Killer sharks gain unlikely ally

Bradley Smith was killed while surfing on Saturday afternoon

The brother of an Australian man killed in a shark attack at the weekend has appealed to the authorities to spare the lives of the killers.

Bradley Smith, 29, died on Saturday after being attacked by two suspected Great White Sharks.

He had been surfing near Margaret River, 300km south of Perth.

His brother Stephen said Bradley had died doing what he loved best. He added that killing the sharks would be "an act of senseless revenge".

"We're still in the process of coming to grips with what's happened," said Mr Smith. "But I don't believe the shark should be killed for the sake of what's happened."

Other surfers have been describing Saturday's horrifying attack to the Australian media.

One shark "came up and bit [Bradley Smith's] board. Another one just launched out of the water and got him," an onlooker told Perth's Sunday Mail newspaper.

Another witness told Australia's Sky News television that one of the sharks was "as big as a car".

The attack took less than 45 seconds, but Smith's injuries were so extensive that he had already died by the time he was dragged to the beach.

The regional fisheries department said the hunt for the sharks which savaged Bradley Smith was under way.

The department's shark incident response co-ordinator, Tony Cappelluti, told the Sydney Morning Herald that if a shark was sighted, the fisheries patrol vessel would try to drive it out to sea.

He added that the shark would be destroyed if an "immediate threat" was perceived.

Shark nets

Bradley Smith's death marked the sixth fatal shark attack in Australian waters since 2000.

The last Australian killed by sharks was an 84-year-old man swimming in a canal off Queensland's Gold Coast in February 2003.

Saturday's attack has reignited calls for shark nets to be put in place near popular beaches.

But Kate Davey, national co-ordinator for the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said the nets were an over-reaction that put other marine wildlife at risk - including whales, dolphins, turtles and seals.

Instead, she said swimmers and surfers should be taught about the threats posed by sharks.

"What we actually need is a public education campaign to teach people how to live with sharks," she said.