A spear fisherman diving off the far north Queensland coast has shared exactly what it’s like to be attacked by a shark.
Danny Henricks was on holiday in Queensland on a spearfishing expedition when a bull shark came at him ‘full charge’, impaling itself on his gun.
The 35-year-old says he was separated from the group when the incident occurred.
He told ABC:
I was going to go for a deep dive, got halfway down … I seen him [the shark] on edge of the channel deep down.
He didn’t worry me at all, he didn’t care about me, then he saw me, turned and came towards me half-pace … I sort of stopped in the middle of the water.
I thought he was going to come towards me half-pace … I thought he was going to suss me out so I was just going to poke him away to show I wasn’t food. I just wanted him to keep me at a distance.
I lunged forward with the gun a little bit just before he got there but most of it was his force.
An avid diver and spear fisherman, Henricks said he was shocked by what happened, saying he has never seen a bull shark act so aggressively.
“I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet because I don’t really understand what’s happened,” he said. “I just don’t see any other way I could’ve reacted any better.”
Seeing as he is a spearfisher, though, some are criticising him for being there in the first place. But Henricks says: “I think I have a right to be there.”
Others have condemned the spearfisher for impaling the shark, but when a 200 or so pound fish with sharp teeth is coming at you full force, you’re not faced with many other options.
Here’s to hoping the shark made a full recovery.
