{"id":684079,"date":"2026-05-21T00:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/684079\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T00:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:22:10","slug":"shark-warning-for-sydney-as-weather-lures-bull-sharks-great-whites-closer-to-shore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/684079\/","title":{"rendered":"Shark warning for Sydney as weather lures bull sharks, great whites closer to shore"},"content":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffhe current weather conditions are brewing up a perfect storm for not one but two species of shark in the water off Sydney’s<\/a> beaches.<\/p>\n

Shark expert Dr Chris Pepin-Neff told Today that the combined factors of recent rain and sea temperatures mean both bull sharks and great whites are being lured closer to shore.<\/p>\n

Pepin-Neff said sea surface temperatures of 20 degrees and above were ideal for bull sharks, while 20 degrees and below was perfect for great whites.<\/p>\n

\"CloseGreat white sharks are being pulled in closer to Sydney shores. (Getty)<\/p>\n

And right now, “we’re right in the middle”.<\/p>\n

“It’s the end of May, we’re right at that seasonal point,” he said.<\/p>\n

Added to that, recent heavy rain had stirred up brackish water closer to the shore, which also made ideal hunting conditions for bull sharks.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"BullBull sharks are being lured by brackish waters stirred up by rain. (Getty)<\/p>\n

And great whites were being drawn in closer by the cooling temperatures.<\/p>\n

“I want surfers to be aware if you’re in the Northern Beaches, if you’re doing surfing right now, white sharks are in closer,” Pepin-Neff said.<\/p>\n

He urged surfers to stick together in groups in the water for safety’s sake.<\/p>\n

Other swimmers were told to stay out of brackish water, and if they were swimming at an ocean beach, to stay between the flags.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Shark expert Dr Chris Pepin-Neff. (Today)<\/p>\n

Pepin-Neff said the noise generated in the water by a group of people could intimidate sharks and keep them at a distance, so there’s safety in concentrated numbers.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Sydney recently saw a spate of \ufeffattacks believed to have been carried out by bull sharks, in January this year.<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"T\ufeffhe current weather conditions are brewing up a perfect storm for not one but two species of shark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-684079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}