{"id":910105,"date":"2026-09-29T18:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T18:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910105\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T18:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T18:52:17","slug":"big-shark-caught-on-drum-line-as-expert-warns-whale-scent-could-draw-predators-to-city-beach-for-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910105\/","title":{"rendered":"Big shark caught on drum line as expert warns whale scent could draw predators to City Beach for weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Indigo<\/p>\n

Updated September 29, 2026 \u2014 3:42pm,first published 1:47pm<\/p>\n

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Authorities have caught and tagged a great white shark within hours of setting drum lines near a whale carcass at South City Beach that was attracting several of the predators close to shore.<\/p>\n

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development tagged and released a 3.7 metre great white shark off Floreat Groyne on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"AA great white shark swims close to a beached whale carcass as hundreds of spectators look on in City Beach.Tom Kavanagh<\/p>\n

It comes after a 13-metre whale was spotted beached at 7.30am on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

The whale remnants were originally planned to be removed on Tuesday, but the Town of Cambridge has had to push that back by a day as the equipment needed to lift and transport the whale isn\u2019t available until Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"AA 3.7 metre great white shark wa tagged and released off Floreat Groyne on Tuesday hours after drum lines were dropped in the water.DPIRD<\/p>\n

With the beach closed to the public, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has taken the opportunity to drop three drum lines into the ocean in a bid to tag curious sharks.<\/p>\n

Macquarie University Fish Lab spokesman Culum Brown said this behaviour is common for sharks \u201clooking for a free meal\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSharks just do what sharks do, right? I mean, if there\u2019s a free meal, they\u2019ll certainly be attracted to it, and it\u2019s very well known that they\u2019re attracted to whale carcasses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sharks will be in feeding mode, and I mean most people probably think of sharks and particularly white sharks as being sort of attack, kill, ambush type predators and that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut actually, they\u2019re quite happy to have a free meal, and a massive whale carcass like that will keep them going for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout Monday and again Tuesday morning great white sharks between three and five metres in size were reported swimming 10 and 15 metres from the shore near the carcass.<\/p>\n

Brown said sharks will go to great lengths to get to their meal, even if it means beaching themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen sharks virtually beach themselves in order to get access to easy food. When there\u2019s a big school of salmon or whatever in the shallows, the sharks will come right in, no problem at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce they\u2019re in that feeding mode, they do a sort of a risk reward calculation in their heads, and if there\u2019s a good meal within reach, they\u2019ll do their best to get to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the depth is not really an issue for them, and it\u2019s unusual because we normally wouldn\u2019t see sharks coming in that shallow because they\u2019re deterred by human activity and that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a free meal like a whale just sitting there tantalising, you can imagine the smell. It must be driving them crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is for this reason he believes the shark tagging efforts might produce little reward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an odd decision because quite frankly I think that the attraction to the whale will certainly be way more powerful than any bait they can put on a hook.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I don\u2019t think that\u2019ll be very successful, but given that the sharks can\u2019t actually access the carcass at the moment, it may be that they\u2019d happily go off and find something in the nearby vicinity as an alternative.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut honestly, I think they\u2019ll be pretty determined to get that carcass.\u201d<\/p>\n

DPIRD has tagged 231 white sharks in WA waters since 2009 with 13 of those tagged this year.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe whale carcass at City Beach on Tuesday morning.Andrew Du<\/p>\n

Fisheries minister Jackie Jarvis said fisheries officers dropped the drum lines into the ocean on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make use of opportunistic tagging opportunities, and when there are whale carcasses, we make sure that we use them as an opportunity to tag sharks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll tag as many sharks as we can. It\u2019s important to remember when we tag sharks, this isn\u2019t just a tag on the dorsal fin. The shark is caught. It is actually pulled up alongside the boat. It is actually turned over, and an internal tag is actually surgically inserted, so each shark actually has sort of minor surgery on it. It is a mammoth task.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for why the carcass will be removed and taken to a tip as opposed to being dragged back into the ocean, Jarvis said it was based on the weather conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith regard to the removal of the carcass, I\u2019m not an expert. My understanding is, however, if the whale carcass is dragged out further in this type of weather conditions, it increases the chance of the carcass breaking up and washing back onto shore, and therefore causing more shark activity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Brown said that removal to a tip would be the most logical decision, but that it should be done sooner rather than later as the smell of the carcass could linger for weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longer it stays there, the more sharks will come in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe smell could last for weeks depending on how long it sits there for. Usually, what happens is that the oil and the smell infiltrates into the sand, down into the water table, and as the tides come and go, it spreads out into a broader radius.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it could be weeks before that smell is, you know, sufficiently dissipated. So even if you remove the carcass, somebody is going to have to maintain some sort of watch over that beach for quite some time yet I would imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jarvis said as long as there is shark activity, the beach will remain closed out of caution.<\/p>\n

It comes just 11 days after 63-year-old Greg O\u2019Neill was killed in a suspected great white shark attack while swimming close to shore at Sorrento beach, just 12 kilometres north of City Beach.<\/p>\n

\"GregGreg O\u2019Neill.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill\u2019s death prompted Surf Life Saving WA helicopter patrols to start the season a week earlier than scheduled, to boost safety.<\/p>\n

But Brown said it was encouraging to see so many people and children down by the beach who were curious to see the whale remains and sharks.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing a whale on the beach is incredible, but people are excited about seeing the sharks too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that to me is heartening that there\u2019s not an angry mob going down there to take out the sharks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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