Bonus: We Chat To A Shark Expert

The twenty seven year old surfer had been in the water for just seconds when he was attacked by the bullsharks. Bull shark attacks over the last forty eight hours. All right, Oh that is frightening, especially right in the middle of summer.

It is terrifying. Melissa Marquez is a shark expert from Science and Technology Australia. She joins us this morning, How I melt thanks time, no, thanks for having me so, look we're hearing all these shark attacks at me in New South Wales. How worried do we need to be here in Victoria, especially Melbourne.

Look, the perfect storm has kind of happened here in Sydney in regards to all of the rain that we've been having. Right, and it's rain too, it's all the bites have been linked to bull sharks, and so bull sharks love to thrive in warm, murky waters and harbors and estuaries, and your guys, is cold or water just makes it less suitable for bull sharks. So you don't have kind of the recipe for this perfect storm down there.

So in Port Phillip Bay where we are here in Melbourne, you'd be familiar with it. Do we have any sharks. You know, have there been any sightings? I know there was some form of shark down Port Seaway.

Yeah, I mean, look, shark activity is a natural occurrence if there's an ocean, more likely than not there is some sort of shark in the area. We just happened to coexist with them a lot more peacefully, more so than not. So chances are the probably sharks there, you just haven't had to deal with them.

So hearing on the news there's been four people bitten by sharks in four days makes me go, I'm never going to the beach again.

That's me.

I'm hanging up my snorkel. I'm never going back. Should we be scared going to the beach?

No, I mean, look again, it's these kind of like what's happened recently. Obviously it's very very scary sounding and it's very tragic, but it's because of this rainfall that we had that has created kind of this environment for these book sharks to really thrive and be in the area and so on a normal kind of day, No, it's it's just your regular, your regular kind of rest.

Similarly, excuse my ignorance. So I'm taking my boat out right on Sydney Harbor.

I don't.

I'm manifesting it and I want to jump in the water. Is there ever a telltale sign that there is or could be a shark around around me or around the water or is it just sort of chance?

Well, I mean, probably the most telltale sign is the fin. So you see a fin, probably don't going.

Schools of fish ure. Is Is there anything that any idea? Exactly that?

Yeah, exactly that. So if you see a lot of those small silvery fish, those beat balls around, they're congregating quite closely. If they're jumping. Especially if you see a lot of fish jumping around, maybe something underneath they're chasing them. If you see other people kind of fishing around and maybe throwing some of the scraps overboard as well, that

Times of the day to avoid swimming. Is it sunrise something dusk and dawn?

My mom always told me. Was she right or wrong?

Yeah?

Pretty much?

Dusk and dawn are when a lot of these sharks are active, but we are seeing some of them be a bit more active during the daytime as well. So really it's just being conscious of your environment and conscious of your swimming, so you know, always have your swimming buddy, check your environmental arounds, make sure you know that you don't have somebody fishing upstream from you, or you don't have, you know, a dead floating whale by.

You take a swim buddy. Someone that's abuses got more mate on the bones. Someone looks more appealing.

I would suggest me probably.

I'm just talking to you.

I'm not looking at Melissa. The sharks at the aquarium. Are they stoned?

They just they're really well fed.

They seem quite friendly.

Are they on the gummies or are they gummy sharks?

I mean that you're gonna have to ask the aquarium visually people and see what their diet is. But they look very well fed.

And I kind of want to you. You mentioned before law, was that your mum told you dusk and dawn avoid there's and look, Melissa Markeres is a shark expert. She's joining us on the oir this morning. I've got a question for you. This is it's a wise time. My dad told me, he said, sharks attracted to fear. You pee yourself when you're scared. Don't swim near kids at the beach because they always pee in the water. Is that true? I should avoid swimming near kids because they track the sharks.

I mean, maybe you want to avoid swimming other kids because it's it's less peaceful and swimming by the kids. No, I think, you know what, I I think there's been studies that are not like scientific. I think it's been something about like Shark Week is done and stuff like that to double check if pe attract sharks. And I don't think that was conclusive whatsoever. So feel free to pee in the water if you want.

And what about one of my friends who's a surfer, told me, if you have a yellow surfboard, it puts the sharks off.

If you have a red surfboard, they're attracted to it. Is that true? Are they attracted to certain colors?

I mean, I had we've heard of the whole like yum yum yellow scenario. I never heard of the bottom of a surfboard being red though or yellow. But I do know that they're coming up with surfboards with like bars on them, like lines on them, to break it up as a shark mitigation kind of experiment to see if that's something that kind of puts sharks off of biting surfboards.

What about those shark bands I've seen them on Instagram. What it's like a magnet band or something that you see some surface. Well, do they work?

Some of them do have shown actually to work against sharks, not all sharks, but some of them. For individual sharks, it will actually pel them because of that electric kind of force field that has I think w A actually has a sort of government scheme that if you buy one, like of a specific one that's been scientifically tested, they'll give you some like remade money back.

And then if one comes me, do you just punch me in the nose? Like mic Fanning?

Have you ever tried punching anything under water? Like, if you go for the nose, you might either completely miss or you might end up like in their mouth. I go for the gills, go for those little slits on the necks, because that's like punching something like in the chest, and that would probably work a lot better.

He stabbed him in the eye.

Is not that available?

Sure?

You please don't go randomly stabbing sharks.

Glad you jumped on us to talk about the sho Glad.

I mean, I didn't think I was going to be talking about sharks being like, but it's been a great way to start the morning.

But seriously, though, because people's killed the shots.

Shot no no, look write wats and stuff, but I think, can we call?

We can't be calling the shots, can we?

So so it's been shown that calls do not work in regards to the aim that everyone kind of like hopes to and to be honest, sharks are significantly less dangerous in reality than they're perceived by the public. You know, globally there's about seven to one hundred unprovoked shark attacks annually. Think about how many people go into the water. Those are really really low risks.

I mean, look, if they start showing up in your local parks and taking up parking spots and like pullies and pulls, staying a shot about that, but right now, you know that's their environment.

That or on a pool table, Oh that was terrible.

The pool sharks are taking all of your money.

There we go, Melissa shock expect joining us on the thanks he to on this morning Mate.

Thanks Melissa, or is my pleasure of good one?

We should be feeding you to the stone sharks without one.

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