September 7, 2025 • 6 mins
Dave Pearson joins Jonesy & Amanda to chat about his shark attack survival story, as well as a reflection on the late Mercury Psillakis who lost his life over the weekend.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jersey and Amanda jam Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Well.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
Yes, shocking news over the weekend the death of a
surfer Mercury Salaikis on Sydney's northern beaches. It's reignited ongoing
conversations around shark nets. This fatal attack horrific, comes amid
a stalled government's plan to trial the removal of nets
at certain beaches. We're joined now by Dave Pearson, who
has survived a shark attack and has some thoughts on this.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Dave, Hello, Hey, good morning. How are you today, Rander?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I'm not too bad. How is it shocking to think
that this attack happened at fresh water? It seems shocking
to me.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Should I be shocked?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Not at all. Unfortunately, there's plenty of sharks out there
swimming around, and unfortunately we come in contact with them.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
But I think Dave what Amanda is saying.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Usually we hear about it like remote beaches, beaches in
Western Australia, South Australia, right up the North coast, but
not so close to home.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I guess though. Sidney's been fairly lucky over the last
number of years. With you know, you have quite a
number of measures down there to try and keep sharks
and people separated. But you know, they're not infallible and
they're not one hundred percent shark proof, so these things
can't happen.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
What happened to you, Dave? You a bitten by a
bull shark? Where did that take place?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
It happened that crowdyhead on the mid North Coast, just
a normal afternoon after work, just as everybody does, goes down,
has a surf to wash away their daily troubles, and
a bull shark decided I was having too much fun
and put an end to my afternoon.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Because it's you know, and bull sharks are different to
great whites and the like. But did you feel that
you wanted to get back in the water after you
know you'd been attanked?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, definitely. I was laying in hospital late that night,
I think it was probably maybe one or two o'clock
the next morning, and i'd just come back from X
rays where they told me they would probably remove my arm,
and the nurse asked me if I would surf again,
and I went it was a funny question at the time,
and I went, yeah, I guess so. My love of
the ocean is far greater than my fear of sharks,
(02:01):
so I'll definitely start surfing again. And then fortunately they
saved my arm and yeah, I'm back in the water.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
What about the discussion we're having around shark nets, this
terrible attack of fresh water there was a shark net
in place. A shark net's effective to some extent.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
They're not made to prevent sharks from coming to the
beach there. You know, there are one hundred and fifty
meters long, and they're below the surface, and so the
sharks can swim around and below and over them. But
from I'm led to believe, you know, from my discussion
with sharks scientists, it upsets their pattern and they get
confused about what it is and they move on. Sydney
also has a number of smart drum lines up and
(02:41):
down the beaches as well, which capture any sharks that
come in close and they drag them out to sea,
put a tag in them so that we can see
where them sharks are swimming from then on, because.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
A lot of other sea life also gets trapped in
those nets, doesn't it There is.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Some other sea life. I don't think it's it's not
as bad as some people make out, but it's also
know anything that gets killed in the ocean for the
sake of us having a bit of fun causes a
lot of conjecture. You know, as a surfer, you know
where I surf, we have nothing. We don't have. The
closest drum line is either Port McClory or Foster, which
(03:19):
is you know, a good forty five minutes drive either way,
and yeah, we don't have any king of that tell
us us as a shark swimming by, if I look
at the sharks smart app, I can predict from what's
happening at Foster and Port McClary what the activities are
in our area, and just about every day, I can
look at that and know that there's white sharks swimming around.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
And the technology, really, that's the thing, isn't it's about
having guys out on jet skis.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
It's about drones.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
We do have the technology to spot where sharks are,
and now that you can get an app to find
out where they actually are, maybe that's the way forward.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It's part of the overall program that we have. I mean,
I fly my own personal drinks. This once again were
I live, we don't have much, so I'll fly my
drone up. We've got another local guy who does a
lot of whale watching, so he'll have his drain up
there and if he sees a shark around, he'll let
us know in the water. But you know, realistically, i'd
(04:14):
fly my drone, I put it away, I hop on
my surfboard and paddle out. You know, within that ten
minutes something could have come, you know, a kilometer up
the beach. So it's not infallible, but it's something. If
I spot, you know, a large group of fish, I
know there's fish around, and if this fish around is
possibly sharks as well. So I guess Over the years,
if nothing, I've learned more about the ocean and about
(04:37):
trying to look after my own safety. And you know,
seeing if there's going to something out there, there's not
going to be me out there with him.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
And you know, the weather's warming up, lots of people
are going to be heading to the beach and are
feeling jumpy.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
What would you suggest, Yeah, talk to people, you know,
when you go to the beach, have a conversation with
fellow surfers, and anybody noticed anything in the water, Has
there been any fish had been sharted? And once again,
you know, the day I was attacked. There was no
fish in the water, there was no sign that there
could have been a shark, but one come in and
(05:10):
had a crack at me. But yet, talk and find out,
educate yourself about what's happening in the ocean, you know,
find out where the drum lines are, where the where
the lifeguards are, and talk to the lifeguards and see
if they can fill it in on what's been going
on in the ocean. The more we know, the better
we are.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Thank you, David, Thank you for enlightening us. Thank you
very much.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
From any time. Have a wonderful day. And please, if
I could say anything, we see on social media a
lot of horrible comments about you know, as a full
as a poor family there that they are in mourning
for a loved one and all he was doing was
something that he loved. So if we could just consider
that and everyone could just calm down and just say,
you know, best wishes to the family, and we hope
(05:53):
that feeling repatter.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And that's all we do. We're just sending family. Yeah,
and that's it. And you keyboard worries, you know with
your comments.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Please yeah, because we all got that. We we've all
got that. After our sharkt and mentally it puts us
into the downward spiral that's horrible to live with. Yes,
well said, thank you for thank you for your time,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
