MANY Australians dislike their country’s reputation as a hotbed of deadly creatures, but it is a brave surfer who has never felt a prickle of anxiety at what lurks beneath the surf. Laeticia Brouwer, a teenager who was recently killed by a shark in Western Australia, was the state’s third such fatality in under a year, and the 14th nationwide since 2012. Her death has reignited a debate over how to deter attacks in a country that may have lost a prime minister to one (though it is more likely that Harold Holt, who vanished while swimming in 1967, simply drowned).
Certain endangered species of shark, including the great white, have been protected in Australia since the 1990s. Swimmers and surfers worry that their numbers are rising: the rate of unprovoked attacks doubled between that decade and the 10 years to 2015. Responsibility probably lies with a growing human population, but “any fisherman will tell you that they see more...Continue reading
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