Sharks in the City

The Australian resort city of the Gold Coast has the usual blend of urban challenges faced by any fast-growing city, but the town council has an issue that few other cities have to contend with – sharks in the suburbs.

On the other side of the world, another coastal city faces a growing threat of bull shark attacks. Corpus Christi, nicknamed the 'Sparkling City by the Sea' is located on the Texan Gulf Coast. Just like Australia's Gold Coast it enjoys a subtropical climate, beautiful beaches, thriving tourism and a growing population of bull sharks.

The film investigates how the demands for waterside housing in these two cities has sparked a surge in new housing estates centred on canals created by dredging channels from local rivers and estuaries. Unwittingly, urban planners have created the perfect habitat for bull shark nurseries and numbers of one of the worlds most dangerous marine predators is increasing. With the very real risk of more fatalities, marine scientists are trying to understand the movement patterns and reproductive and feeding behaviour of bull sharks. The film follows marine biologists capture and tag programs as well as the gathering of scientific data from an unusual source – a large shark-fishing competition called Sharkathon. Can scientists find a way for people and sharks to co-exist in urban environments?

This film is useful for secondary school students, especially students of geography, biology and marine studies.