Latest news with #Lubitz
Kuwait Times
16-07-2025
- Science
- Kuwait Times
Bull sharks linger in warming Sydney waters
Bull sharks are lingering off Sydney's beaches for longer periods each year as oceans warm, researchers said Friday, predicting they may one day stay all year. The predators are migratory, swimming north in winter when Sydney's long-term ocean temperatures dip below 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit) to bask in the balmier waters off Queensland. A team of scientists looked at 15 years of acoustic tracking of 92 tagged migratory sharks in an area including Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbor. Records show the sharks now spend an average of 15 days longer off Sydney's coast in summer than they did in 2009, said James Cook University researcher Nicolas Lubitz. 'If they're staying longer, it means that people and prey animals have a longer window of overlap with them.' Bull sharks gather to inspect a group of divers and a bait box that has caught their attending off the coast of Jupiter, Florida. Shark attacks are rare in ocean-loving Australia, and most serious bites are from three species: bull sharks, great whites, and tiger sharks, according to a national database. There have been more than 1,200 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which over 250 resulted in death. Researchers found an average warming of 0.57C in Bondi for the October-May period between 2006 and 2024, said the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science of The Total Environment. Over a longer period, remotely sensed summer sea-surface temperatures in the area rose an average 0.67C between 1982 and 2024, they said. Bull sharks 'year-round' 'If this trend persists, which it likely will, it just means that these animals are going to spend more and more time towards their seasonal distributional limit, which currently is southern and central New South Wales,' Lubitz said. 'So it could be that a few decades from now, maybe bull sharks are present year-round in waters off Sydney,' he added. 'While the chances of a shark bite, and shark bites in Australia in general, remain low, it just means that people have to be more aware of an increased window of bull shark presence in coastal waters off Sydney.' Climate change could also change breeding patterns, Lubitz said, with early evidence indicating juvenile sharks were appearing in rivers further south. There was some evidence as well that summer habitats for great whites, which prefer colder waters, were decreasing in northern New South Wales and Queensland, he said. Tagged sharks trigger an alarm when they swim within range of a network of receivers dotted around parts of the Australian coast, giving people real-time warnings on a mobile app of their presence at key locations.—AFP This handout image released by Simon Fraser University/James Cook University shows bull sharks in the waters off Fiji. --AFP photos
Bangkok Post
11-07-2025
- Science
- Bangkok Post
Bull sharks linger in warming Sydney waters
SYDNEY - Bull sharks are lingering off Sydney's beaches for longer periods each year as oceans warm, researchers said Friday, predicting they may one day stay all year. The predators are migratory, swimming north in winter when Sydney's long-term ocean temperatures dip below 19 degrees Celsius to bask in the balmier waters off Queensland. A team of scientists looked at 15 years of acoustic tracking of 92 tagged migratory sharks in an area including Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbour. Records show the sharks now spend an average of 15 days longer off Sydney's coast in summer than they did in 2009, said James Cook University researcher Nicolas Lubitz. "If they're staying longer, it means that people and prey animals have a longer window of overlap with them." Shark attacks are rare in ocean-loving Australia, and most serious bites are from three species: bull sharks, great whites, and tiger sharks, according to a national database. There have been more than 1,200 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which over 250 resulted in death. Researchers found an average warming of 0.57C in Bondi for the October-May period between 2006 and 2024, said the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science of The Total Environment. Over a longer period, remotely sensed summer sea-surface temperatures in the area rose an average 0.67C between 1982 and 2024, they said. Bull sharks 'year-round' "If this trend persists, which it likely will, it just means that these animals are going to spend more and more time towards their seasonal distributional limit, which currently is southern and central New South Wales," Lubitz said. "So it could be that a few decades from now, maybe bull sharks are present year-round in waters off Sydney," he added. "While the chances of a shark bite, and shark bites in Australia in general, remain low, it just means that people have to be more aware of an increased window of bull shark presence in coastal waters off Sydney." Climate change could also change breeding patterns, Lubitz said, with early evidence indicating juvenile sharks were appearing in rivers further south. There was some evidence as well that summer habitats for great whites, which prefer colder waters, were decreasing in northern New South Wales and Queensland, he said.
