A sign is seen at the site of a fatal shark attack at Dee Why Beach in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. Credit: AP/Mark Baker
MELBOURNE, Australia — A spearfisher was killed on Saturday in Australia’s third fatal shark attack in four weeks, police said.
The 35-year-old man was spearfishing with family off Michaelmas Island near the port city of Albany in Western Australia state when he was attacked before noon, a police statement said.
The man was brought by boat to Albany where paramedics were waiting but he could not be revived, police said. Authorities suspect a 4.5-meter (15-foot) white shark was responsible.
The spate of three fatalities is extraordinary in a nation that has averaged around three shark deaths a year in recent decades.
The last fatality was on May 24 when 39-year-old spearfisher Michael Jensz suffered unsurvivable head injuries in an attack on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s northeast coast. Bull sharks had been seen in the vicinity .
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A week earlier, on May 16, a four-meter (13-foot) white shark fatally mauled 38-year-old spearfisher Steve Mattabonni northwest of Albany near Rottnest Island.
Australia's only other fatal shark attack this year occurred in January, when a 12-year-old boy died in a hospital days after he was mauled by a bull shark in Sydney Harbor.
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Sarra Sounds Off Ep 36: Champs crowned in lax and flag football On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Gregg talks with Michael Sicoli and Tess Ferguson about county champs crowned in boys and girls lacrosse, and Jared Valuzzi reports on the Long Island flag football championship.
Get more on these and other NewsdayTV stories
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