World's deadliest place for shark attacks: Western Australia

[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

An article from The Herald Sun, Melbourne, 22Oct2012:

SHARK SHOCK
Western Australia is now the deadliest place in the world for shark attacks, with 5 fatalities in the past 13 months. But the more populous eastern states make Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales a statistically more likely location for attacks this summer. John West, curator of the Australian Shark Attack File, believes there will be 12 attacks this summer, based on averages for the past 10 years that include 1 fatality per year. "With more people going into the water, there is always an increased chance of encountering aquatic animals like sharks," Mr West said. "The average number of cases will probably occur this summer - but hopefully not." It's still early for sharks to appear off the eastern states in great numbers, with far more in late spring.

PS: In Australia, late spring is around November.

[Lisa J]

california has a few too. Someone just died from a shark attack today, as a matter of fact. Every year I swim in an ocean race in southern calif and there are always great whites lurking about. luckily, no incidents during the race so far, but there have been a few in the weeks leading up to it. scary animals, sharks... be safe, Dave.

[charlene]

I am friends with a prof and her husband who is also a prof at Cal.State/Long Beach - Shark Lab.. Chris Lowe will be doing a tv spot at 5:30 regarding the California incident. http://www.csulb.edu/web/labs/sharklab/

[timetraveler]

With all of the shark attacks that happen, it makes a person wonder why they even bother to go swimming, boating, or surfing. And from what I've been hearing, the only thing that seems to be damn near as dangerous as a shark would be a certain species of jellyfish that is virtually invisible.

[charlene]

Like chris said in the clip in the link i posted, your chance of a shark attack is many times less than having a car accident on the way to the beach...
For the huge numbers of people who do swim/surf etc. where sharks can be, the deadly attacks are very few. of course for the one who is attacked it's a huge percentage.

[redhead]

I had the great fortune of meeting Charlene's friend Gwen, a Professor of Marine Biology at Cal State and the wife of Dr. Lowe, at a Lightfoot show a couple of months back.

What an impressive person she is. In addition to being beautiful and brilliant, she is a gracious and lovely individual who is down to earth and extremely easy to talk to.

Thank you, Gwen, for the kindness and generosity you extended to me that evening. It was a pleasure meeting you. And thank you, Char, for mentioning to me that she would be attending the show that night.

[jj]

Originally Posted by timetraveler

With all of the shark attacks that happen, it makes a person wonder why they even bother to go swimming, boating, or surfing

well, you can sign me up for the boating option

holy geez, lisa...can't you guys race in a pool? i panic if i even see a piece of algae floating toward me

nice post, red

[charlene]

James like my pool..lol no sharks or algae..just a few pool noodles..

I concur with all you said Red! I'll see GG in a few days and fully plan on having another grand time as I had with her in Ottawa and Montreal. So many great friends showing up in TO, my other grand travel pal Sparky, Melissa, .. I got a little room on my list...