Australian Jaws

Add to the checklist of what not to do in Australia - swimming in canals. The Gold Coast isn't far from Brisbane, where I hope to be next month:

IF there was ever any doubt about the number of sharks in Gold Coast lakes and canals, here's the proof.

Robbie Hughes caught a 1.5m bull shark this week while fishing from his fifth-floor apartment - six storeys above the water if you include the car park. ... Last season, Mr Hughes landed 12 sharks from his at Varsity Towers balcony over Lake Orr, while more than 80 got away.

... Mr Hughes first began fishing off his balcony after he noticed large schools of sharks swimming below. "We thought we might as well take advantage of the fact we live just over the water and can sit back in the lounge and fish for sharks," he said. "We literally sit in the lounge room with the rods set up and play the PlayStation, waiting for the bites."

... Bulletin fishing expert Paul Burt agreed the Coast's canals were bursting at the seams with deadly bull sharks. "They are not out there in their hundreds, they are out there in their thousands," he said.

During the 2002- 2003 summer, two swimmers, Beau Martin and Bob Purcell, were killed by bull sharks as they swam in the canals around Burleigh. Earlier this year, Sarah Whiley was mauled to death by bull sharks as she swam off Amity Point at North Stradbroke Island.

Mr Hughes said he believed it was only a matter of time before someone else was taken. "It's inevitable with the amount of people that swim in the canals and the number of sharks there are," he said. "Not enough people are educated about them and a lot still don't believe it. When you tell them about the sharks they just laugh and think you're taking the micky. "But when you catch a shark they really freak out and are gobsmacked by the whole thing."

Mr Burt said bull sharks and whalers were the most common sharks found in Coast canals, with the bull sharks the most aggressive. "They are unpredictable beasts. They are nasty bits of work. The bull is the one you really have to be careful of."

... Despite calls for culling and netting canals, Mr Burt said the only way to tackle the problem was through educating people. "We've got hundreds of kilometres of canals. If you put a net in one you can't do the other 500, it's just impossible," he said. "You might get a handful out of one canal but that's only a handful. If you do our canals you then have to do the Brisbane, Logan and Northern NSW rivers because they are in every creek and river. Public awareness is the key."

A Gold Coast City Council spokeswoman told The Bulletin yesterday the council would not erect warning signs at canals and waterways this summer because it was too difficult. "We have 480km of rivers and streams and 770ha of lakes and dams on the Coast. Sign-posting all of them is simply not feasible."