{"id":185756,"date":"2025-06-15T07:05:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T07:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/185756\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T07:05:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T07:05:14","slug":"business-as-usual-at-exmouth-after-shark-crocodile-and-irukandji-incidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/185756\/","title":{"rendered":"Business as usual at Exmouth after shark, crocodile and Irukandji incidents"},"content":{"rendered":"

The picturesque Ningaloo and Exmouth coasts are best known for swimming with whale sharks, humpback whales, manta rays and turtles, as visitors head north to escape the southern winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But recently, the region has been plagued with reports of crocodile sightings, shark bites and Irukandji stings \u2014 so, is there something in the water?<\/p>\n

Late last year Exmouth residents reported sightings of crocodiles<\/a> and great white sharks<\/a>, while earlier this week two people were hospitalised<\/a> with Irukandji syndrome after swimming in Ningaloo Marine Park.<\/p>\n

Irukandji jellyfish are known for their stings, causing severe pain<\/a>, nausea and vomiting.<\/p>\n

\"Irukandji<\/p>\n

Two people were stung by Irukandji jellyfish in one day in northern WA earlier this week.\u00a0 (Supplied: Jess Strickland)<\/p>\n

Irukandji expert and Giffith University PhD candidate Jess Strickland said whether there were more Irukandji around the Ningaloo was up for debate.<\/p>\n

“It’s a bit of a tricky one,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Mainly because we’ve only just started paying attention and studying them in this part of the world, so there are no long-term data sets.”<\/p>\n

Ms Strickland is studying Irukandji at Ningaloo reef, with the hope of increasing the understanding of the species to inform public safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said that while reporting had increased, it did not mean the danger had.<\/p>\n

“Anecdotally \u2026 there are more reported sightings,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

“But is that because there are more people in the water, more awareness about Irukandji jellyfish and Irukandji syndrome, and a slightly better reporting system?\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Or does it represent a genuine increase in their presence in the area? We don’t know.”<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

Ms Strickland said warming waters were contributing to marine species experiencing shifting distributions, concerning researchers that stinging jellyfish on the WA coast were moving south.<\/p>\n

Business as usual<\/p>\n

Exmouth local Rusty Ellis volunteers in marine rescue and spends as much time as he can on the water.<\/p>\n

When asked if he had witnessed more Irukandji in recent years, Mr Ellis was resolute.<\/p>\n

“No, there’s no sort of increase, per se,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If there’s a bit of warm water, like we had this year, that comes down from up north, there’s a good chance it’s going to be bringing the Irukandjis down with it.<\/p>\n

“With the increased population and the increased numbers of the people swimming out there \u2026 more people in the water, there’s more chance of an interaction.<\/p>\n

“If you think about what you’re doing and take the right precautions when there’s a need to, you’ll have the best experience.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The Ningaloo Reef is a popular spot for tourists and researchers.\u00a0 (Supplied: Minderoo Foundation\/Carly Keech)<\/p>\n

Exmouth’s local population has grown from about 2,400 people in 2011 to just over 3,000 in 2021, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics census.<\/p>\n

The local population triples at the height of the tourist season and the area is a popular school holiday destination.<\/p>\n

What do locals think of crocodiles and sharks?<\/p>\n

When it comes to crocodiles and sharks, Mr Ellis said the Parks and Wildlife Service had “done a pretty good job of sorting them out”.<\/p>\n

“There’s thousands of sharks out there and they don’t very often have interactions with the public,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There’s that much other food out there for them that people really don’t taste that good.”<\/p>\n

Mr Ellis’s message to others is simple.<\/p>\n

“Just don’t be silly.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The picturesque Ningaloo and Exmouth coasts are best known for swimming with whale sharks, humpback whales, manta rays…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[76175,17250,71812,71810,76171,76174,76173,70,934,76172,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-185756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-are-there-more-jellyfish-at-exmouth","9":"tag-crocodiles","10":"tag-dbca","11":"tag-irukandji","12":"tag-jelly-fish","13":"tag-jess-strickland","14":"tag-rusty-ellis","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-sharks","17":"tag-stingers","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114686114253507739","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}