Gayford: More Sharks Than Ever Off Australia and NZ
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- Gayford, a veteran spearfisher, reports encountering more sharks across Australia and New Zealand than at any point in his lifetime, including a notable face-to-face meeting with a great white whose girth he compared to a dump truck compared with a sports-car-like mako
- Acoustic and satellite tagging has confirmed that great whites off Stewart Island, New Zealand are the same animals now appearing on Australia's east coast, tracing an annual migration Gayford likens to the humpback whale journey from Antarctica
- Eastern Australian humpback whale numbers have surged past 1960s pre-whaling levels, with some estimates putting the population at 60,000 cetaceans — Gayford argues this 'floating restaurant' may be fuelling the great white comeback
- Sydney beaches, including Dee Why on the northern beaches where Gayford counted seven whales surfacing simultaneously last week, have seen rising shark bites and sightings prompting concern among surfers, swimmers and politicians
- Gayford has abandoned spearfishing spots where the sound of a speargun fired draws groups of three or more sharks from the depths, saying any speared fish is likely to trigger an underwater frenzy
- The Australian shark debate has become polarized between social media users calling sharks 'misunderstood puppy dogs' and anglers posting videos of hauling in and butchering bull sharks, making rational middle-ground conversation harder, Gayford writes
Why it matters: If Gayford's whale-to-shark hypothesis holds, the recovery of humpback populations to roughly 60,000 would also explain why Sydney-area beachgoers and politicians are facing a more crowded ocean — the same ecosystem success story that's restoring whales is also restocking the great white food chain along popular swimming beaches.
