Rising sea temperatures driving sharks toward beaches

The West Australian Department of
Fisheries is investigating whether a
marine heatwave, in which areas of ocean
water reached 30 degrees Celsius in the
last few years, caused fish stocks in those
regions to almost disappear. This would
have driven predators like sharks closer in
to shore because fish collect in cooler
waters.
Five people have been killed in shark
attacks at western Australian beaches in
the past two years and there have been
far more sightings of large shark packs
near to shore.
"It may be the sharks are coming in with
the colder water or it may be that the
things they’re feeding on are coming in
with the colder water and the sharks are
following them," Fisheries director general
Stuart Smith told the West Australian
newspaper.
Smith said the rise in ocean temperatures
in some areas to as much as five degrees
above normal was at first considered an
aberration, but it is now believed to be
part of a broader environmental change.
Rising water temperatures have
devastated the region’s rock lobster
industry.//DPA