For joining us. There we goes Dave Pearson. There
Jersey and Amanda jam Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Well.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
Yes, shocking news over the weekend the death of a
surfer Mercury Salaikis on Sydney's northern beaches. It's reignited ongoing
conversations around shark nets. This fatal attack horrific, comes amid
a stalled government's plan to trial the removal of nets
at certain beaches. We're joined now by Dave Pearson, who
has survived a shark attack and has some thoughts on this.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Dave, Hello, Hey, good morning. How are you today, Rander?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I'm not too bad. How is it shocking to think
that this attack happened at fresh water? It seems shocking
to me.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Should I be shocked?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Not at all. Unfortunately, there's plenty of sharks out there
swimming around, and unfortunately we come in contact with them.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
But I think Dave what Amanda is saying.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Usually we hear about it like remote beaches, beaches in
Western Australia, South Australia, right up the North coast, but
not so close to home.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I guess though. Sidney's been fairly lucky over the last
number of years. With you know, you have quite a
number of measures down there to try and keep sharks
and people separated. But you know, they're not infallible and
they're not one hundred percent shark proof, so these things
can't happen.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
What happened to you, Dave? You a bitten by a
bull shark? Where did that take place?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
It happened that crowdyhead on the mid North Coast, just
a normal afternoon after work, just as everybody does, goes down,
has a surf to wash away their daily troubles, and
a bull shark decided I was having too much fun
and put an end to my afternoon.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Because it's you know, and bull sharks are different to
great whites and the like. But did you feel that
you wanted to get back in the water after you
know you'd been attanked?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, definitely. I was laying in hospital late that night,
I think it was probably maybe one or two o'clock
the next morning, and i'd just come back from X
rays where they told me they would probably remove my arm,
and the nurse asked me if I would surf again,
and I went it was a funny question at the time,
and I went, yeah, I guess so. My love of
the ocean is far greater than my fear of sharks,
(02:01):
so I'll definitely start surfing again. And then fortunately they
saved my arm and yeah, I'm back in the water.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
What about the discussion we're having around shark nets, this
terrible attack of fresh water there was a shark net
in place. A shark net's effective to some extent.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
They're not made to prevent sharks from coming to the
beach there. You know, there are one hundred and fifty
meters long, and they're below the surface, and so the
sharks can swim around and below and over them. But
from I'm led to believe, you know, from my discussion
with sharks scientists, it upsets their pattern and they get
confused about what it is and they move on. Sydney
also has a number of smart drum lines up and
(02:41):
down the beaches as well, which capture any sharks that
come in close and they drag them out to sea,
put a tag in them so that we can see
where them sharks are swimming from then on, because.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
A lot of other sea life also gets trapped in
those nets, doesn't it There is.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Some other sea life. I don't think it's it's not
as bad as some people make out, but it's also
know anything that gets killed in the ocean for the
sake of us having a bit of fun causes a
lot of conjecture. You know, as a surfer, you know
where I surf, we have nothing. We don't have. The
closest drum line is either Port McClory or Foster, which
(03:19):
is you know, a good forty five minutes drive either way,
and yeah, we don't have any king of that tell
us us as a shark swimming by, if I look
at the sharks smart app, I can predict from what's
happening at Foster and Port McClary what the activities are
in our area, and just about every day, I can
look at that and know that there's white sharks swimming around.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
And the technology, really, that's the thing, isn't it's about
having guys out on jet skis.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
It's about drones.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
We do have the technology to spot where sharks are,
and now that you can get an app to find
out where they actually are, maybe that's the way forward.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It's part of the overall program that we have. I mean,
I fly my own personal drinks. This once again were
I live, we don't have much, so I'll fly my
drone up. We've got another local guy who does a
lot of whale watching, so he'll have his drain up
there and if he sees a shark around, he'll let
us know in the water. But you know, realistically, i'd
(04:14):
fly my drone, I put it away, I hop on
my surfboard and paddle out. You know, within that ten
minutes something could have come, you know, a kilometer up
the beach. So it's not infallible, but it's something. If
I spot, you know, a large group of fish, I
know there's fish around, and if this fish around is
possibly sharks as well. So I guess Over the years,
if nothing, I've learned more about the ocean and about
(04:37):
trying to look after my own safety. And you know,
seeing if there's going to something out there, there's not
going to be me out there with him.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
And you know, the weather's warming up, lots of people
are going to be heading to the beach and are
feeling jumpy.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
What would you suggest, Yeah, talk to people, you know,
when you go to the beach, have a conversation with
fellow surfers, and anybody noticed anything in the water, Has
there been any fish had been sharted? And once again,
you know, the day I was attacked. There was no
fish in the water, there was no sign that there
could have been a shark, but one come in and
(05:10):
had a crack at me. But yet, talk and find out,
educate yourself about what's happening in the ocean, you know,
find out where the drum lines are, where the where
the lifeguards are, and talk to the lifeguards and see
if they can fill it in on what's been going
on in the ocean. The more we know, the better
we are.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Thank you, David, Thank you for enlightening us. Thank you
very much.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
From any time. Have a wonderful day. And please, if
I could say anything, we see on social media a
lot of horrible comments about you know, as a full
as a poor family there that they are in mourning
for a loved one and all he was doing was
something that he loved. So if we could just consider
that and everyone could just calm down and just say,
you know, best wishes to the family, and we hope
(05:53):
that feeling repatter.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And that's all we do. We're just sending family. Yeah,
and that's it. And you keyboard worries, you know with
your comments.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Please yeah, because we all got that. We we've all
got that. After our sharkt and mentally it puts us
into the downward spiral that's horrible to live with. Yes,
well said, thank you for thank you for your time,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
For joining us. There we goes Dave Pearson. There
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