Lifeguards at Bondi Beach — an extremely popular beach in Australia — had to clear the water after spotting a shark near surfers on Wednesday morning, adding to the unease heightened by the recent attack at nearby Coogee Beach.
What happened?
Swimmers and surfers rushed from the water when the alarm sounded, The New Daily reported.
A video later shared by the Drone Shark App appeared to show a shark moving near surfers shortly before lifeguards activated the siren. The account identified the shark as a great white.
"As you'll see in this clip, I tried to alert a few people using my flashing drone light," the caption said.
On Tuesday, the same account shared footage of another shark at Bondi and suggested it may have been following salmon as they gathered along the beach.
It added: "The lifeguards did a great job responding quickly and sounding the alarm to help keep everyone safe."
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The sighting comes less than two weeks after Leah Stewart, a 35-year-old teacher and mother, was attacked near shore at Coogee Beach on June 14.
Why does it matter?
Bondi is one of Australia's busiest beaches.
After more than a week on life support and several surgeries, Stewart briefly regained consciousness on Tuesday. One of the operations resulted in the loss of her arm.
Her brother, Joshua Stewart, wrote on a GoFundMe page that, "This allowed Leah to share her first words 'I love you' with her mum and partner Fernando, who have been by her side in ICU since the incident."
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Shark encounters are often about overlap, not aggression.
When fish such as salmon gather near shore, and large numbers of people are surfing or swimming in the same waters, human activity can increase the odds of a dangerous encounter simply by crowding shared habitat.
What's being done?
Officials are relying on monitoring and beach safety measures rather than culling sharks, a highly controversial practice that involves catching sharks to reduce the risk of attacks.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said authorities cannot single out great whites because the species is protected, even as Stewart's attack renewed calls from some people for harsher action, according to The New Daily.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority granted a short-term exemption to allow aerial monitoring over Coogee Beach, about eight kilometers from Sydney Airport.
Shark nets, which are temporarily removed during whale migration season in the winter, will be reinstalled in September.
"Leah has a long road ahead and still remains in critical care," her brother Joshua wrote, "but this is such a positive first step and gives us hope for Leah's long-term recovery."
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