human
deaths from sharks because the statistics are so low. We've
(11:56):
had two lethal shark bites at netted beaches, 1 in
1963 and the one in D earlier this year. And
we've got like 900 beaches in New South Wales. And
you could pick another 51 and have a completely different
set of results. So we don't we can't statistically prove
(12:17):
that they work. We can't statistically prove that they don't work.
But we can say that there are non-lethal measures that
do work and might be better placed in the future.
S1 (12:32):
Wow. Well, thank you so much, Caitlin, for your time.
S2 (12:36):
Okay. Thank you.
S1 (12:44):
Today's episode of The Morning Edition was produced by myself
and Kai Wong. Our executive producer is Tammy Mills. Our
head of audio is Tom McKendrick. The Morning Edition is
a production of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
If you enjoy the show and want more of our journalism,
subscribe to our newspapers today. It's the best way to
support what we do. Search The age or Smh.com.au. Subscribe
(13:11):
and sign up for our newsletter to receive a comprehensive
summary of the day's most important news, analysis and insights
in your inbox every day. Links are in the show. Notes.
I'm Samantha Selinger. Morris. This is the morning edition. Thanks
for listening.
From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
This is the morning edition. I'm Samantha Seelinger Morris. It's Tuesday,
December 2nd. It really was the stuff of nightmares. A
Swiss tourist who was swimming with dolphins off the New
South Wales coast was suddenly mauled by a three metre
(00:23):
long bull shark. The 25 year old died from her
injuries despite her heroic boyfriend, an exchange student also from Switzerland,
fighting off the shark and carrying her to shore. Today,
environment and climate reporter Caitlin Fitzsimmons on why the number
of people killed by sharks in Australia is rising. Caitlin,
(00:48):
this topic is particularly pertinent right now because of a
shocking shark attack last week at an idyllic beach on
the New South Wales coast. So first off, can you
just tell us about what happened?
S2 (00:59):
Yes. It was a tragic circumstance. A couple from Switzerland,
in their mid 20s were camping at Calis Beach in
crowded national park on the Mid North Coast. They'd arrived
the night before and they were going for a morning swim,
apparently filming a pod of dolphins on the GoPro just
(01:22):
moments before. The young woman was attacked.
S3 (01:26):
A secluded beach blocked off to the public following a
horrific morning in the water.
S4 (01:32):
It's the shark attack that's left a young Swiss woman
dead and her partner suffering serious injuries, trying to save her.
S5 (01:39):
Fatal shark attack on the New South Wales mid-north coast
is raising concerns once again about beach safety.
S2 (01:44):
Her boyfriend went to try to help her. He was
also mauled. He got her to shore, but sadly she
died of her injuries on the sand and he was
assisted by a bystander and then rescued by helicopter and
taken off to hospital in a stable but serious condition.
S1 (02:08):
And you've been looking into the number of shark attacks
in Australia and shark bites specifically. So I'm just curious,
is there a distinction between the use of the term
shark bite and shark attack? Like what's that about?
S2 (02:21):
Okay, so I prefer to use the term shark bite.
I do use attack occasionally. I just did in my
previous answer, but I guess attack implies intent and often
sharks will bite just because they're curious. They're not always
in full blown aggressive attack mode. They may just be exploring,
(02:42):
seeing something unusual and checking it out with its mouth.
S1 (02:46):
Okay, well, let's talk about numbers. I mean, how many
bites or deaths have there been and how does it
compare to previous years?
S2 (02:52):
So there is generally in any given year either no
deaths from shark bite or one or maybe two. And
there have been since 2000 around Australia, 58 deaths by
shark bite, including the recent one and Mercury salakas on
(03:16):
the northern beaches in September. And that's according to the
Australian Shark Incident Database, which is maintained at Taronga Zoo
and is considered very comprehensive. And that is actually rising
over time. There are kind of reasons that are put
(03:36):
forward for that, but I think it's complicated. There are
many reasons, and it's not because the population of the
sharks is increasing. Many of these sharks species are vulnerable,
such as white sharks, which are responsible for the majority
of shark bites. We do know, though, that the behavior
(03:59):
and distribution and range of the sharks is changing, and
that's partly because of development pressures, and it's also because
of climate change. So white sharks, which are a cool
water species, are moving further south, and they are probably
going to be more predominant in the future in Victoria
(04:21):
and Tasmania. And the bull sharks and tiger sharks, which
are warm water species, will also be moving further south,
whereas at the moment they spend quite a lot of
the year in Queensland, northern New South Wales, they'll be
moving more into, you know, Sydney's waters, for example, and
the south coast. But one of the big reasons why
(04:44):
the shark bites are on the rise is because of humans.
Our population has been growing. Our population has been growing
strongest on the coastline, and water sports are more popular
than ever, so we're spending more time in the ocean,
whether it's swimming or surfing or diving. And of course,
(05:07):
that increases the chances of interactions.
S1 (05:10):
Now, you mentioned before that most of the deaths are
with great white sharks, but it was a bull shark
that was involved in the Bay incident with the death
of the Swiss tourist last week. So can you tell
us a bit more about the bull shark? Because they
are particularly aggressive, right.
S2 (05:25):
They are considered. So I think we we don't know
a lot about the behavior and why they behave in
certain ways, but certainly from our perspective we would consider
them aggressive. They are a warm water shark and I
think they really prefer it over 23 degrees. So when
it gets warmer down south, that's when they might come down.
(05:47):
So they might often be Breeding up on the north
coast and mid-north coast. Then they might. As adults swim
around for food so they can tell from the tagging program. Actually,
that certain individuals will come to Sydney Harbour every year.
