It could be enough to prompt the theme music from Jaws: a shadow and then fins just metres from the shoreline at a Sunshine Coast beach.
A shark was sighted cruising north along Sunshine Beach late last year, capturing the attention of people in the area, including lifesavers, who tracked it for some time.
A video of it emerged as unprecedented numbers of sharks were caught in nets and on drumlines on the Sunshine Coast.
There were 162 sharks snared in the region in 2024: the most in a calendar year since records started in 2001.
Footage of the shark was captured by Isabella Clancy during the middle of the day.
“I thought, ‘Wow that is close to shore. I swim there: this is scary,’” she said.
There were plenty of people and pets in the vicinity: an off-leash beach between Sunshine Beach Surf Life Saving Club and the southern headland of Noosa National Park.
“Everyone was surfing and swimming,” Ms Clancy said.
She estimated it could have been between 3m to 4m long.
“I’m not sure what it was doing there,” she said.
“The surf lifesavers followed it for about 20 minutes along the coastline.”
Bond University Associate Professor of Environmental Science Daryl McPhee was unsure what species it was but he estimated, from the footage, that it was about 1.5m long.
He explained why it was likely so close to dry land.
“Various shark species come right into the shoreline as it is part of their natural habitat,” he said.
“The presence of schooling fish possibly attracted the animal in close to the shore.
“Periods after rainfall are often the times when some species of sharks spend more time inshore due to increased fish present. This is particularly the case at beaches adjacent to river mouths.”
He said beachgoers should be vigilant when sharks are on the shoreline.
“Water users should exit the water when a shark is present and obey the direction of lifesavers,” he said.
“While the presence of a shark does not mean that a bite will occur, caution still needs to be exercised.”
More shark catches were recorded on the Sunshine Coast than ever before in 2024, according to QFish data.
There were 104 catches on the northern Sunshine Coast, where whalers were prominent, and 42 catches on the southern Sunshine Coast, where tiger sharks and long nose whalers were evident.
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But Prof McPhee said the region’s waters were unremarkable when it came to shark numbers.
“Sunshine Coast waters have no more or less sharks than other locations,” he said.
A prominent animal welfare group last year condemned Queensland’s Shark Control Program, after dozens of non-targeted animals died after being caught by nets and drumlines off Sunshine Coast beaches in 2023.
There are 22 shark nets and 60 drumlines between Noosa and Caloundra, while studies are underway on electronic warning devices and drones.
A Fisheries Queensland spokesperson told Sunshine Coast News last year that the government was determined to lessen the effects of control measures on non-targeted shark species and other sea life, and several initiatives were being implemented and/or trialled to achieve this.
They include using drumlines instead of nets where possible, using electronic warning devices to deter whales and dolphins from swimming near nets and drumlines, using alternative baits or apparatus configurations to reduce the incidences of dolphins and turtles being caught on drumlines or in nets, and conducting a comparative trial of circle hooks and J hooks to assess the effect on catches of target sharks, non-target sharks and other marine animals.
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