Shark Attack Survivor's Encounter With A Load Of Old Bull

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday February 9, 2002

Stephanie Peatling

A tooth removed from the bottom of a man's kayak attacked by a shark as he paddled in Parramatta River has been taken to the Australian Museum for tests.

Experts said yesterday a bull shark, a member of the Carcharhinus leucus or whaler family, was the most likely culprit for Thursday night's attack on Paul McNamara.

John West, the operations manager for Taronga Zoo and the co-author of a report on sharks in Sydney Harbour for organisers of the 2000 Olympics, said bull sharks were regular inhabitants of the harbour and its rivers, with Port Jackson and wobbegong sharks.

The recent heavy rains would have brought more fish out of the creeks and into the river, which would attract sharks, Mr West said. He thought the shark probably felt the splashing caused by Mr McNamara's oar and investigated to see if it was a fish.

The deputy director of NSW Fisheries, Paul O'Connor, said the tooth left behind by the shark was removed from the kayak yesterday afternoon and taken to the Australian Museum for verification.

``People should remember that sharks do live in the harbour and rivers, and after heavy rain they get confused because of a lack of visibility," Mr O'Connor said.

``There is an increased risk and people should weigh it up before they go in the water."

Mr McNamara was near the Cabarita Marina at 7.15pm when the shark struck his kayak and pushed him into the water.

``I was headed back when the shark just grabbed the kayak and flipped it over," Mr McNamara said yesterday. ``It came around and nudged me in the chest and then I felt the movement of the water as it went under me."

The 35-year-old Qantas worker from Ermington swam 20 metres to a nearby navigational buoy and scrambled out of the water.

He sustained bruising and minor scratches.

A passing fishing boat collected him and helped him to retrieve his kayak.

Speaking yesterday at his mother-in-law's waterside house in Gladesville, from where he set out on Thursday night, Mr McNamara said the shark attack would not deter him from going on the water. ``I've been doing this for 10 years and it wouldn't stop me, but I don't think I'll be going back in for a couple of days."

The last fatal shark attack in NSW was in Byron Bay in 1993. The last reported attacks in the Parramatta River were in March 2000, when two school rowing crews were disturbed.

Mr O'Connor said it was impossible to tell whether that shark was the same as that which attacked Mr McNamara.

Physical characteristics: stout body, short blunt snout, triangular serrated teeth in the upper jaw. Grey to light brown above and pale below, sometimes with pale stripe on flank. Grows

to about 3.4m.

Diet: Fish, turtles, birds, molluscs and dolphins. It will eat almost anything.

Life span: about 14 years

Habitat: The Bull shark can live in habitats from coastal marine and estuarine to fresh water.

THE BULL SHARK

* Also known as Freshwater Whalers, Swan River Whaler and River Whaler. Often confused with Bronze Whalers.

* Considered to be the most dangerous shark in the world, due to its diet and habitat preferences.

* Many experts believe the Bull shark to be responsible for most fatal attacks in Sydney Harbour.

SOURCE: AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM