A (Dead) Shark Shows Up At Bondi Beach For International Surfing Day

You’ve seen the relentless International Surfing Day posting yesterday, but unfortunately for all of us living on the East Coast of Australia, there was barely an ‘ankle biter’ on the coastline to catch. 

Well, that’s excluding the ankle biter sitting on the sands at Bondi Beach yesterday.  

It’s winter here now, the waves are flat, and the lightly clad women are no longer frequenting the Bondi shoreline, meaning Sydney’s most overpopulated sand strip is slightly less enthralling than normal; however, a 3-metre Mako tried its best to spice up the flat and lacklustre International Surfing Day on Sydney’s beaches on Saturday.   

According to SBS, the shark initially washed up at Bondi on Friday night and was then re-retrieved from the ‘surf’ by surfers and swimmers on Saturday morning who thought, “it was better to get him out”.

It is believed the Mako shark had been caught on a fishing line which caused its death. 

Mako’s aren’t particularly dangerous, listed on the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, despite not being endangered, they are however, listed as a recreational game fish and fisherman are therefore allowed to catch one per day. 

An atypical attendant to the Saturday morning yoga class. Photo. Jenny Evans/News Corp

As is prerequisite for any and every social media worthy event at Bondi, passersby took selfies and photos of the shark before the Bondi Lifeguards removed the shark and put it back in the ocean. 

On a slightly more positive note, the shark may have done the Bondi lifeguards a favour by deterring the typical beachgoers from hopping straight into the aptly named ‘Backpackers Rip’ at the beaches’ southern end; also reminding tourists that overpriced brunch and untethered SUP’s aren’t your only concerns in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.