It's almost as if they have a holiday house in Sydney,
is what the researcher was telling me. Um, and, you know,
(06:10):
every year, a certain time, um, they're like, oh, it's
time to go visit my mates in Sydney. And then
they'll stay here year round. And that's going to become
more common as the season will last longer. The waters
in Sydney will be warm enough for them to stay
here for longer. And then, uh, eventually it drops below
a certain point and they'll swim back up north again.
S1 (06:31):
Okay. But you wrote about, I guess what we're looking
to see will happen in the future with regards to
the warming of the oceans and how it's actually going
to change the behaviour or the swimming grounds of sharks.
So tell us, I mean, are Victorians and Tasmanians, are
they sort of set to be on notice by about
2060 that they're going to experience this more because the
sharks will be going there.
S2 (06:51):
The white sharks will be more prevalent down south by 2060.
That's under a high emissions scenario, though. So if we
can curb our greenhouse emissions, then those can stay terrorising
us Sydneysiders instead.
S1 (07:10):
We'll be right back. And so we know that these
horrific deaths that we've unfortunately been reading about have led
people to question the current safeguards that are in place
to try and keep us safe from shark attacks. We
know that Maria Psilakis, who's the widow of Mercury Psilakis,
who died after being mauled by a shark at DUI
(07:32):
in September, that's at Sydney's northern beaches. She's called for
an overhaul of alert systems at Sydney beaches. So do
you have any tips? I guess after researching these shark
deaths about how we can best protect ourselves, given that
we are always sharing the ocean with sharks.
S2 (07:48):
So I think she specifically called for more drone surveillance.
And I think that is one of the most effective
things that we can do is actually knowing what sharks
are out there. And that's also done through this network
of drumlines and acoustic tagging and sensors that will ping
(08:09):
in certain places. So you can look at the Shark
smart app and see where all the tagged individuals are
and where they were last spotted, which is quite cool.
The Drumlines in our smart drumlines all that basically means
is that rather than the fisheries people having to go
round and check each one, they get an automatic pin
(08:29):
from a satellite sensor when it's been activated, and then
they can go directly to the correct one. Then they can,
you know, tag and release the shark in another location.
So it's a non-lethal measure. I think the biggest tip,
apart from. Of course, we do need to understand we're
going into a wild environment. It's the sharks home and
(08:51):
so on. I mean, I think that's absolutely true, but
we also all want to swim and not feel that
we're going to be terrorized. So I think we know, um,
that the odds are very, very low of encountering a shark,
but they're going to be higher if the water is
(09:12):
turbid and there's not much visibility. And that's not because
you don't see the sharks. It's because the sharks don't
see you. And we're not their natural food. They're more
likely to come and check us out and try to
take a bite out of us. If they can't see
us properly and they think we're something else. So that's
why many of the attacks occur in, uh, at dusk
(09:34):
and dawn. It's less because of there being more sharks there,
but more because there's less visibility. And it's also the
case if there's been rain and the water's waters turbid.
They also come where there's fish. So if you had
rain and you've had a lot of nutrients wash offshore
and there's a lot of fish feeding that's going to
attract sharks. So I think you can be smart about
(09:55):
the risks. And then there's interesting research on prevention measures.
So there is some evidence to say that some of
the electronic deterrents that are out there will deter sharks,
and that some of the new wetsuit materials that are
meant to be bite resistant are also effective. However, you
(10:16):
want to maybe look up which specific ones, because I
think there's a lot of snake oil out there as well.
S1 (10:21):
Oh I bet. And what about shark nets? I mean,
do we need more of them? Because I know that
this has been a big issue in Sydney in particular.
S2 (10:28):
So there's two types of shark nets. So in the
harbour and, um, you know, many other areas where there's not,
you know, giant bays and fast swells and so on.
You might have a rigid net that completely encloses the
swimming area, and that's very effective. And it's also not
(10:49):
destructive to marine life. What we also have at many beaches,
and I can speak for New South Wales here every
summer from about September to March, we have these mesh
nets at 51 beaches from Wollongong to Newcastle. And that's
basically this short, little flexible fishing net that's just floating
(11:12):
out in the ocean like a handkerchief, indiscriminately killing whatever
comes its way unless rescuers can get to it first.
And they have been used since the 30s. They were
never intended to deter sharks from coming in or block
them or provide any kind of barrier. They were just
designed to cull them and that's all that they've ever done.
(11:36):
They also kill dolphins, turtles, many other creatures and and
harmless sharks like the grey nurse shark, which is critically endangered.
And there's not really any evidence that they reduce human
deaths from sharks because the statistics are so low. We've
(11:56):
had two lethal shark bites at netted beaches, 1 in
1963 and the one in D earlier this year. And
we've got like 900 beaches in New South Wales. And
you could pick another 51 and have a completely different
set of results. So we don't we can't statistically prove
(12:17):
that they work. We can't statistically prove that they don't work.
But we can say that there are non-lethal measures that
do work and might be better placed in the future.
S1 (12:32):
Wow. Well, thank you so much, Caitlin, for your time.
S2 (12:36):
Okay. Thank you.
S1 (12:44):
Today's episode of The Morning Edition was produced by myself
and Kai Wong. Our executive producer is Tammy Mills. Our
head of audio is Tom McKendrick. The Morning Edition is
a production of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
If you enjoy the show and want more of our journalism,
subscribe to our newspapers today. It's the best way to
support what we do. Search The age or Smh.com.au. Subscribe
(13:11):
and sign up for our newsletter to receive a comprehensive
summary of the day's most important news, analysis and insights
in your inbox every day. Links are in the show. Notes.
I'm Samantha Selinger. Morris. This is the morning edition. Thanks
for listening.
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