BONKERS OVER BATHERS BAY
COMMENT: IS a permanent shark barrier at Bathers Bay overkill for a site that has never recorded a shark death or serious injury? So what exactly are we keeping out?
Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge has said “everything was on the table” to prevent another tragedy in Fremantle waters after two attacks at Port Beach and Bicton Baths. The City of Melville opened the Bicton Baths barrier on December 11 following the death this year of Stella Berry, 16, and Paul Millachip, 57, at Port Beach in 2021.
Stella’s death was the first fatality in the Swan River in 100 years, the attack having occurred near where Cameron Wrathall, 54, was bitten by a bull shark at Blackwall Reach in Bicton in 2021.
The mayor said: “Being in the water is a key part of our Freo lifestyle and this opportunity is definitely worth exploring. There are many people who are not going to the beach since the recent tragedies, which is sad, given where we live. This would give them an option and some peace of mind.”
At Bathers Beach? People come here anyway without fear of being mauled by a marine predator given the extensive protective reef that separates the beach from the ocean acts as a natural deterrent to any shark.
The mayor’s concerns are crocodile tears disguised in populism, and fear. (p.s. City admin will be closed December 25, 2023, to January 2, 2024).
Importantly, why does the ‘concerned’ City want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars next summer when families are heading for the surf NOW in the lead up to the holiday period?
Should we be worried if Bathers is the chosen one?
And why is a safe swimming enclosure not a priority for Port Beach, two years after Paul Millachip’s death, or South Beach where big crowds this summer are expected to visit the historic waters where swimming enclosures have been installed since the 1920s?
Both Port and South Beach are at higher risk because they are exposed to the ocean, Bathers is not.
UWA coastal oceanographer Chari Pattriatchi and shark whisperer Hugh Edwards told StreetWise the idea is not based on science or ‘common sense’. And they are expensive.
“Does the council have the money to do it or is it just hype?” Professor Pattriatchi explained. “A lot of these proposals are not based on common sense.”
The Beach
BATHERS Bay was chosen by the City from 11 sites including Leighton Beach, Port Beach, South Beach, Harvey Beach and Swan River and East Fremantle yacht clubs.
Formerly Whalers Bay, the small sheltered cove between South Mole and Royal Perth Yacht Club is a seaweed-laden sand strip measuring about 300m in length and about 25m wide.
Unless a public event is held on this thin wedge of wrack, the beach is a place where blowies and injured herrings go to die in the wake of strong southwesterlies eroding the unkept shoreline.
As this image shows when StreetWise this week visited the beach that the mayor says has “things going for it”, barely a handful of swimmers were soaking up the rays against the rolling breakers.
A proposal for a shark barrier in 2015 was rejected by Fremantle council while Cockburn the same year installed a swimming enclosure at Coogee, still very popular today.
Mayor Fitzhardinge said: “This is an opportunity to attract people to a beautiful beach that is underutilised and therefore has the capacity to support more beachgoers. There is good access to public transport and parking and it’s easy to go for lunch or do some shopping afterwards.
“South Beach, Port Beach and Leighton Beach are already under a lot of pressure from existing users, with parking and amenities at busy times.”
That’s the point. There are more people who can be kept safe at crowded beaches this summer than an ‘underutilised’ strip of sand next summer.
How the mayor proposes to fund increased visitor numbers and supporting infrastructure at Bathers Bay is unclear. New toilets? Showers? Extra parking? And what ‘good access’ when the closest public transport is 800m away? The mayor should be careful about what she wishes for, her concerns rebutted by locals and social media users.
The Stantec Australia report to council scored Bathers Beach 57 per cent overall, placing it third of the Indian Ocean sites and fourth overall. The Bathers barrier could cost up to $680,000; South Beach $800,000 and Leighton $960,000. The Bicton Baths enclosure cost about $300,000.
It said Bathers, while not as popular as a swimming beach, may represent an alternative option for the City provided the barrier can be maintained as a permanent fixture, without seasonal removal and maintenance.
In a review of the Dunsborough Beach Enclosure Trial in 2014, Jolimont environmental consultants Hydrobiology WA analysed beach use statistics provided by Surf Life Saving WA with coastal and tidal information to identify sites on the WA coast to install beach enclosures. South Beach was as “slightly less protected” than Bathers Bay and similar to Coogee.
Hydrobiology also cites a 2014 study of shark attack risks in WA which found swimming 50m offshore at depths of greater than 5m is 50 times more likely to be bitten by a shark than shallower water close to shore. Two-thirds of all attacks occurred in winter and spring, with half in spring coinciding with whale migration.
Hydrobiology also referred to a Fisheries study that found the risk of attack by a great white is greater more than 30m from shore in water deeper than five metres and less than 20C.
The risk rises at sites near sea lion colonies and whale carcasses.
