Shark victim will never be found

Suspect ... a great white. Inset: Mr Brazier's gear is unloaded.

Shark victim will never be found
By Nick Taylor
March 21, 2005
From:
Daily Telegraph

POLICE have said there is little hope of finding the body of a catamaran skipper attacked by a 6m shark at the Abrolhos Islands, 500km north of Perth.
Geoffrey Brazier, 26, from the Perth suburb of Bicton, was snorkelling with two passengers when he was attacked by a tiger shark or a great white about 2pm on Saturday.
Mr Brazier, who was single and had no children, was sailing the 24m charter vessel Matrix on its maiden voyage from Perth to Broome.
Yesterday, police, fisheries officers and fishermen were carrying out an air and sea search of the Pelsaert Islands, about 65km west of the port city of Geraldton.
Two people snorkelling with Mr Brazier in 7m of water near Wreck Point, on the southeast tip of the Pelsaert group, were unhurt.
The attack occurred four days into the Abrolhos cray-fishing season.
The waters around the islands are notorious for sharks, particularly during the cray season. They are the habitat of tiger sharks and great white pointers patrol the nearby continental shelf.
Mr Brazier and 12 other crew and passengers had been anchored in the Abrolhos when the attack occurred.
Senior Sergeant Shaun Miller said there was no indication the snorkellers had been doing anything wrong.
He said it was unlikely Mr Brazier's body, or the shark that killed him, would be found.
There had been several shark sightings around the islands recently, but if one was spotted there would be no immediate decision to shoot it.
Sgt Miller said the situation would be assessed before a shoot-to-kill order was given.
"The crew and passengers are obviously very distressed and we will do our utmost to find any remains," he said.
The search for Mr Brazier's body and the shark would be hampered by the geography, tides and winds around the islands, Sgt Miller said.
West Australian Fisheries regional manager Russell Dyson said any calls for the shark to be shot on sight were a knee-jerk reaction.
Mr Dyson, an experienced diver, said humans were not "natural food" for sharks.
"It was a very, very unfortunate and sad incident," he said.
"It's an absolute rarity for such a thing to happen.
"The person was snorkelling. He was not wearing a wetsuit."