06/04/2023 Anonymous Male Poun New Caledonia Fatal ***

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Another deadly shark attack in New Caledonia
The man was underwater fishing when he was attacked. "There was no indication of a shark attack at this location," according to the city of Poum.

A man who practiced underwater fishing died after a shark attack on Sunday in New Caledonia. This is the second fatal attack in the archipelago since the beginning of the year.

The man was killed around 11 a.m. local time (2 a.m. Paris time) while fishing 500 m off the coast of an isolated islet in the town of Poum, in the far north of New -Caledonia, explains a press release from the city . The victim was a "fisherman accustomed to the bay and there was no indication of a shark attack there".

According to the local gendarmerie, a member of his family tried to rescue him, without success.

Already in February, a 59-year-old Australian tourist was killed in the busy bathing area of ​​Château-Royal beach in Noumea, at the very spot where three weeks earlier a bather had been seriously injured by a shark from big size.
Exceptional but serious attacks

These attacks, exceptional in their gravity and their location in the heart of the capital of the archipelago, struck public opinion and led the local authorities to drastic measures: swimming is thus totally prohibited in Noumea , with the exception since beginning of May of an area of ​​200 m by 20 m equipped with a protective net.

Campaigns to kill sharks, denounced by many environmental protection associations including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), now take place every month. A total of 82 animals have been killed since early February.

The mayor of Poum, where Sunday's attack took place, for her part ruled out any ban on nautical and fishing activities in her town. "Without ignoring the increase in the number of attacks on the territory, there is no family in Poum in which fishing does not occupy a preponderant place", wrote Henriette Tidjine-Hmae in a press release, recalling that the last deadly attack on his town dates back to March 15, 2000.

The city councilor, however, invites users of the sea "to respect all the rules of prevention by avoiding any risky human behavior".

Translated from french

https://www.leparisien.fr/