Spearfisher killed in Australia’s third fatal shark attack in 4 weeks

A spearfisher was killed on Saturday in Australia’s third fatal shark attack in four weeks, police said.

The 35-year-old man was spearfishing with family off Michaelmas Island near the port city of Albany in Western Australia state when he was attacked before noon local time, a police statement said.

The man was brought by boat to Albany where paramedics were waiting but he could not be revived, police said. Authorities suspect a 15-foot white shark was responsible. Gregory Sharp, a commercial fisherman in the area, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation there has been an increase in shark activity in the area recently. 

“We do see an increase in larger sharks this time of the year, particularly chasing the sardine and the salmon along the coast, which is quite normal,” he said. 

The spate of three fatalities is extraordinary in a nation that has averaged around three shark deaths a year in recent decades.

The last fatality was on May 24 when 39-year-old spearfisher Michael Jensz suffered unsurvivable head injuries in an attack on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s northeast coast. Bull sharks had been seen in the vicinity. Rob Parsonage, another boat charter operator with a vessel in the area at the time of the attack, said “the sharks are competing with the fishermen.” 

A week earlier, on May 16, a 13-foot white shark fatally mauled 38-year-old spearfisher Steve Mattabonni northwest of Albany near Rottnest Island. The attack was witnessed by the man’s friends, Western Australia Police Sgt. Michael Wear said at the time. His friends tried to save him, but he could not be resuscitated after being bitten on the legs. 

Mattaboni’s wife, Shirene, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he had two young children. The family’s “hearts are irrevocably broken,” she said. 

Australia’s only other fatal shark attack this year occurred in January, when a 12-year-old boy died in a hospital days after he was mauled by a bull shark in Sydney Harbor. Nico Antic’s family said he and friends had been jumping in the water when the attack happened. Recent rains had made the water murky, CBS News previously reported. Poor water quality is “really conducive” to shark activity, according to Australian officials. 

Australian scientists believe increasingly crowded waters and rising ocean temperatures are swaying sharks’ migratory patterns, which may be contributing to a rise in attacks. 

The International Shark Attack File, a database of global shark attacks maintained by the University of Florida, has recorded more than 1,280 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, including more than 250 fatal incidents.