"Shark Attack Survivors News Archive"

03/01/2009 Andrew Lindop ( Australia )

Listing of the Shark Attack Related Incidents occurring in 2009. 2009 Shark Attacks
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sharkbait
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Re: 03/01/2009 Andrew Lindop ( Australia )

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Nets not enough: survivorHEATH GILMORE AND FRANK REDWARD
January 10, 2010
‘‘I wouldn’t have gone’’ ... shark attack victim Andrew Lindop, 16, and his father Charles have urged the Government to set up a communication system so surfers can make informed decisions. Photo: Frank Redward
‘‘I wouldn’t have gone’’ ... shark attack victim Andrew Lindop, 16, and his father Charles have urged the Government to set up a communication system so surfers can make informed decisions. Photo: Frank Redward
andrew_lindop-father.jpg (49.92 KiB) Viewed 21075 times
‘‘I wouldn’t have gone’’ ... shark attack victim Andrew Lindop, 16, and his father Charles have urged the Government to set up a communication system so surfers can make informed decisions. Photo: Frank Redward

EXCLUSIVE


A GREAT white shark had been seen off Sydney's northern beaches for several days before a teenage surfer was badly mauled last summer, the victim's father revealed yesterday.

But sightings of the shark were not made public, said Charles Lindop, whose son Andrew, then 15, was attacked at Avalon Beach on Sydney's northern beaches on March 1.

''That particular shark had been circling the northern beaches for a couple of days, we discovered afterwards,'' Mr Lindop said from the family's holiday campsite on the NSW Mid North Coast.

''That was known by the shark surveillance people but the information wasn't communicated, so from our perspective we think there should be much better communication of information on shark movements to help people make informed decisions as to when they're going in the water.''

Mr Lindop's revelation came as Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan announced yesterday a three-week NSW Government trial of aerial surveillance, due to end today, would be extended to January 26.

When the trial ends, up to 202 kilometres of NSW coastline - covering 51 netted beaches between Stockton and North Wollongong - will be staffed only by volunteer patrols. The State Opposition and surveillance operators have ridiculed the trial as a half-hearted protection measure.

Today, the Opposition will unveil its policy to fund plane and helicopter trial patrols from Palm Beach to Mollymook for the entire summer, as well as building 10 giant surveillance towers every 12 months at NSW beaches and to trial sonar technology as a possible replacement or addition to the netting of beaches.

Mr Lindop said if they had known a shark was in the area Andrew and he would not have gone for their early-morning surf.

''There's no point in doing the surveillance if the information isn't made freely available to people. If we're going in the water at 6.30 or 7 in the morning the information needs to be made available in real time, over the internet or something,'' Mr Lindop said.

''There are many limitations with the aerial patrols. Most of the time they won't see the sharks but the reality is they do add some value. There are a lot of people who are nervous about sharks and it gives them some comfort.

''There's not a lot of point in saying there's a six-foot shark off Avalon. We need to know if it's a hammerhead, which is pretty safe, or if it a great white, which is pretty dangerous. We actually need quality information to be broadly available to the public for it to be an effective program.''

Andrew, who is back surfing after four hours of surgery on his left thigh, nine days in hospital and three months on crutches, said: ''If I knew there was [a shark] on the beach, no, I wouldn't have [gone surfing]. But if I knew there was one out there somewhere near the northern beaches it probably wouldn't have made much difference, but knowing there was one in the beach I definitely wouldn't have gone out.''

Mr Lindop criticised the government's air-patrol trial.

''Well I think it's nonsense,'' he said. ''I think the Government needs to face the fact that there are sharks off the coast of Sydney all year round, every year. Rather than putting it's head in the sand and trying to pretend to people that the sharks don't exist, it needs a quality program of research into sharks so it properly understands the movements, properly understands the numbers and it should have a sophisticated system of surveillance and information release.''

Duncan Gay, the Opposition spokesman for Primary Industries, said the government was playing russian roulette with the swimmers' lives. ''After last year we know that the nets have major problems. This [aerial surveillance] is another tool in our armoury to prevent a tragedy,'' Mr Gay said.

The government's trial was set up after 13 shark attacks occurred in NSW waters last year. The government had been reluctant to fund any aerial surveillance until four attacks occurred in Sydney waters in quick succession, undermining public confidence in the beach net system.

On February 11 Navy diver Able Seaman Paul de Gelder, 31, was attacked by a shark while working underwater off Garden Island in Sydney Harbour. Doctors were unable to save his hand and a leg.

The next day, Dover Heights man Glenn Orgias, 33, lost a hand to a great white shark while surfing at Bondi Beach.

