Sharks Latest Woe for Drought-Hit Rural Australia

Jahnava Nitai Das · November 28, 2002

Wed Nov 27, 8:51 AM ET

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Hungry sharks are venturing tens of miles up Australian rivers as drought reduces fresh water levels, forcing schools to warn children not to cool off in the local river.

"Once we were told of the shark sightings we informed our four schools. We warned children not to swim in the river," Ian Northam, principal of Wingham High School, on the Manning River in northern New South Wales state, told Reuters on Wednesday.

Australia is in the grips of one of its worst droughts in 100 years. Fresh water levels in rivers have fallen and salt water is extending further inland, with declining stocks of river and estuary fish forcing sharks further upstream. Wingham is about 25 miles upstream on the Manning River, but a local fishermen recently spotted a bull shark swimming near a small dam, a popular swimming hole for locals.

Another fisherman last week hauled in a 2.5-meter (7.5-feet) bronze whaler a few kilometers (miles) downstream from Wingham.

The summer issue of The New South Wales Sea Kayaker magazine warned of the risk of bull sharks in Australian rivers, saying they had been found in most Australian water systems.

"This shark is very, very dangerous. Some experts consider this shark to be the most dangerous in the world, even surpassing the Great White Shark," the magazine said.

It said the bull shark, which measures up to 3.5 meters (10 feet) in length and weighs around 230 kg (104 pounds), can survive in fresh or saltwater and will eat almost anything.

Bull sharks have been blamed for several attacks on rowers and kayakers on the upper reaches of Sydney harbor in recent years.