White Sharks in Australia-Killing Gear

This just came in. What's disturbing about this image is the tackle that is attached to the shark.

What you are looking at is professional shark killing gear:

A 2.3m great white shark washed ashore at Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast. October 16, 2008.

Photographer : Luke Sorensen

Editors Note: We're pretty sure there's more to this story than meets the eye and we'll keep you updated.

Sharks and the Media-It's about selling papers

Woke up this morning to the following headline:

New shark terror off local beaches

If you're reading a headline like that you know it's early summer in Australia...again.

Sharks inhabit a mythic place with the media, words like terror, and killer, are bandied about with storylines so weak that it's amazing people read them. This weeks white shark flyby of a couple of boaters notwithstanding.

Unless these guys were in a vessel made of plastic bags they were never in harms way, but that does to stop the media from hyping the encounter to sell some more papers:

"I think it could be a horrific summer, it doesn't look good I've never seen them that close." As the shark held the boat captive by bumping the boat, the savvy passengers decided to pull up the anchor and allow the boat to slowly drift before making their quick get-a-way.

Editors Note: We could use some shark reality with the media these days.