Michael Brown, of Surfwatch Australia, which runs a not-for-profit helicopter marine surveillance service, said shark nets were only marginally effective.

He said the aerial surveillance should be a summer-long pre-emptive weapon for tracking the movements of bait fish, the primary food for dolphins, seals and sharks.

''For proper shark protection modern sonar is by far the best,'' he said. ''Modern sonar systems, however, would detect sharks well before they would be considered a threat to swimmers and would cover 100 per cent of the beach.

''Lifesavers could be armed with hand-held tracking units, allowing them to track sharks while they are still a kilometre out to sea.''



http://www.smh.com.au/national/nets-not ... -lzv1.html
sharkbait
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Re: 03/01/2009 Andrew Lindop ( Australia )

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Shark victim never saw attack coming
March 15, 2009 - 9:29PM

A teenage surfer never saw the great white shark that attacked him off a Sydney beach, savagely mauling him on the leg.

Andrew Lindop, 15, and his father Charles were having an early morning surf at Avalon on the northern beaches when the attack occurred on March 1.

The shark, identified as a 2.6-metre great white, bit into Andrew's leg from the thigh to the ankle, snapping the bone and tearing muscle.

Andrew screamed, alerting his father who managed to get him safely to shore before stemming the bleeding using a leg rope as a tourniquet.

"There was nothing it just came up from underneath me almost ... it was quite sudden," Andrew told the Nine Network on Sunday.

"It felt like I'd been pushed by something really sharp that just dug into my leg and just ripped me off my board."

Andrew said he just thought "shit, shark" at the moment of the attack.

He said he didn't know what would have happened if his father, a trained lifesaver, hadn't been with him that morning.

"I usually don't surf with my dad ... it was like one in fifty surfs I had with him," he said.

"He may have actually scared the shark away again ... I'm proud of him."

Mr Lindop said that he'd kept thinking why Andrew and not him.

"I don't want it to be my son, why the bloody hell couldn't it have gone for me and not him," he said.

"All I wanted to do was get him in as fast as I could ... shoving him on a wave and paddling as hard as I can to catch up with him.

"Its probably the longest 75 metres he and I have ever paddled in our lives."

Mr Lindop said his actions would be the same as any father faced with the such a situation.

"Throughout all of this Andrew's composure was absolutely incredible and that's what I'm in awe of," he said.

"Fortunately I had a level of training but I defy any dad out there not to do the same thing."

Andrew said he was looking forward to getting back in the water.

"I've got it in my head it's not going to happen to me again," he said.

Andrew initially underwent four hours of surgery at Royal North Shore Hospital, where he remained for nine days before going home.

"Our prognosis is a little guarded," his plastic surgeon Megan Hassell said.

"He's got multiple levels of injury in his muscles and he has also nerve injury."

The attack on Andrew was the third in Sydney in as many weeks.


http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-na ... -8yxz.html
sharkbait
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Re: 03/01/2009 Andrew Lindop ( Australia )

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Teen Andrew Lindrop attacked by shark at Avalon while surfing with dad


By Janet Fife Yeomans and Malcolm Holland
The Daily Telegraph
March 02, 2009 12:04am

Shark attack at Avalon Beach
Shark attack at Avalon Beach<br />15 year old Andrew Lindop was bitten by a shark while surfing with his father. 03/09 Sky News
Shark attack at Avalon Beach
15 year old Andrew Lindop was bitten by a shark while surfing with his father. 03/09 Sky News
andrew_lindrop_stretcher.jpg (39.64 KiB) Viewed 22058 times
15 year old Andrew Lindop was bitten by a shark while surfing with his father. 03/09 Sky News
Closed ... A sign warns swimmers to stay out of the water at Avalon Beach, in Sydney's north / AAP
Closed ... A sign warns swimmers to stay out of the water at Avalon Beach, in Sydney's north / AAP
andrew_lindrop_sign.jpg (34.16 KiB) Viewed 22053 times
Closed ... A sign warns swimmers to stay out of the water at Avalon Beach, in Sydney's north / AAP

A GREAT white shark is believed responsible for an attack on a teenage surfer at a Sydney beach.

Andrew Lindop, 15, is lucky to be alive after he was bitten on the leg while surfing with his father at North Avalon early yesterday.

His terrifying ordeal was the third shark attack in Sydney in as many weeks. All beaches from Newport to Palm Beach were closed yesterday and swimmers were ordered from the water at Maroubra after a shark was spotted circling 100m offshore.

At 6.45am (AEDT) yesterday Charles Lindop, a veteran lifesaver, heard his son scream he had been bitten and helped him paddle to shore where two young surfers helped stem the bleeding from his left thigh.

