Dear Lucifer (I've always wanted to say that) -
It's a part of living here. In a nutshell - what happened at the Margaret River Masters is easily explained. Don't hold surf comps when there's dead whale carcasses around, the salmon run is on, the water temp is near 18c on overcast days.
Don't go surfing in the same place as where someone else has been bitten a few hours earlier plus the above factors - my son speculated last night the second surfer may have had the "lightning never strikes twice" mentality in his head...or he was just dumb/unaware.
Not too sure how he could've been that unaware considering how small the MR/Gracetown community is and he was a local.
Stats wise there are twice the number of GWS on the west coast of Aus than the east coast. They are also two different "families". Further, after Letecia's death at Kelp Beds further south Dave Riggs (Doco Maker/Bremer Bay Aggregation researcher) pointed out we have two distinct GWS Sub populations - the lighter GWS are coastal where the much darker GWS tend to stick to deeper offshore waters - until we have 170 whale carcasses lying around after a mass stranding. Then the big kids come in closer. Letecias family and the people of Esperance are campaigning for whale carcasses to be towed out to sea which is what happened yesterday. There's footage of two tiger sharks and a very large GWS following the carcass as it's being towed on perthnow.com
Timeline of shark attacks along the Western Australian coast
Gracetown appears repeatedly on that list (Dunsborough is just 'around the corner') as does Cheynes Beach - Kelp Beds surf break.
@Doc - since we got rid of that idiot Colin Barnett and his shark cull our media tend to downplay shark incidents because this premier seems to understand that media influencing potential tourists into believing you WILL DIE if you get wet here is a bad thing.
So Lucifer, if it makes you feel better - buy a shark shield. WA has a government subsidy for people who wish to use them - not sure about SA.
Wetpup and I were standing on the beach looking out and I commented that it "felt sharky" about a year ago just a couple of days after a wave of beach closures due to Sharks. I took a visitor from San Jose down to Gracetown beach about a month ago and I made the same comment...it was overcast, lots of shadows and "murk" in the bay, late afternoon. He was suitably impressed when three fins sliced through the bay in the 20 minutes after I'd tried to explain what I meant.
Ditto diving. After a night dive at Ammo Jetty where something bumped me I learned to not ignore that feeling. Could've been a seal...could've been and most likely was a harmless adorable Port Jackson about 90cm long and my scaredy bone making a decision to get out asap.
Learn to listen to your gut feeling, buy a shark shield if you feel it will make you feel more at ease and happy surfing
ETA @ pughugger - see link, divers included
@ lucifer - I do not see overfishing as a factor here, there's no shortage of food for them ATM with the salmon run on.