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Two Metre Shark Caught On Tape In Syd. Harbour


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A Sydney Ferries captain has captured more proof that Sydney Harbour's shark population is thriving as much as ever.

The captain used to his mobile phone to film two fisherman pulling in a two-metre shark from the back of their runabout about 100m off Bradley's Head about midday.

Witnesses believe it may be a bull shark.

Cleaner waterways and a spike in the general fish population in Sydney Harbour — attributed to a ban on commercial fishing — are believed to have attracted more sharks to the area.

Today's footage comes just two weeks after separate incidents in which a great white shark mauled a surfer and a bull shark attacked a diver.

Navy clearance diver Able Seaman Paul de Gelder, 31, lost his hand and has had his leg amputated after an encounter with a bull shark near Garden Island about dawn on February 11.

The following day 33-year-old Glenn Orgias was surfing at Sydney's Bondi Beach when a 2.5-metre white pointed mauled him.

He spoke about the incident for the first time today.

"I didn't see the shark. It let me go after three shakes," he said in a statement.

"By some miracle I made it to the shore.

"A young French surfer applied a tourniquet that, I believe, saved my life. Many others gathered to help me."

Mr Orgias was rushed about six kilometres to St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst, where he underwent 10 hours of microsurgery to reattach the hand.

Plastic surgeon Kevin Ho said he had not expected to save the hand.

But Mr Orgias soon regained some feeling in his fingers after a second eight-hour operation.

"Coming by the next day and seeing it still alive, that's fortunate and against expectations," Dr Ho said.

"But it's within the realms of possibility of what I thought would happen when we took him off the table."

Dr Ho was hopeful Mr Orgias would eventually have more function in the reattached hand than he would with a prosthesis.

"I don't want to overshoot the mark. We are over the worst of it, but we're not through the acute stage yet," he said.

Mr Orgias said he was thankful for the medical treatment.

"At the present time, it is not known what will happen to my hand. I have a long fight ahead but could not be working with better people than Dr Kevin Ho and his team," he said.

Surgeons at St Vincent's also treated navy diver Mr de Gelder, who was attacked while on an exercise off Garden Island in Sydney Harbour the day before Mr Orgias was mauled.

He was attacked by a 2.7-metre bull shark, losing a hand and leg as a result of the attack.

St Vincent's trauma director Anthony Grabs said the 31-year-old was lucky to be alive.

An artery in his leg came close to being severed, and if not for the speed with which the diver was transported to St Vincent's, he might not have lived.

"We're talking minutes and seconds here," Dr Grabs said.

He likened the damage that might be inflicted by a mechanical saw, saying Mr de Gelder may need more surgery.

"The rehabilitation is starting, so we're looking forward to that and getting him to really get the use of a prosthetic lower limb and looking at a prosthetic hand," he said.

Both surgeons paid tribute to the courage of the two men, who have met while in hospital.

Dr Grabs said Mr de Gelder was already doing weights.

"I think the two individuals we are dealing with here are highly motivated," he said.

"They are up bouncing around trying to do things for themselves."

Dr Ho said the ordeals of the two shark attack victims had had a profound effect on medical staff.

"It does bring you back to thinking about aspects of your own life and how lucky we are," he said.

"The other flipside, too, is just the power of the mind and things that I've learnt from these patients - how well they have dealt with it - that inspire you to go and make the most of your day, as well as to look on obstacles as really nothing."

"Both these guys are of the highest mental fortitude. They are well armed for what's ahead of them."

The two men remain in hospital, both in a stable condition.

___________________________________________

See the Video here.

Cheers,

Pete.

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