Australia: Swimmers fear sea's silent killer

LOCALS and visitors to Adelaide's beaches yesterday said they would not be swimming in the Gulf in the near future, if at all.

But divers have vowed to return to the "peaceful" tyre reef where Wednesday's tragedy occurred. They say sharks are rarely seen in the area.

The shark attack has confirmed many swimmers' fears about venturing into the waters off Adelaide.

But police are not urging swimmers to take any extra precautions.

Francis Donati, of West Beach, usually swims in water up to her neck every morning in summer, but from now on will only get her feet wet.

"I will be very wary and a bit frightened," she said. "I think anyone who would go swimming now (after two fatal shark attacks in eight months) is a bit crazy."

English tourist Belinda Leppington, 36, and her children, Jessica, 15, Tom, 13, and Lucy, 10, had planned to take advantage of Adelaide's "warm" winter and swim off West Beach during their two-week stay, but now they will stay on the sand. The family plans to emigrate and said they would be too scared to swim off Adelaide beaches.

"We knew about sharks when we came over, but we didn't know they'd be so close (to the beach)," Mrs Leppington said.

But Luke Bellman, a diver and committee member at the Glenelg Scuba Diving Club, said it was "very rare" to see sharks at the artificial reef, about 18m below the surface.

"I've dived there about six times before and have never seen a shark, let alone a white pointer," he said.

Meanwhile, the state's scuba diving fraternity is concerned about the effect Wednesday's attack will have on the industry. Dive Industry Association spokesman David Oliver said the risk should be kept in perspective. "Only three scuba divers have ever been (fatally) attacked by sharks," he said.

Source: www.theadvertiser.news.com.au