I never talk to my Mother about sharks. She’s highly sensitive to news flashes from Australia. If a surfer in Maroochydore gets bitten, I get a call. When anyone is “taken” (that’s Australian for killed by a shark), she’s got all the details. Last month I responded to her “surfer boy bitten” update by telling her I was more concerned about the giant shark somewhere near Sydney. Seems they pulled up a four metre (12 foot) Great White only to find a giant bite taken out of his side. Tourists were warned to stay out of the water for fear of a six metre (20 foot) beast. Now that’s a shark!

Peter Benchley once said he regretted writing “Jaws” because of the impact the film had on shark numbers. Man eats shark a lot more often than shark eats man. It’s the white fish inside many fish & chips servings. In Asia only the fins are culled for soup, whereas the shark is sent spiralling to the ocean floor to drown. Shark numbers are decreasing globally.

Here in Sydney our fresh waters still attract a fair number. In today’s The Sydney Morning Herald surfer Glenn Orgias describes how he mustered the strength to swim to shore – minus a hand. He recounts how fortunate he was to be attacked by a Great White (fussy eaters, they’ll spit out what they can’t swallow right away). A Bull Shark just attacks and attacks and attacks again. The Bull and the Tiger are the two species I fear (Tigers are deep water sharks hence their ferocity towards boat and plane wreck survivors).

When I first arrived in Australia I was so freaked out by my 1975 experience watching “Jaws” that I feared entering the water. SCUBA diving and marine life courses largely cured me. Even the advanced course on “Shark Behaviour” filled me with facts (”Why are they worried,” I say watching TV shows. “It’s just a white tipped reef shark and it’s not even displaying aggressive behaviour!”).

Today I have a great time at our beautiful beaches here in Sydney. (Surfer Orgias and his wife named their daughter after my favourite beach, Bronte.)

But when I go there, I never tell my Mother. There are too many sharks – it would freak her out!