SHARK ALARMS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5364, 14 December 1928, Page 4

SHARK ALARMS.

SIRENS WOULD CAUSE PANIC-

SURF EXPERT’S VIEW.

The qffiqial head of the Surf LifeSaving Association! of Australia, Mr C. D. Paterson, does not favour the proposal to instal electric sirens qn Bondi and Bronte beaches to, warn surfers of the approach of sharks, says a Sydney papdr, Mr Paterson holds that it would cause a stampede among people in the water, and qc,casion unnecessary scares.

Mr Paterson, who is considered an authority 'on surf life-saving, says that in the history of surfing on Aus-; tralian beaches there- have beep remarkably few attacks in propqrtion to the number of people who go to, the seaside for recreation. Alarmists have done enough already, says Mr Paterson, and there are many people who always enter the breakers with a “panicky feeling.” If the sirens being considered by the Waveriey Cqunc.il are put on beaches, he adds, jt will mean that if a shark is sighted of yards from one extremity of the beach, people half a mile away will leave the water. All that is required on the beaches, in his opinion, are efficient loOkquts, with a serviceable bell close at hand. According to the surfmen’s chief, the ideas aired at Newcastle for the attraction of sharks by baits, and their systematic killing, are ridicu-i lous. If a shark is killed it only brings more in the proximity.