Perth-area beaches will remain closed until at least Sunday after Western Australia issued a rare catch-and-kill order for a great white following a fatal attack at Sorrento Beach. Police vessels and a helicopter have been deployed along the coast as crews search for the shark and the missing swimmer.
Local authorities identified the victim as 63-year-old Greg O'Neill, the broadcaster has reported, and said his body has not been recovered. Witnesses described chaotic scenes at the water; Jacqui Rapaic told reporters she could see "a pool of blood" in the surf and other bystanders said the swimmer was mauled and thrown about by the animal. Members of the public reported seeing a 2.5m-long (8ft 2in) shark around the time of the attack.
WA Fisheries Minister Jackie Jarvis said she took the "extraordinary step" of issuing the order after water police sighted the animal and it was "positively identified as the shark involved in the incident". The minister said she authorised fisheries officers to "destroy the shark" if it could be captured because of the "exceptional circumstances" and the hazard the animal posed.
Jarvis stressed the decision was not a broad cull and noted it is believed to be the first time in 10 years such an order has been made in the state. She also said authorities would increase the use of drones and tagging to help protect swimmers.
The Sorrento incident is the second attack in Western Australia this week and the third fatal incident in the state this year. On Monday a 56-year-old surfer was bitten off Geraldton, about 430km north of Perth; he survived but lost part of his leg. There have been five fatal shark attacks in Australia so far this year, including a 12-year-old killed in Sydney Harbour in January and three divers fatally mauled between May and June, two of them in Western Australia and one in Queensland.
Catching and killing sharks carries a long, contentious history in the state. In 2014 months of large protests followed when the government authorised a cull after a spate of attacks. The current measure, authorised in response to this weekend's fatality, has reopened debate over how to balance public safety with protections for great white sharks.
Authorities say patrols and search operations will continue while beaches remain closed, and that fisheries teams will prioritise locating the shark if it can be captured. Further updates are expected as the search proceeds.