After undergoing surgery at Royal North Shore Hospital the teenager, a student at St Augustine's College in Brookvale, was able to move his toes and it is hoped his leg will be saved.

Surfwatch Australia shark spotter Michael Brown said it was likely a great white was to blame for the Avalon attack - 27 great whites had been spotted off Sydney this year.

"It is a classic great white attack - coming up from below," he said.

'Sharks everywhere'

Mr Brown yesterday attacked the State Government for ignoring his warnings about large numbers of sharks off Sydney's beaches.

"I am 42 years old and been passionate about sharks most of my life and I've never seen anything like the numbers we've been seeing this summer," Mr Brown said.

"There are just fish everywhere and with them are sharks."

The State Opposition and the Australian Aerial Patrol yesterday renewed calls for increased funding for regular aerial patrols, and to re-examine the use of shark nets.

NSW Premier Nathan Rees said he would consult about air patrols but the Government repeated its claim that warnings of a rise in shark numbers were "alarmist".

"We have warned several times over the past few weeks people need to be cautious when swimming," Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said yesterday.

"All three of these recent attacks have happened around dawn or dusk when aerial patrols would have been no use whatsoever.

"Despite these attacks, there is no evidence to suggest an increase in shark numbers in waters off NSW.

"About six sharks a month are now caught on average in the nets off Sydney. But if we look back more than 70 years ago in the 1930s, for the first 18 months the nets were in operation we were catching an average of 88 sharks a month."

CSIRO scientist and shark expert John Stevens confirmed there was no evidence that shark numbers had increased, and said fishermen's claims were mischievous.

Patrols pointless

Dr Stevens told The Daily Telegraph aerial patrols were pointless.

"Sharks are always there. Most of the time nothing happens," he said.

Surfer Glenn Orgias, 33, and navy diver Paul de Gelder, 31, are recovering in St Vincent's Hospital from injuries sustained in shark attacks.

Avalon Beach will be closed for 24 hours while nearby Newport, Bilgola, Bungan, Whale Beach and Palm Beach are closed until further notice.


http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25 ... 31,00.html
sharkbait
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03/01/2009 Andrew Lindop ( Australia )

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A TEENAGER Andrew Lindop 15 will undergo emergency surgery after being attacked by a shark on Sydney's northern beaches - Australia shark attacks in 2009

Avalon shark attack teen undergoes surgery

Print By Kim Christian
March 01, 2009 08:55am

A TEENAGER will undergo emergency surgery after being attacked by a shark on Sydney's northern beaches.

The 15-year-old boy was surfing with his father at the northern end of Avalon Beach when the shark attacked about 6.45am (AEDT), a NSW ambulance spokesman said.

The spokesman said the teenager had been airlifted to Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH), where he will undergo surgery after suffering thigh injuries.

"He has severe injuries, but I don't think at this stage they're life-threatening," he said. "He's got extensive bite wounds and lacerations.

He said he believed the young man's leg had not been severed.

"He was stabilised and treated at the scene and given pain relief.

"Before he left, he was stabilised further so be could treated and flown by helicopter.

"All I know at this stage is that he was surfing with his father."

Nick Miller from the Avalon Beach Surf Lifesaving Club said the surfer was in the water with his father when the shark attacked in the early morning.

"It got him around the top of his leg and his calf muscle and the father came in and dragged him in," he said.

The father and son are members of the surf club.

Channel 7 reported that the father rescued his son.

Onlookers wrapped the teenager's wounds in beach towels before emergency services arrived.

A teenage boy told Channel 7 he watched the aftermath, with ambulance officers treating the boy on the beach.

"They were just tending to them and we were just watching from up here thinking what's happened," he said.

"And then, on the way here, a surfer said there had been a shark attack."

The father said the attack happened quickly and his son was unable to identify the size or species of shark, Seven said.

No one else was in the water at the beach at the time.

But a short time later, life savers had to call a swimmer out of the surf.

The beach remains empty, with swimmers and surfers warned not to enter the water.

It is the third serious shark attack in Sydney in less than three weeks and comes after repeated warnings by authorities for beachgoers not to enter the water at dawn or dusk due to increased shark activity.

Navy clearance diver Paul de Gelder was lucky to survive after being mauled by a 2.7-metre bull shark off Garden Island, in Sydney Harbour, on February 11, causing him to lose a hand and leg.

Just a day later, 33-year-old surfer Glenn Orgias was attacked by a 2.5m great white that shook him and nearly severed his left hand.

The Sydney Harbour Swim Classic was scheduled to go ahead on this morning despite the earlier attacks.


http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 62,00.html
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