Calls for South Australia Government to do more to make water safter

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A local council on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula wants government action to prevent shark attacks. A 64-year-old man is recovering in hospital after the sixth shark attack in South Australian waters in little more than six months.

Transcript

00:00 Perfect waves roll into world-renowned surf break Blacks on the outskirts of Elliston,

00:06 but virtually no one is in the water.

00:08 The small West Coast community is still in shock after a second shark attack in eight months.

00:13 The last attack was devastating.

00:15 For all of us, I don't know what to do next.

00:17 I don't feel comfortable with my kids going in.

00:20 Elliston schoolteacher Murray Adams is recovering in the Royal Adelaide

00:24 after he was attacked by a shark at Blacks on Tuesday.

00:27 In May, schoolteacher Simon Baccanello was taken by a shark at nearby Walker's Rocks.

00:32 A lot of us sort of just got back in the water after the initial attack here.

00:37 We say that time's going to heal it and then it's happened again,

00:40 so it's like we're kind of waiting for when's the next time.

00:46 Away from the surf breaks, there are people in the water, but parents are still wary.

00:51 There's definitely been a drop in the amount of tourists coming here to surf,

00:57 and that does have an economic impact on the local businesses here.

01:01 The District Council of Elliston has taken on the community's concerns about sharks

01:05 and approached other West Coast councils about the need to pressure the state government

01:09 to take action to protect people.

01:12 Mayor Andrew McLeod says great white shark numbers are increasing and changes are needed,

01:17 but stopped short of calling for a cull.

01:19 Following an attack, fisheries should attempt to terminate the shark responsible for the attack,

01:24 similar to what happens if a dog attacks someone.

01:27 Any response we want to make has got to be science-based to actually deliver an outcome,

01:31 and that's what we're open-minded to.

01:34 Finding consensus on the issue will not be easy.

01:36 crazy.

01:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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