NZ Herald
11-07-2025
- Science
- NZ Herald
Bull sharks linger longer in warming Sydney waters, study finds
Shark attacks are rare in ocean-loving Australia, and most serious bites are from three species: bull sharks, great whites, and tiger sharks, according to a national database. There have been more than 1200 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which more than 250 resulted in death. Researchers found an average warming of 0.57C in Bondi for the October-May period between 2006 and 2024, said the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science of The Total Environment. Over a longer period, remotely sensed summer sea-surface temperatures in the area rose an average 0.67C between 1982 and 2024, they said. Bull sharks 'year-round' 'If this trend persists, which it likely will, it just means that these animals are going to spend more and more time towards their seasonal distributional limit, which currently is southern and central New South Wales,' Lubitz said. 'So it could be that a few decades from now, maybe bull sharks are present year-round in waters off Sydney,' he added. 'While the chances of a shark bite, and shark bites in Australia in general, remain low, it just means that people have to be more aware of an increased window of bull shark presence in coastal waters off Sydney.' Climate change could also change breeding patterns, Lubitz said, with early evidence indicating juvenile sharks were appearing in rivers further south. There was some evidence as well that summer habitats for great whites, which prefer colder waters, were decreasing in northern New South Wales and Queensland, he said. Tagged sharks trigger an alarm when they swim within range of a network of receivers dotted around parts of the Australian coast, giving people real-time warnings on a mobile app of their presence at key locations. -Agence France-Presse
Perth Now
11-07-2025
- Science
- Perth Now
‘Year-round': New Sydney shark warning
Sharks are spending more time lurking in the waters off Sydney, new research has warned, as warming seas push the predators closer to people along the coastline of the megacity. The James Cook University research shows that bull sharks, which spend their winters in Queensland, are now on average staying 15 days longer off Sydney's coast in the summer than they did 15 years ago. JCU postdoctoral research fellow Nicolas Lubitz said rising water temperatures were to blame. 'We did a climate analysis of water temperatures of the coast around Sydney and found that average temperatures during the period from October-May each year have been increasing over the past 40 years,' he said. 'We've been tracking migratory bull sharks moving seasonally between Queensland and NSW, specifically the area off Sydney for 15 years, and now on average they're staying 15 days longer than they used to back in 2009.' The change in migration patterns would extend the potential for human-shark encounters, Dr Lubitz warned. Dr Nicolas Lubitz from James Cook University studies the migration patterns of bull sharks. James Cook University Credit: News Corp Australia 'Sydney is Australia's most populated city, where bull sharks disappear during the wintertime and migrate back to Queensland during the cooler months, as bull sharks avoid long-term temperatures below 19 degrees,' he said. 'But if they're staying longer, it means that people and prey animals have a longer window of overlap with them.' According to the Australian Shark Incident Database, nearly all shark encounters in Sydney Harbour with humans involve bull sharks. They are considered one of the world's most dangerous and aggressive shark species. In March this year, Sydney woman Mangyon Zhang was attacked by a bull shark at Gunyah Beach, Bundeena, south of Sydney. Ms Zhang survived the attack. 'She has quite a severe laceration to her outer right leg, to the bone, calf and thigh, and inside thigh,' her partner Maria Masutti said in a social media post. The research suggests bull sharks could one day inhabit the waters off Sydney year-round. NewsWire / Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia 'She lost quite a lot of blood and had transfusions.' Dr Lubitz also said if warming trends persisted, bull sharks could inhabit the waters off Sydney 'year-round'. 'While the chances of a shark bite, and shark bites in Australia in general, remain low, it just means that people have to be more aware of an increased window of bull shark presence in coastal waters off Sydney,' he said. Wildlife scientist Vanessa Pirotta said the research could inform how the public interacted with the marine environment. 'As a whale scientist as well, a lot of these animals are economically profitable for us,' Dr Pirotta told NewsWire. 'People will pay to swim with sharks, people will pay to whale watch. 'Their presence is so important for us, not only ecologically but also economically.' Dr Lubitz also said the changing climate could alter bull shark breeding patterns, pushing the predators to new breeding grounds further south. 'If that trend persists, there's a fair chance that a lot more tropical species are going to be pretty much year-round in the Sydney area, which obviously changes the whole dynamic,' he added.
Straits Times
11-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Bull sharks linger in warming Sydney waters
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The sharks spend an average of 15 days longer off Sydney's coast in summer than they did in 2009. SYDNEY - Bull sharks are lingering off Sydney's beaches for longer periods each year as oceans warm, researchers said July 11 , predicting they may one day stay all year. The predators are migratory, swimming north in winter when Sydney's long-term ocean temperatures dip below 19 deg C to bask in the balmier waters off Queensland. A team of scientists looked at 15 years of acoustic tracking of 92 tagged migratory sharks in an area including Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbour. Records show the sharks now spend an average of 15 days longer off Sydney's coast in summer than they did in 2009, said James Cook University researcher Nicolas Lubitz. 'If they're staying longer, it means that people and prey animals have a longer window of overlap with them,' said Mr Lubitz. Shark attacks are rare in ocean-loving Australia, and most serious bites are from three species: bull sharks, great whites and tiger sharks, according to a national database. There have been more than 1,200 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which over 250 resulted in death. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business S'pore to launch new grant for companies, expand support for workers amid US tariff uncertainties World Trump to use presidential authority to send weapons to Ukraine, sources say Opinion Whisper it softly, there's a new Japan rising Business Popiah king Sam Goi makes $123.5 million offer to buy rest of PSC Business Aster Chemicals in talks to buy Esso petrol stations in Singapore: Sources World The $12.8m bag: Original Birkin smashes records at Paris auction Asia Tariffs overshadow diplomacy as Asean foreign ministers press on with meetings Singapore What 'skills first' really means: Panellists at SkillsFuture Forum talk culture, systems, mindsets Researchers found an average warming of 0.57 deg C in Bondi for the October to May period between 2006 and 2024, said the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science of The Total Environment. Over a longer period, remotely sensed summer sea-surface temperatures in the area rose an average 0.67 deg C between 1982 and 2024, they said. Bull sharks 'year-round' 'If this trend persists, which it likely will, it just means that these animals are going to spend more and more time towards their seasonal distributional limit, which currently is southern and central New South Wales,' Mr Lubitz said. 'So it could be that a few decades from now, maybe bull sharks are present year-round in waters off Sydney,' he added. 'While the chances of a shark bite, and shark bites in Australia in general, remain low, it just means that people have to be more aware of an increased window of bull shark presence in coastal waters off Sydney.' Climate change could also change breeding patterns, Mr Lubitz said, with early evidence indicating juvenile sharks were appearing in rivers further south. There was some evidence as well that summer habitats for great whites, which prefer colder waters, were decreasing in northern New South Wales and Queensland, he said. Tagged sharks trigger an alarm when they swim within range of a network of receivers dotted around parts of the Australian coast, giving people real-time warnings on a mobile app of their presence at key locations. AFP
