British expat killed by 15-foot nice white shark categorised as ‘provoked incident’

A 35-year-old British citizen dwelling in Australia was killed in a brutal shark assault final yr in what researchers are calling a “provoked incident.” 

Simon Nellist, a diving teacher and former UK Royal Air Force serviceman, died after being attacked in February 2022 by what witnesses described as a 15-foot nice white shark at Buchan Point, close to Little Bay, southeast of Sydney,

The incident, Sydney’s first deadly shark assault in a long time, shocked the world. Extremely graphic video of the attack emerged online. The video exhibits thrashing within the water and a pool of blood about 50 yards off the coast.

Simon Nellist died in Sydney, Australia from a 15-foot-long nice white shark in Febuary 2022.  (Facebook)

A witness, Kris Linto, mentioned the swimmer was within the water when the shark “got here and attacked him vertically.”

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The International Shark Attack File (ISAF), a worldwide database of all identified shark assaults which is run by the Florida Museum, has categorised Nellist’s dying as a “provoked incident.” The database classifies “provoked incidents” when a “human initiates interplay with a shark indirectly.”  

An incredible white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) baited by the animal information, Andre Hartmann, surfaces with a formidable open mouth on December 02, 2007 in Gansbaii, South Africa, Atlantic Ocean.  (Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, instructed The London Times that Nellist was “under no circumstances intending to impress” the shark had been swimming in an space the place individuals have been fishing.

“We discover that a big fraction of bites which might be reported to us happen the place persons are fishing and there’s chum or bait within the water. Fishing brings bait fish nearer to shore than they could in any other case be, and sharks usually observe,” he mentioned.

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He defined that these circumstances may need “excited” the shark or induced “atypical conduct.”

As a consequence, ISAF categorised the incident as “provoked,” Naylor mentioned.

The variety of unprovoked shark bites fell in 2022, doubtlessly reflecting a worldwide decline in shark populations. (JANE DOMINGUEZ/UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA)

In 2022, ISAF investigated 108 alleged assaults worldwide in 2022. It confirmed 57 assaults of unprovoked shark bites on people and 32 provoked bites.

The group shared that in 2022 there have been 9 shark-related fatalities worldwide, with the U.S. main in unprovoked shark assaults.