Newcastle’s beaches have never been closed for so long. Nine days at the height of summer. And it all started with Bruce.

The five-metre great white shark was spotted on 10 January at Merewether, one of the most popular beaches in the port of Newcastle, 160km north of Sydney. Bruce (actual gender uncertain) is estimated to weigh as much as two Volkswagen Beetles.

“This great white shark is of a size that has not been seen before around Newcastle,” the local council said. “It is not safe for anyone to be in the water.”

About the same time, at nearby Nobbys Beach, a second enormous great white was spotted. And then three more in the vicinity of Merewether’s ocean baths. The same day, a couple sitting on a break wall in Newcastle harbour reported seeing a “dark shadow” approach them, flash a huge fin and swim away. Dolphin carcasses soon began to wash up on shore.

Great white sharks commonly make their way down Australia’s east coast during summer in search of baby seals and other prey. Warm waters and plentiful food supplies have brought them close to shore in greater numbers than ever. Marine biologists were cheered. Everyone else, it seemed, went into a frenzy.

The few beaches that remained open in the Hunter region around Newcastle were soon shut as sightings, both confirmed and otherwise, trickled in. Videos circulated online of a five-metre shark circling two fisherman in a tinny. A teenager from Mollymook, on the state’s south coast, had his hand chomped while spearfishing. The footage he captured on his GoPro led TV news bulletins across the state.

In Newcastle, ads for Monday’s local paper stuck out around town, demanding: “WHEN WILL OUR BEACHES RE-OPEN.” An ominous dark fin jutted above the copy.

The weekend was gloriously sunny, but crowds at Hunter area beaches were way down. It’s bad news for local businesses. “It hit us hard last week,” says Vicki, behind the counter of the Newcastle beach kiosk. “And the kids will be going back to school soon, so we’ve missed a very good week.”

An ad for the Newcastle Herald

Not everyone was fazed. On Monday a half dozen men played touch rugby in the sand at Newcastle beach. Every day during the beach closures they have gone for a quick lunchtime swim.

Were they afraid? Chris, a local accountant, shrugged. “Mate, I’ve had two brown snakes in the pool the last month,” he said.

Australia-wide, on average, one person is taken each year, though in 2014 four people were killed. Three deaths the year before in Western Australia led its state government to begin laying baited hooks near popular beaches.

Protests and international opprobrium, including from the comedian Ricky Gervais and the entrepreneur Richard Branson, raged for months before the state’s Environmental Protection Agency scuppered the idea. The hooks are still deployed in the face of “imminent threats”.

Shark nets stretch across 51 New South Wales beaches and are supposed to keep the apex predators away. Studies suggest the nets – which mostly kill “non-target” animals such as turtles, dugongs and dolphins – have actually done little to stop human fatalities.

But there is little appetite to remove them. It turns out the debate on how to manage sharks such as Bruce is really a stand-in for something much deeper.



An environmental psychologist, Dr Susie Burke, sees the shark frenzy of the past weeks as a teachable moment. “It’s a great opportunity to show we aren’t really in charge, that we aren’t the only stakeholders,” she says. “We have to consider how to adapt to our environment, rather than dominate our environment.”

Domination has biblical backing. In Genesis God grants man “dominion over the fish of the sea”. Humans have taken this to heart, killing about 73 million sharks a year. In contrast, only about 10 deaths worldwide each year can be attributed to shark attacks.

Burke argues that giving sharks room to pass by beaches is good practice. That dominion mindset helps explain why adapting our lifestyle to the challenge of climate change has been so difficult, she says. “This is a chance to reflect on our rightful place.”

Her view doesn’t get a friendly reception down at Newcastle beach. “To me, that’s an effeminate cop-out,” Tommy Morgan says. “If there are people being killed, and there’s a way we can stop them being killed, it should be taken.”

Dressed in Speedos, his chin raised imperiously, Morgan is a fitting poster boy for what might be considered the more macho approach to shark management. “These sharks should be culled,” he says. “We’ve had the best week of surfing weather we’ve had all summer. The beaches have been closed for the whole week because of sharks here.

“I’m listening to the prime minister whingeing and moaning about people being executed in Indonesia – drug runners – and we’re having decent, healthy, outdoor Australians being killed here by white sharks, one after the other.”

Unsurprisingly, Morgan has ignored the beach closures of the past 10 days. He sees them as part of a broader tilt towards a nanny state. “It’s a way of life to me. And to be restricted as I am by a government in the things that I do is nearly as bad as being taken by a white shark.

“I haven’t been out here every day. I haven’t gone swimming here in dirty water. But on a clear day, when I’ve had a bit of visibility and the surf is particularly good, on a particularly hot day, I’ve braved it, and so have many others. We surf at our own risk.”

Later, I see him trudge past the red flag – indicating the beach is closed – and disappear into the spray.

Lifeguard Isaac Morgan: ‘If people saw what I saw on the jetski, they’d think twice about getting into the water’

For local lifeguards such as Isaac Morgan, the determination of some surfers to defy the shark warnings is frustrating. “It’s our job to keep people out,” he says. “At the end of the day, if people want to go in, they can go in, but it’s at their own risk.”

He sits in an observation post high above the water. Binoculars, cricket bats and a copy of Surfing Life magazine are strewn around the room. It’s an idyllic place to spend a summer day – until someone sees a fin. Then lifeguards become a little like firefighters, rushing towards the danger while everyone else flees.

“We have to get out there on the jetski and confirm the sighting,” he says. A shark report came in last Thursday at Newcastle’s Burwood beach. His jetski came to rest within 20m of two great white sharks preying on a dolphin.

The record streak of closures goes on

“I try not to think about it,” he says of the danger. “They had eyes for the dolphin, not me.”



Still, it’s hard to shake the experience. He’s stayed out of the water the past 10 days. “I wouldn’t go in. One, because I work as a lifeguard and I’ve got to set the example. And two, because of the things I saw out there.

“If people saw what I saw on the jetski, they’d think twice about getting into the water. Just the way it was stalking that dolphin was scary.”

After days of no sightings, the council is now convinced Bruce and his mates have moved on. The shark warnings were lifted on Monday, but only two beaches had reopened the next day. The record streak of closures continues, now for more prosaic reasons: stormy weather and rough surf.