South Australia’s premier has explained how it would be impossible to put shark nets across the state’s coast after a third person was killed by a shark this year.
A teenager was killed when he was surfing off Ethel Beach, about 160 kilometres west of Adelaide on the tip of the Yorke Peninsula about 1.30pm yesterday.
“Sadly the body of a 15-year-old boy from Maslin Beach was recovered from the water,” SA Police confirmed in a statement.
It’s believed the boy’s dad witnessed the incident.
An investigation is ongoing.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said he couldn’t think of anything more horrific, particularly at this time of year.
“We’re looking at a range of options, particularly around metropolitan Adelaide,” Malinauskas said.
“The bulk of these incidents are occurring well far away from our metropolitan beaches.
“We’ve got a coastline in South Australia that’s basically the equivalent of NSW and Victoria combined.”
He said it was “impossible to net an entire area”.
“The reality is there are sharks along our coastline around the southern part of our nation,” Malinauskas said.
“When people venture out, particularly where they go quite far away from the shoreline, there is a risk associated with that.
“But we’ve seen 11 fatal shark attacks in South Australia since the year 2000 so the fact we’ve seen three across this summer is startling and it is of concern.”
He said reports suggested there was little that could have been done to prevent yesterday’s incident.
The rescue helicopter was sent from Adelaide despite challenging weather conditions but once the boy’s body was pulled from the water there was nothing that could be done.
The surfing break at Ethel Beach is considered a challenging wave and only for experienced surfers, which it’s understood the victim was.
Two days ago sharks were spotted not far from the beach chasing large schools of salmon, which are in the area this time of year.
It is the fifth shark attack in South Australia this year.
(9 NEWS)
