Australian authorities have caught and killed three tiger sharks after a woman and a young girl sustained life-threatening injuries near the Great Barrier Reef. The victims were tourists in the popular Whitsunday region.
Image: picture-alliance/WILDLIFE/D. Perrine
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Following two attacks on swimmers, Australian officials captured and shot three tiger sharks in the Whitsunday Islands region, a popular tourist destination near the Great Barrier Reef.
The biggest of the predators was 3.3 meters (10.8 feet) long, with the other two measuring 2.6 and 2 meters from nose to tail.
"While sharks of this size are potentially very dangerous to humans, it is unclear if they were responsible for injuries caused to two swimmers this week," Fisheries Queensland said in a statement.
The authorities started the shark hunt after a 46-year-old woman was mauled by a shark on Wednesday and a 12-year-old girl was attacked within 24 hours outside Cid Harbour. Both of the victims were Australian citizens visiting the area on the country's northeast coast.
They sustained leg wounds and doctors described their condition as critical but stable.
Tiger sharks got their name from the dark stripes on their bodyImage: picture-alliance/imageBROKER/G. Nowak
'It's not a cull'
The manager of Queensland Fisheries' shark control program, Jeff Krause, told Australia's ABC that the officials would measure the dead sharks' jaws to match them with the wounds on the two victims.
"We're only wanting to remove — not all sharks, it's not a cull — but we need to remove a few sharks out of that area," Krause said.
The officials captured the fish by using drum lines they had placed near Cid Harbour. The shark fishing device consists of a line attached to the sea floor, a floating drum and a baited, hooked line. Newer models are also equipped with a GPS device that sends out a signal when a shark pulls on the hook.
Queensland Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said the drum lines would stay in place until "the area is secure from any further attacks."
"I hope for God's sake that people adhere to our advice to stay out of the water," he told the Weekend Australian newspaper.
Where have the sharks in the Adriatic gone?
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Five killed by sharks in 2017
Environmental activists, however, have already criticized the government for using drum lines, saying they will "indiscriminately catch and kill marine life while potentially attracting sharks to the area."
"We urge the Queensland Government to seriously consider more effective non-lethal measures to protect ocean users," the Humane Society International said in a statement.
Tiger sharks are a protected species in Australia. They are also the second-most deadly shark species to humans, after the great white.
Most sharks are considered dangerous predators, but the chances of being killed by one remain very low. Researchers at the University of Florida recorded 88 "unprovoked" shark attacks worldwide in 2017, with five people dying last year.
For the love of sharks
Image: CC BY 4.0/Albert kok
Sharks, sharks everywhere
Blame it on Jaws or blame it on the fact that sharks do have rather a lot of sharp teeth, fact is, many humans have a fear of sharks as deep as the waters in which they swim. Any expert will tell you, we kill by far more of these great fish a year than they do us. So should we really be scared?
Image: Pterantula (Terry Goss) via Wikimedia Commons
The reef shark
There are five species of reef shark, of which this is one. Feasting on crustaceans and fish alike, they are the top predator in the fragile ecosystem from which they take their name. They are no strangers to divers either, and have been known to attack when they feel threatened.
Image: CC BY 4.0/Albert kok
All shapes and sizes
There are more than 250 recorded species of shark in the waters around our planet. They range in size and ferocity. The sand tiger shark weighs up to 159 kilos and can reach a length of 3.2 meters. They are big eaters, have a mouth full of frightening looking teeth, but are generally regarded as being docile and unlikely to attack humans unless provoked to do so.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S.Sauer
Mass slaughter
Though it is impossible to know exactly how many sharks are killed annually for their fins, some estimates put the number around 100 million. Finning, as the practice is known, entails the removal of the fin while the shark is alive. The animals are then cast back into the sea where if not dead already, they succumb to a painful end. The fins are used to make soup, which costs up to $100 a bowl.
Image: Gerhard Wegner/Sharkproject
Growing old gracefully
Recent research revealed that Greenland sharks can live to the extraordinarily ripe old age of 400. These predators have a healthy appetite, but have never been known to go for humans. They like cold waters, through which they move slowly. And that is not the only thing they do at a leisurly pace - they don't even reach sexual maturity until they are around 150.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Oceans Image
Just because it's big, doesn't mean...
...it will hurt you. At 18 meters, whale sharks are the longest species in the family, and indeed the biggest fish in the sea. At that rate, dinner should be theirs for the picking, but their penchant is for plankton. Good news for all the other creatures in the sea. But whale sharks are at risk. Not only are they fished for their fins, oil and meat, but are often hit by eco-tourism boats.
Image: CC BY 2.0/Derek Keats
Lemon sharks
Said to be the best researched sharks, the lemon species is considered non-agressive. To date there have been no recorded incidents of a human fatality as a result of a lemon shark attack. They are social creatures that move in groups, where they rarely display aggressive behavior to each other.
