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Shark encounter ‘was like being hit by a bus’

Police say nearby boaters went to tremendous effort to try to help a man who was yesterday fatally attacked by a shark near the Tasmanian coastal town of Triabunna.

Inspector David Wiss from Tasmania Police said the 46-year-old recreational scallop diver was diving with his daughter from an aluminium dinghy about 8am between Lachlan Island and Maria Island.

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When the man did not resurface, his 20-year-old daughter became worried and went down to check on her father and saw him being attacked by what is believed to be a great white shark.

The dinghy the diver was operating from is tied to a jetty in Triabunna.

The dinghy the diver was operating from is tied to a jetty in Triabunna.

Inspector Wiss said nearby boaters were alerted by the flare and went to offer assistance and tried to pull the man up by his air supply hose.

“They undertook some really tremendous efforts to return him to the surface but he was fatally injured,” he said.

A coronial inquest into the man’s death has begun.

Police boats will be conducting patrols near Maria Island today, warning people not to enter the water, however Inspector Wiss said the waterways were generally safe.

“It’s very safe as a general rule to be using our waterways, it’s been 22 years since our last fatal shark attack,” he said.

Glen Wisbey from the Scallop Fishermen’s Association of Tasmania agreed, but said people should be aware of the risks when entering the water: “Well they [sharks] live there”.

Glamorgan Spring Bay Mayor Michael Kent said the area was not known for sharks but a “15 foot [4.5 metre]” animal had been spotted in the area a number of times in the past week.

“There’s been a so-called white pointer seen a couple of times over the last week out and about but [there is] not particularly a lot of sharks in and around that particular area,” he said.

“I don’t know how long the shark’s been in the area. I’ve been told about a week.”

A recreational scallop diver

There were a number of people diving for scallops in the area at the time of the attack.

Two divers who had an encounter with a big shark in the same area on Friday said their hearts go out to the dead man’s family.

Danny Smith and Wade Cleary were diving for scallops off Maria Island on Friday afternoon.

Mr Smith said he watched as a large shark hit Mr Cleary from behind and they managed to escape to their boat.

Mr Cleary said it was `like being hit by a bus’ but believed the shark had no intention of biting him, “it just sort of cruised past to see what I was”.

“I thought me mates were pulling me a bit hard and it seemed a bit strange that they might want to go home and then my air line went slack from where they was drifting, that’s when I got hit from behind and rolled and when I went under that’s when I actually seen the shark,” he said.

The men reported the incident to authorities yesterday morning, about the same time the fatal attack happened.

Mr Smith said they both felt very emotional when they heard the news.

“My heart goes out to the family there’s no doubt about that, I’m asking myself all the time is there more that we could have done to prevent this gentleman from being taken it’s hard to describe how the emotions are at the minute.”

Concerns for tourism industry

Mr Kent said members of his community were “devastated”.

Residents of Triabunna are hoping the attack will not significantly hurt their tourism industry as one hotel has already had cancellations from visitors who were planning to dive in the area.

Local fisherman Leigh Castle hopes that does not continue.

“I suppose the town’s struggled a little bit from time to time and you don’t want this to be a bad thing for the area in terms of tourism and stuff goes,” he said.

“But it doesn’t seem to affect areas like WA when they have attacks.”

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