Does anyone have any info on the dolphin killed by a shark at Mettams yesterday afternoon. Someone told me this morning that there were surfers in the water near where it happened.
Geez another one???
Just goes to show that if they were really keen on having a gnaw on us we wouldn't have much say in the matter. If they're quick enough to nail Flipper then we'd be knackered.http://www.sharkalarm.com.au/event/600
Always felt pretty safe around there, makes you cringe reading that the attack was 6m away from surfers.
Yep, Killing all the local wildlife. No seals left at Little Island either. Should keep the shark lovers and our timid politicians happy though.
no seals at Little Island, that was something my brother mentioned to me the other day. He has had craypots off there for twenty years, I'll also add that the fishing has been pretty average offshore so far this season, maybe science can explain this as I'm at a loss
Killing all the local wild life? Oh the horror, That's called nature my friend. Tiger Sharks are native to Perth and dolphins have always made up a part of their diet. Don't tell me you're gonna complain when a turtle or dugong gets eaten up north too?
Bakesy, I think you already know the answer to why there is bugger all left in the ocean ;-)
Mrs GPA will not be happy to hear this - just got her comfortable snorkelling the swim-thrus at the back of the reef... 
Scary stuff, I grew up surfing "mets for sets". Spent whole days down there as a grom making fires on the beach to keep warm in winter between sessions & I've always felt safer with dolphins around. Especially when there are so many vids of dolphins protecting people from sharks on youtube. Who knows maybe this one was too : /
not last year Suba, I've fished the same area pretty much for over a decade with an eye on conservation. Last year was incredible, over thirty demersals caught/released that were 15kg plus, with the Dec/Jan months producing the bulk of these. On average that was the best ever, this season 10 caught/released with the biggest maybe 8kg, thinking they might turn up late, if not somethings wrong. You do get good/bad years but it feels really bad this year.
Suba correct me if wrong aren't u being educated by the punters at the uni that clearly are making themselves look as though they are behind the 8 ball
I was down there having a lazy hot afternoon SUP paddle and saw the dolphins moving south fast, feeding on fish i thought , I saw a shark fin but dismissed it as a dolphin, about 15 mins latter another pod went thru fast and behind it this time I saw a shark fin, different action, color etc about 50m out from the back. I let other surfers know and paddled to the right hander and let those guys know and checked no snorkelers out the back of mettems before paddling in.
I didn't see the shark attack a dolphin or eat it but that may have happened after I left the beach. The shark was a fair way off the beach, nothing to be worried about.
Cheers
well Suba all I can think of is that something within the ecosystem has changed I see Woodo has noticed a few things as well. The water temp is something I've been noting only for a couple of years but have read that this has caused a heap of damage to abalone, crays, crabs and other species. The shark thing is a bit of a worry too, in a lifetime (42yrs) on the water I've seen the odd change, one that was really weird was the emergence of mud crabs in the Murchison during the mid nineties. The other has been Spanairds off Two Rocks. These species will probably have an impact on the metro/southern scene and may have caused an imbalance. Those fish kills around Leeman really worried me, some weird stuff has happened in the Peel Estuary over the last decade that guys who have lived down here for 50 years just can't recall ever happening before, definately worth noting and would explain why apex predators are hitting the shoreline for a feed.
Not to mention a whale shark off Albany early 2012.
Lot of warmer than 'usual' water around.
I know, just wondering why it took so long to get out there...that's all
@bakesy, there has allways been brown muddies in the Murch, that current bought a different species being the green muddie and mangrove jacks, giant herring as well as few other things.
yep Thommo that sounds right just confirmed with the mother in law who's lived there since the late 60's, well kept info for a long time. Do you know when the Shark Bay blue manna's were found? I thought they were a southern species but obviously the current may work in reverse, you might get dhuies up your way one day!
The blue swimmer crab is found all around Australia, and into Asia (including India) and even Africa.
A guy at Murdoch presented a thesis on them in 2004, trying to understand their genetic dispersal around Australia. It hurt my brain.
As for the difference between our local crabs and the ones in Shark bay, the ones up north can spawn all year around and thus get real good recruitment levels; because there is a strong correlation between water temp and recruitment success.
Sorry, a bit off topic.
^^Yep and there's plenty of dhuies around here they run out around the 26 parallel, start getting pearl pearch then..they look similar to a dhuie got a black windbag tho
