Marine, underwater photographs made by John Harding from his time as editor of FATHOM magazine (Australia).
Needle-teeth of Grey Nurse sharks were popular trophies in the 1960′s. Taking a set from that species today, in Australia, would guarantee a terrible penalty. The young lady is Tanya Binning - a famous surf girl of the era. Grey Nurse sharks made a dramatic return to the east coast of Australia in 1988. The population has been steadily increasing since. Unreliable out-of-date reports continue to circulate promoting a demise.
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After years of drought there was rain all along the east coast of Australia. The sharks that were thought to be on the brink of extinction suddenly came back by the hundred. The link between rainfall and sea life has not been studied, to my knowledge, at least not with shark populations.
Try counting the Grey nurse in this picture. I think there could be 21.
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“I believe that the Grey nurse is not a threatened shark, there are still many congregations of the sharks that the so called know-all’s don’t know about, certainly in the area where I live. (North coast of New South Wales).
I have even seen a 7ft 6″ one that was caught in the lower section of the Clarence River and one that was caught in a trawler’s net just north of Yamba NSW on sand.
There are many places along the NSW coast that have not been dived on and would most certainly support the Grey Nurse shark. This is my belief and I stand to be correct. I have swam and dived in the ocean for the last 40 years. Geoff ‘Boots’ Towner 2 July 2010
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The shark vanished a split second after this picture was exposed.
This Sea Frontiers (a former USA magazine) story was published 1990 - and was largely re-written by the editors.
Despite the species making a dramatic come-back, well-meaning environmentalists in Australia persisted with a “there is less than 500 sharks left in the wild” theme to the gullible media.
In truth – there was no accurate way of counting sharks outside of regularly visited dive sites.
To suggest that these sharks could only be seen at a scuba shop dive site was a bit of a stretch of the imagination. Yet the media bought it, over and over again.
Mass reporting without proper knowledge of the subject.