Until recently, the Château-Royal beach in Nouméa was one of New Caledonia's most popular swimming spots. But everything changed on Sunday, January 29, when a shark savagely attacked a swimmer, seriously injuring her hands and legs. It happened amidst dozens of bathers and left residents of the French territory in a state of shock.
Three weeks later, in exactly the same place, and again in the middle of a Sunday crowd of swimmers, an Australian tourist was seized by a large shark. It was a fatal and unimaginably violent attack that was caught on smartphone cameras and has had a lasting effect on public perception.
Following the attack, the municipality closed the beaches, prohibited swimming and water sports and launched a campaign to exterminate bull and tiger sharks, the species responsible for the vast majority of attacks on humans. Eighteen animals were slaughtered, one of which contained human remains.
Sonia Lagarde, the mayor of Nouméa, felt she "had no other solution. There is no specialist who can tell us why sharks today are so aggressive. I am at a loss, and I am quite alone in this crisis. Réunion Island hasn't had an attack in four years because they intensified the culling." The municipality has plans to eventually install anti-shark nets along two stretches of beach, but until then, the slaughter campaigns will be "systematized and intensified." "At the moment, I am receiving reports of shark sightings every day. I have no choice," the mayor said.
One hundred animals already killed
It is not the first time that the authorities have decided to kill sharks after an attack. Between 2019 and today, almost 100 animals have been caught and slaughtered, in the face of opposition by environmentalists and animal protection organizations. In 2022, the French committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) took an official stand against an "ineffective measure, likely to generate a cascade of other ecological problems, while conferring a sense of false security on the public."
The local organization Ensemble Pour la Planète ("Together for the Planet") is looking across the Coral Sea to neighboring Australia, which requires recreational boats to treat their wastewater to avoid any food stimulus. They are also deploying extensive surveillance resources, including drones, in high-risk areas. "There are many avenues to explore before disrupting the ecosystem by killing these animals, starting with studying them to understand why this is happening," said Ensemble Pour la Planète president Martine Cornaille.
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