A 35-year-old spearfisher became Australia’s third shark victim in just four weeks.
The incident occurred on Saturday, June 6, after the man mauled off Michaelmas Island near the port city of Albany in Western Australia state.
It was while he was out spear-fishing with relatives that the incident took place around noon, according to police reports. His body was then brought to Albany via a boat, where he could not be revived by medics on arrival.
This latest spate of fatalities stands out even in a country where an average of three people die from shark bites annually.
Earlier, a 39-year-old was killed on May 24, 2026. The victim, identified as Michael Jensz, suffered unsurvivable head injuries in an attack on the Great Barrier Reef. A week before, on May 16, a white shark measuring 13 feet long had killed the 38-year-old spear fisherman Steve Mattabonni in waters around Rottnest Island, northwest of Albany.
The second and last fatal shark attack in Australia this year took place in January, wherein a 12-year-old boy aged 12 years old died from a bull shark mauling in Sydney Harbour.
Scientists believe that the rising shark attacks are due to changes in migration patterns due to the rising temperature of the ocean and increasingly crowded patterns. As reported by the International Shark Attack File, more than 1,280 shark attacks have been recorded since 1791.
