South Australia surfing: Shark attack victim’s friends raises alarm after ‘explosion’ in great white population

The population of great white sharks is “exploding” and surfers must abandon the west coast of South Australia as a destination, a friend of a shark attack victim says.

A search has continued for Lance Appleby, 28, of Port Lincoln, after witnesses saw him attacked at Granites Beach, on SA’s Eyre Peninsula, just after 7pm on Thursday.

Family friend and shark fisherman Jeff Schmucker said anyone who wanted to surf along SA’s West Coast should “get yourself a jet ski and start tow surfing”.

“Other than that, stop surfing on the west coast of South Australia, period - the next one could be this afternoon,” he said on Friday.

“My kids are surfing up at Cactus (Beach, near Penong) at the moment and it’s like, ‘get the f*** out of the water and start thinking about doing something else’, because this is over here.”

White sharks are protected in all South Australian waters under Section 71 of the Fisheries Management Act 2007.

A person must not take, harm, or harass a white shark and there is a penalty of up to $20,000.

Mr Schmucker, who has fished for sharks for 40 years, said the population of great whites was “exploding” and he did not believe culling would make much difference.

“I think they’re back to pre-white man biomass - the breeding biomass is strong and the numbers have increased,” he said.

“And if you’re going to cull them to the levels that we culled them with the gill nets over the last 40 years, we almost wiped them out.”

Mr Schmucker was also at Granites Beach, 30km southwest of Streaky Bay, moments after surfer Tod Gendle, 55, was taken by a shark in October 2023.

“I just rocked up there on my ski,” he said.

“The kid that was with me got upset, so I took him in, but I went straight back out to see if I could find a leg rope or something, and then the shark came right up to me.

“I saw it and filmed it, and I presume that the guy’s body was inside the shark, and it would be no different to this attack (on Mr Appleby), but there’s no point looking for anything out there.

“Lance’s body’s inside the shark, and the shark’s probably not very far away. And if they want to do something about it, they should do it now.”

Mr Schmucker said authorities should authorise a destruction order for the shark because “his family and community need closure”.

“If you berley-up, these sharks will come to you,” he said.

“They’re just a lean, mean, eating machine and that’s what they’re designed to do as an apex predator.”

Mr Schmucker had issued a warning on social media on Thursday , hours before the attack after a great white was spotted in the area.

There were six shark attacks in eight months on the SA coast in 2023, three of which were fatal.

Shark mitigation and improved first aid responses were announced in November in partnership with Surf Life Saving SA, with the state allocating $500,000 to reducing the risk of shark attacks.