WONTHAGGI surfer Dave Dockery has seen the common Bronze Whaler Shark out in the water while surfing and even a Tiger Shark on one occasion, but it was a fearful first for him and some friends out at Eagles Nest near Inverloch recently, when he saw the unmistakable sight of a Great White Shark’s fin break the water.
Dave caught up with ABC Gippsland Saturday Breakfast host, Melissa Fistric at the weekend, to tell his story.
And the discussion brought forward some little-known information about shark activity in this area.
“Look I’m fine, Melissa. It’s one of those things that we sort of understand happens in the surfing world, sharks are part of the ocean. So, yes, it was a little bit scary but it’s something that we sort of understand I guess.”
Question: Take us back to that moment, David. You know, we're all hanging on the edge of our seats. Take us back to that moment in the water on Sunday. How did it all play out?
“Look, the surf’s been very good lately. You know, Eagle's Nest is quite a popular spot at the moment. There was already lot of people ready to go in at a certain time and I've jumped off the rocks out on the point with a friend. You know, just sort of hovered around waiting for a wave and we sit in an area that's quite bumpy and, you know, a lot of white water sort of bumping around and I’ve duck-dived quite a big set wave that came up and the same wave, a shark came out of, you know, he's sort of appeared out of the water about 20-30 feet away.
“And look, I've actually taken quite a bit of an interest in sharks and White Pointers and unmistakably, this was a White Pointer fin, quite, big. And, you know, it's that moment of ‘am I seeing what I think I'm seeing’ and then, you know, it started to turn in my direction and that was enough for me, I'm out of there.
“And I started to turn and paddle and a friend that I didn't see was right behind me, pretty much with a white face, and he's just yelled, ‘that's a big shark’ and we've all sort of, you know, voiced that we've seen the shark.
“I paddled straight towards white water and into the shallow reef and hugged a belly-board wave all the way to the beach.”
Question: How big do you think the shark was David?
“Look, probably over 12 foot, just by the size of the fin. I did say at first to was about 15 foot but you know, it's hard to get an idea about the size. But certainly, by the size of the fin, a man-eater, quite a big fella.”
Question: When you’re surfing and swimming straight back, do you worry about having your legs dangling off or your hands or are you just powering to get back to shore?
“I absolutely, look I think the first thing was as soon as I saw it turning towards me, I'm watching the water pretty much, you know, had about three foot of visibility, so I'm watching a direct line of where he's coming and yeah, and just turned. I was very lucky, because it's such a turbulent area, it wasn't very far for us to get into water that's quite messy and the white water which we know a shark doesn’t like, they don’t like shallow water, especially one that big.
“So, I guess, from the moment I actually got into the white water of the wave and angled towards the rocks, you know, I felt a little bit better. But of course, there was probably 12 people in the water, so I started to think of all them as I'm coming in and I was really glad to see that most of the line-up did empty. There was one guy who didn't, he probably didn't hear the call. But luckily, he stayed very close to the rocks the whole surf.
“I had a look from the cliffs after the surfing and couldn't see it, so yeah, but that’s not to say it wasn't still there.”
The surfers who came out of the water passed the word around to those who arrived after, including a local father and his kids, who were getting ready to go out.
But, as Dave said, the waves at Eagles Nest that day were especially good, 4-5 feet and perfect, he told the Sentinel-Times, and despite the shark possibly being sighted earlier in the day, people kept arriving wanting to get out to get and get into the good surf.
“But look, we do know that seals do bask on the rocks at Eagles Nest and one thing that passed through my mind was that he saw me jump off the rocks and you know, had been watching them because they will pick off a target.”
Dave said later that it was worth looking around, before going into the water, to see if there are seals or bird activity around the water before going in.
Question: What made you think it was a Great White?
“Look, the shape of the fin, they have quite a distinct shape and they’re around at the moment, because we’ve got some seal pups in the inlet.
“I’ve never seen one before in the water, but you know they are there. There was a big one caught off Phillip Island in the 1980s.”
Veteran shark hunter Vic Hislop caught what was a record, 7 metre White Pointer Shark off Phillip Island in 1987.
But Mr Dockery also said that attacks by sharks in these waters are very rare, the last known attack being back in the early 1980s.
Senior Marine Biologist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Russell Bradford, was also interviewed, confirming the presence of Great Whites in local waters and that the last attack in Victorian waters was a long time ago.
He did, however, reveal information about sharks in these waters that many may not know.
“White sharks are known in that area. The Gippsland region is actually a white shark nursery, so we do find white sharks showing up there over the summer and then they migrate back up the east coast to Sydney and up into the tropics actually.
“You tend to get them showing up around December through to March in that area. Corner Inlet is a super productive area so it’s a really good spot for a whole range of predators and a lot of sharks go that way.
“But at this time of year, they’re pretty much clearing out of the area,” he said.
Although he did say, the larger females (up to 6m in size) and male sharks (up to 4.5m to 5m), aren’t as affected by the drop in water temperature because of their mass, and do tend to stay in their territories.
Dave suspects something else is happening in the water.
“Two months ago, there was a white shark sighted at Walkerville and we did hear a report of a big shark knocking into someone’s board at Walkerville as well,” he told the Sentinel-Times.
“We’ve also heard reports that the big tuna are in this area for 12 months of the year now, where they only used to be here on a seasonal basis.
“Whether there has been a change in water temperature or currents I don’t know,” he said.
Dozens of people have spoken about surfing at Eagles Nest on Sunday, May 28, some of whom knew about the shark sighting, and some who went into the water anyway, attracted by the excellent waves.
