Overfishing turning Australia into sharksville

Sydney Aquarium supervisor Chris McDonald made the comment in response to the annual account from the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File that said sharks killed more people in Australia last year than anywhere else in the world. Seventy-nine shark attacks, 10 of them fatal, were reported around the world last year, the highest number in the four decades records have been kept.

Australia led with three fatalities, followed by Tanzania with two and with one each in Fiji, Japan, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and the United States. McDonald said that while there was no evidence that shark numbers were increasing, it was plain that depleted fish stocks in the oceans were forcing sharks to come closer to shore to feed. "Fisheries around the world are collapsing. Most sharks feed on fish and they are hunting far and wide to capture some prey," McDonald said.