Drone ban lifted over Coogee Beach as woman left fighting for life after attack
Drones that are meant to fly over Sydney beaches to monitor shark activity were not allowed to fly over Coogee Beach before an attack that left a woman fighting for life.
Despite drones being part of a new shark monitoring strategy in the wake of a spate of shark attacks across Australia, a ruling by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) banned the use of drones at the popular beach on Sydney’s eastern suburbs due to its proximity to Sydney Airport.
Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said the government was hoping to allow a temporary lifting of a drone ban over Coogee beach to become permanent. 9News
After yesterday’s shocking attack, which has left a 35-year-old woman in critical condition, the state government has confirmed Surf Life Saving NSW (SLS) has been granted temporary permission to fly drones over Coogee Beach.
“We will work with CASA to make sure that becomes permanent,” Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty told media today.
She said the previous ruling was not in the control of the government, but said it would work with the aviation authority to come to a common ground agreement.
“They [can’t] fly drones close to the airport to keep planes safe, that’s a common-sense approach,” she said. “[But] having said that, we’re working with SLS NSW to make sure we can embrace this technology over our beaches.”
Yesterday’s attack happened when the woman was with a group of people swimming between the flags at Coogee Beach, about 20 to 30 metres from the shore.
An off-duty lifeguard spoke about the terrifying moment he saw the woman get dragged underwater by the shark.
Charlie Verco said he saw the woman get dragged into the water by the shark. Today
Charlie Verco, 24, was on his board, and was able to grab the woman from the water while she was being attacked, and his actions are credited for saving the victim’s life.
She is now at St Vincent’s Hospital in a critical condition with “significant” arm and leg injuries.
Verco said the terrifying situation began to unfold when a group of women swimming near him started screaming about a shark in the water, though he admitted he wasn’t overly concerned at first.
“Most of the time when people shout in the water it usually isn’t a shark, so I was pretty calm at that point,” he told the Today Show.
“I started paddling out to see if everything was alright, and I could see something in the water.”
A woman has been attacked by a shark at Coogee beach in Sydney. 9News
However, it all changed when he saw the shark grabbed the victim.
“Once it actually grabbed the lady, that’s when I started getting pretty freaked out,” Verco said.
He told The Sydney Morning Herald that he was initially unable to assist the group of swimmers because other people tried to climb onto his 18-foot paddleboard.
“I had to tell them, the shark was over there, near the women, I have to help them,” he said.
Then he saw the shadow of the great white shark, and admitted he was stunned.
The shark was spotted by a drone in the moments after the attack. One Shot Creative
“I saw the shark come out of the water and it was one of the biggest I’ve ever seen,” Verco said.
“It actually grabbed one of the girls and started dragging her around.
“I was pretty scared.”
Verco told Today he watched the shark pull the victim underwater.
“There was a lot of blood in the water, I couldn’t really see what was going on,” he said.
“She popped up and [the shark] let her go, and that was when I got close enough to grab her and put her on my board and take her to shore.”
He told The Herald he was worried about moving towards the shark directly, because his father was paddling about 100 metres away.
A rescue helicopter after a woman was attacked by a shark at Coogee beach in Sydney. 9News
“I certainly couldn’t fight off the shark once I realised how big it was, and I couldn’t imagine doing that, and Dad having to watch me get attacked,” he said.
Unable to pull her on to the paddleboard, at one stage he grabbed her arm and brought her back to the shore.
“I didn’t even know her name ... I just kept saying things like ‘keep your head above water, keep breathing, you’re doing a very good job’,” he told the Herald.
“Anything to fill the silence and give her something to focus on.”
After the pair finally made it to shore, it was a community effort to stem the bleeding.
Local Cooper Smeaton admitted it was "horrifying" to see the attack unfold in front of him and other families. Today
The woman was pulled from the water by lifeguards and members of the public who gave her first aid, including applying tourniquets.
Cooper Smeaton was on the beach when he saw the attack unfold, and said it was a “horrifying” sight.
“I saw Charlie, in his amazement, pulling the lady into shore and from there, everyone rushing over to assist him. It was something unbelievable,” he told Today.
“I’ve grown up on the beaches all my life, I’ve never actually seen a shark. To be this close to it on my local beach in Sydney is terrifying.”
An off-duty critical care doctor stabilised her before paramedics arrived.
The woman was taking a lunchtime swim and doing everything right, swimming between the red and yellow flags before the shark of “three to four metres” attacked.
Smeaton said this aspect of yesterday’s attack was particularly concerning.
“You think a day like yesterday, it was absolutely perfect for families, the lady was doing the right thing in the flags, and bang, it happens,” he said.
Government says ‘everything is on the table’ to protect people at beaches
After the attack, Moriarty insisted the government would look at all available options to help protect swimmers on the state’s beaches, refusing to explicitly rule out a culling of sharks.
“Nothing is off the table in terms of how we keep the community safe. But we share the ocean with living, breathing animals, and we have to share the ocean everyday,” she said when asked about the issue.
“There have been some calls today to just do culling on beaches that are most popular, that people swim on, that’s not how shark activity works, that’s not how sharks move around our ocean.”
She clarified no measures would be put in place on Great White Sharks, as they are a protected species.
Expert Marcel Green admitted there is no way to ensure complete protection from sharks when swimming on Sydney's beaches. 9News
She said the government was looking to continue its investment in drones and other tracking technologies to monitor the location and prevalence of sharks in and around beaches and waterways, but said there had to be an acceptance there was no way to completely curb the risk.
“None of this is perfect, we’re never going to have a perfect system for managing sharks in the wild,” she said.
Marcel Green, who leads the NSW Department of Primary Industries shark program, echoed Moriarty’s sentiments.
He said only so much could be done, pointing to the conditions that yesterday’s attack occurred in.
“What we saw yesterday was a quite different and unique incident. It wasn’t murky water, it was crystal clear,” he said.
“She was swimming between the flags. It was a random incident, we cannot be 100 per cent protected at every beach, every day, all the time.”
Despite this, some in the community admit they are beginning to be impacted by recent events.
Verco, who spends much of his days in the water as a lifeguard and for training, said he had noticed an increase in sharks in the water, but that this was also due to more fish being in the water at the same time.
He said he had to become more cautious, and admitted it had changed his behaviours in the water.
“I’ve been the most cautious and most scared,” he told Today.
“Not even the sharks, but just being around the fish, and there’ll be days where you’ll go out and just smell it. I got so uneasy one session in the last couple of months that I just got out of the water.
“Not because I saw anything, but because it felt so wrong.”
Share a tip-off, video or photo with us
