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The ocean has always been a central part of Glen Butler's life.

Over 50 years a surfer for 50 years and, in that time, he says he rarely worried about marine predators.

"You recognize you're venturing into their environment, so you're careful," the experienced waterman commented.

But Mr Butler's confidence while surfing was shattered last month.

He traveled for a wave session with his surfing buddies one weekend morning at the beach area in the northern coastal region of Sydney. Shortly after he got out of the surf, companion surfer the local waterman was fatally attacked by a white shark.

"It has rattled us somewhat," the surfer confesses. Mercury and his identical sibling Mike were familiar in the beach community, he notes: "You would regularly say greetings."

The nation Highest Risk Place for Marine Encounters

The country is location to some of the globally renowned shorelines. More than 80% of the citizens dwells on the coastal region, so an early morning ocean swim or surf is typical for numerous of individuals every day.

But there are residents who think that regular routine is becoming progressively dangerous.

One local is among them.

The 66-year-old local recalls looking at massive large predators hauled in by fishing crews as a youngster, during the days the presently safeguarded animal could still be permitted to be caught.

Witnessing these lifeless creatures suspended by their tails elicited a "macabre" sensation, he describes, but not terror. Ocean hunters were animals of the deep ocean, he reasoned, and he boarded in the more shallow bays.

However several years past, his offspring Anika was bitten by a marine predator while free-diving on the marine park. Though she survived, it made the father anxious about the marine life – a concern that grows with each dramatic news story about an encounter.

"Such incidents impact me… I'm freaked out," he acknowledges.

While 'Merc' was only the next victim killed by a marine incident in the metropolitan area over the past 60 years, it's small consolation to those who commonly frequent the city's beaches.

Each board enthusiast interviewed in the weeks after the surfer's death stated they feel marine predator observations in shallow waters are becoming increasingly common.

"Periodically we might have seen a unidentified shape, but it might have been a ocean creature," notes the resident. "Now, I observe them all the time."

Several worry that shark counts are exploding, after several types - including the globally most dangerous ocean hunters, white sharks and tiger sharks - were given varying degrees of safeguarding in Australian waters.

There is minimal investigation on marine predator statistics to accurately assess any direction – but researchers suggest an growth in sightings doesn't necessarily mean there are more sharks.

Environmental experts propose that rising sea temperatures are modifying the migration and hunting behaviors of ocean hunters. But researchers explain any increase in appearances is mainly because of more and more individuals venturing into the ocean, and they are enhanced by social media.

The probability of being attacked by a marine predator here is still very low. You're numerous times more probable to suffer drowning. Indeed, though, that the nation is a predator encounter danger zone.

The country ranks second only to the America - a nation with much larger the residents - for marine incidents, and it tops the planet for fatal attacks, based on the global database.

That database only monitors "unprovoked" incidents – omitting those potentially encouraged by humans through activities such as underwater hunting – but a fuller record of all recorded shark interactions in the country is kept by Taronga Conservation Society.

Records demonstrate that shark attacks have broadly been increasing over the past years. Currently this period there have been four lethal encounters - all non-induced.

Meshes 'Comparable to a Paper in a Pool'

The state had been preparing to trial decreasing its implementation of predator meshes – its longest-running predator prevention method – when the recent deadly incident took place.

Marine barriers have been implemented in the region since nearly a century and currently are typically deployed on multiple shorelines from early spring through to March. In addition to another region, it is the sole region that maintains them.

It's not feasible to completely enclose complete coastal areas – marine environments are very forceful and would readily carry the meshes away.

Instead, the marine barriers are about 150m extending and sit a several feet under the water's surface. While secured to the marine bed at locations, they don't reach the bottom. So ocean hunters can swim over, beneath and past them.

"It resembles placing a paper into the water body," University of Sydney Researcher a marine expert commented.

Local authorities states shark nets are "not created to establish a full barrier between beachgoers and predators" but instead seek to "intercept certain species" during any {hunts