HEART OF DARKNESS
IN 2021, Port Beach regular Paul Millachip, 57, was attacked by a 4.5m shark just 50m from shore.
His body was never recovered, the father of two leaving behind a grieving family and close friends including my now galeophobic partner. I met Paul only once at a soccer game in Melville.
The tragic death of 16-year-old Stella Berry brings back memories and mixed emotions about how to safely share our rivers and oceans with some of the most dangerous predators on the planet.
I’ve been thinking about it since 2000 when Mosman Park businessman Ken Crew, 49, was killed off North Cottesloe while I was on my way to work. The father of three was in waist-deep water when his was torn off by a great white estimated to be more than 4m in length. Shark shields were still in their infancy.
The Shenton College student jet skiing with friends and swimming with dolphins on Saturday was killed near the old traffic bridge by what authorities and witnesses believe to be a bull shark. Paul’s killer was a great white.
Shark expert Hugh Edwards, 89, said the teenager’s death is terrible and his heart went out to the Berry family, parents Sophie and Matt describing Stella as a, “vibrant and happy girl”.
Edwards told StreetWise: “I would not swim in that part of the river or anywhere up to Blackwell Reach. There are plenty of bull sharks there. You can find bull sharks all the way up to Bassendean.”
Bull sharks use the Swan as a nursing ground, with juveniles travelling into the upper reaches of the river where they can grow to a metre or more. Adults can grow to up to 3.5m. Little is known about the size of the population, the species known to be aggressive and deadly.
According to Fisheries WA, bull sharks are usually found in deeper water between South Perth and Maylands where they mate and give birth in late spring and early summer. Sharks can give birth to up to 13 young in each litter after a gestation period of 10 to 11 months.
Bull sharks are ambush predators that mature at nine to 10 years and can live for up to 20 to 30 years, the species identified by a stout grey body, blunt snout and triangular serrated teeth. Their diet includes fish, other sharks, sea turtles, birds, dolphins, crustaceans and molluscs.
Fremantle fisherman Pasquale Palmiotti told StreetWise authorities should be more pro-active and educate people about the potential risks and dangers of entering the marine environment.
“I have not seen any facts or figures or DNA profiles of the type of shark responsible for these attacks,” he said. “Dolphins too can get aggressive when protecting their young. They will take you out. Authorities need to educate the public about the risks.”
Edwards agreed: “There’s plenty of stuff washing down the river from yacht clubs and boats. It’s a good place for a shark to be. But for swimmers, it’s too close to the ocean and the rubbish around the harbour.”
A Fisheries spokesperson said it could not confirm the species of the shark until it concludes its investigation.
‘Something has bitten me’
On January 27, 1923, while on picnic at Freshwater Bay in Claremont, Charles Torquil Robertson, 14, against the wishes of his mother, returned to the water at 7pm when after about 10 minutes he was bitten by a shark in about 8m of water 6m from shore.
“Something has bitten me”, young Robertson cried as he swam back to shore, bleeding profusely, “from a terrible wound at the back of the thigh”. The shark had taken out the, “lower third of the posterior of the thigh, including part of the femur”, with four teeth marks on the front of the thigh.
The ‘lad’ died about two hours later of blood loss and shock.
River authorities tried to catch the ‘perpetrator of the mischief’, but were unsuccessful. The Claremont Municipal Council offered a reward to anyone who caught the culprit.
Robertson’s killer (and Stella’s) is listed as a bull shark on the Australian Shark Incident Database, though Robertson and his companions could not identify the species.
Fisheries has a ‘shark safety’ page on its website and images of different shark species in WA.
Sightings can be reported to Water Police on 0894428600.
