saltesc , 4 hours ago (edited 4 hours ago)

They don’t. Our silhouettes get mistaken for seals or something fatty and delicious underneath, but the bite is just fibreglass, bit of meat, and immediately bone. There’s a few sharks in Australia that will keep going—like the bulls and nurses—but sharks like the great white will deliver a devistating “curiosity” bite and that’s usually it. Usually they are not near beaches, but will be there to chase food in the area in desperate times, especially around headlands or spits.

In surf lifesaving training as a teen, we were taught to get off the board, showing true form, and blow bubbles to disorientate, curing any curisoty. To my knowledge, that’s never failed, but it’s not like anyone’s keeping record. In the situation if there’s no wave to take in, it’s the best known option to reducing chances of being bit.

I’d like to say how rare it is for that species (deep sea) and that size to be that close to a shore, let alone to attack 1 of tens of thousands that surf in Australia daily; but idiots will still call for a shark cull so they don’t have to worry about their toddlers splashing in ankle deep water.

Last time it happened a few years ago, the surfer that got attacked condemned the culling, because surfers know rhat they’re 50–150m out in the middle of other animals homes. Well past where all the breaking/rolling waves take action, which sharks don’t go into—not even dolphins, really. Obviously it will happen to a very unlucky person every now and again. People that far out from the shore respect the ocean and everything within very much.

Sharks are cool and respected.

Edit: saltesc = saltwater escape. Grown up in Australian ocean.