The ocean has always been a major component of Glen Butler's life.
Over 50 years a surfer for half a century and, during that period, he notes he rarely thought about sharks.
"You're aware you're stepping into their domain, so you're vigilant," the 61-year-old remarked.
However the surfer's comfort in the ocean was shattered last month.
He'd gone for a ocean outing with his friends one early weekend at Long Reef in the beach communities north of Sydney. A few minutes after he left of the water, another wave rider the experienced surfer was tragically lost by a great white shark.
"It's shaken us quite," he confesses. Mercury and his twin brother his brother were familiar in the beach community, he adds: "Typically you'd say hello."
The country Highest Risk Place for Shark Incidents
The country is host to numerous the world's best beaches. More than 80% of the population lives on the shoreline, so an sunrise dip or wave session is typical for thousands of people daily.
But there are residents who think that common practice is turning more hazardous.
One local is one of them.
The senior Sydney resident recalls looking at enormous white sharks caught by fishing crews as a youngster, back in the days the now-protected marine life could still be permitted to be caught.
Witnessing these deceased animals suspended by their rear fins caused a "macabre" feeling, he explains, but not anxiety. Marine predators were animals of the marine depths, he thought, and he rode waves in the more shallow coastal areas.
However half a decade back, his daughter his daughter was nipped by a pig eye shark while free-diving on the marine park. Though she lived through, it made the father anxious about the marine life – an issue that grows with each sensational report about an attack.
"Such incidents affect me… I'm freaked out," he confesses.
While 'The surfer was only the second individual fatally attacked by a shark encounter in the city over the past half-century, it's small consolation to those who frequently frequent the city's beaches.
Every wave rider spoken to in the period after the surfer's tragic incident stated they think shark appearances closer to shore are becoming rising.
"Periodically we could have spotted a dark shadow, but it could have been a dolphin," notes the local. "Now, I spot them all the time."
Certain concern that shark numbers are increasing rapidly, after multiple species - featuring the planet's most lethal ocean hunters, large predators and tigers - were granted different levels of safeguarding in the nation's oceans.
There is minimal research on shark numbers to definitively tell the situation – but experts contend an growth in sightings doesn't automatically indicate there are increased populations.
Environmental experts suggest that warming oceans are altering the migration and eating behaviors of sharks. But experts say any increase in observations is primarily down to increasing numbers of individuals venturing into the ocean, and they are magnified by online platforms.
The probability of being nipped by a marine predator in Australia is still very low. You're many thousands times more probable to drown. It is true, nevertheless, that the land is a predator encounter hotspot.
Australia places only behind the US - a country with significantly more the residents - for shark bites, and it tops the planet for deadly incidents, based on the global database.
This record only records "unprovoked" events – omitting those potentially stimulated by people through actions such as spear fishing – but a fuller record of all documented shark interactions in Australia is managed by conservation group.
Records demonstrate that predator encounters have broadly been rising over the past years. Thus far this period there have been four fatal attacks - all non-induced.
Barriers 'Similar to a Napkin in a Water Body'
The state had been preparing to trial scaling back its deployment of shark nets – its oldest predator prevention method – when the most recent lethal encounter took place.
Marine barriers have been implemented in NSW since nearly a century and presently are usually installed on multiple shorelines from September through to early autumn. In addition to the northern state, it is the sole region that continues to employ them.
It's impossible to cordon off entire beaches – ocean conditions are very forceful and would readily sweep the nets away.
Rather, the shark nets are approximately 492ft long and sit a multiple meters beneath the sea level. Though fastened to the marine bed at points, they don't reach the bottom. So marine predators can go above, beneath and past them.
"It resembles dropping a tissue into the pool," Research center Researcher a marine expert commented.
Local authorities explains marine barriers are "not designed to form a total barrier between swimmers and sharks" but instead seek to "catch specific predators" during any {hunts
