The beach is a popular spot for many in summer but let's not panic now. Photo / File
The beach is a popular spot for many in summer but let's not panic now. Photo / File
OPINION
Sun, sand, surf - we really do live in paradise here in the Bay of Plenty.
As do many other creatures great and small, including sharks.
Kiwis have always had a strange fascination with sharks. Maybe we could blame the Jaws movie franchise, or perhaps it is more abouttrying to understand the activity of an apex predator.
Over the years in this newsroom, we've covered many shark sighting stories and they have always been among the most popular.
However, never in my career have we had to report on a fatal shark attack in the Bay of Plenty. Until now.
It's almost beyond imagination. And if I'm struggling to comprehend what happened that Thursday afternoon, I can only imagine what Kaelah Marlow's grieving family and friends must be going through. No one would have predicted, or expected, such a harrowing tragedy. My heart goes out to them.
Marlow's death is a stark reminder of how precious life is but I would hate to think of anyone who wasn't there that day becoming too scared to enter the water at our beautiful beaches because of it.
The Bay of Plenty has some of the most beautiful swimming spots which serve as one of the biggest drawcards to the region. Yet, I've heard more than once from people saying they won't be going for a swim at the beach again after what has happened.
A shiver of sharks off the coast of the Coromandel has been captured. Photo / Philip Hart
Aerial photos such as that taken by Whitianga local Philip Hart in today's paper showing a great shiver of sharks not far off Coromandel's coast don't help to appease such concerns either. Hart refers to the sighting as being "not any more than usual for this time of year".
He's right. Sharks have always been there. So have the dolphins, whales and stingrays which have each been seen in the Tauranga harbour since New Year's Day.
We have sharks en masse in our waters, particularly at this time of year, yet New Zealand hasn't experienced a fatal shark attack since Adam Strange was killed off Muriwai Beach in 2013.
Consider then, all the times a person puts themselves at risk of death or injury since then. In 2019, a total of 352 people died from crashes on New Zealand roads. Of those, 174 were driving, 13 people were cycling, another 29 people were walking.
Last year, on Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty roads 17 people were killed in crashes.
Another four people in the Bay of Plenty were killed in work-related incidents, according to WorkSafe data.
More people die on our roads or at work than from shark attacks.
