REDLAND City Council is warning beach users that a shark has been seen at Raby Bay.
The shark was sighted off the Raby Bay Foreshore Park dog beach on Masthead Drive and three beaches closed to swimmers.
The warning has prompted plenty of comment on Facebook, with people saying there have always been sharks there. Others believed dugong might have been mistaken for sharks.
The warning comes a week after a teenager was bitten off Lighthouse Beach, Ballina, northern NSW, a place notorious for big sharks.
A 3.5m great white shark was later seen off the beach. It was the 11th attack in a 70km stretch of the coast since January last year.
Bond University researcher Daryl McPhee said Redland swimmers had little reason to fear that great whites would be in places like Raby Bay as it was not their natural habitat.
The species most likely to be in an area like Raby Bay would be bull sharks or small whalers like black tip sharks.
Dr McPhee said bull sharks, which grew to 2.4 metres, were one of the top three species that featured in attacks and were found often in Gold Coast canals.
“If they have a choice, they prefer natural rivers rather than canal estates,’’ he said.
It was not known whether shark numbers had increased but the human population had grown and more people spent time on water sports which put them into a shark environment.
Dr McPhee said council warnings should be obeyed although people should remember that they had more chance of dying from fireworks than from shark attack.
“People can’t expect governments to make mountain climbing 100 per cent safe nor swimming in the ocean 100 per cent safe,’’ he said.
In the 54 years since shark netting and the rigging of drumline hooks started in Queensland, there had been only one fatal attack on a protected beach. That was at Amity on North Stradbroke Island in January 2006 when 21-year-old Sarah Kate Whiley was killed by a bull shark.
Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni said Queenslanders should make sure pools were safe, kids were taught to swim, risky behaviour was avoided, first aid was understood and kids were supervised at all times.