Australia’s Ten News has reported some more information about the woman who was recently attacked by a shark off east coast of Australia. The attack occurred off Jimmy’s Beach near Nelson Bay, according the Ten report. In addition to injuries to her head, neck, and shoulders (as reported by ITN), the victim, a local woman from Anna Bay, also suffered injuries to her arm.

The victim is being described as a water-lover who often goes snorkeling and wakeboarding. According to Didj Hopkins, a friend of the victim, she cares deeply about sharks and was aware of their presence.

While Ten News reports that doctors have stabilized the victim, they noted that there is still concern about her arm which was “severely hurt.”

The UK’s ITN is reporting that a woman was attacked by shark while being towed by a boat on a wakeboard. The incident occurred off the east of Australia. The woman was airlifted to a hospital in Newcastle with injuries to the head, neck, and shoulders.

While the ITN report did not give a prognosis for recovery, the victim appeared to be conscious and responsive, in the video. The species involved in the attack was also not identified, despite footage of white sharks being shown in the ITN video report.

Here’s to a speedy and full recovery for the woman involved.

Pro Dive South Africa recently added the above video to YouTube, which showcases a rescue effort to save a young sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) or spotted ragged-tooth shark, as they’re known in South Africa. The shark had apparently become entangled in some fishing line after being hooked. The line had cut into the shark’s head, and the hook was still embedded in the shark’s mouth.

Thanks to the efforts of Pro Dive South Africa, the shark was freed from both the fishing line and the hook. The actions of these divers will hopefully increase the shark’s chances for survival. Kudos to all those involved in this rescue effort!

Andreas Schumacher has posted what appears to be a promotional clip to his YouTube channel for a pro-shark film focusing on Erich Ritter’s Shark School.

The video features some great underwater footage shot off The Bahamas, and the theme of the clip clearly promotes a better understanding of sharks and their importance to the ecosystem. However, the video also makes some claims that may draw criticism.

The narrator plays with semantics a bit with the claim that “sharks are not dangerous” rather it is only “the situation” that can be dangerous. Some other claims made in the video that might raise eyebrows include the statement that “there are no shark attacks just shark accidents,” and that 200 million sharks are killed every year (a number that is more than double the range of 26 million – 73 million, supported by research).

YouTube user jrmdjr of a white shark encounter that occurred 16 miles offshore of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. According to the video description, the encounter took place on November 10, 2010 during a black sea bass fishing trip, and the crew “fed the shark their catch” to keep the shark interested.

While it’s not entirely clear from the video, it does appear that a piece of tuna was also used to bait the shark, and it also appears that the shark was being baited via rod and reel at one point.

San Francisco’s KGO-TV (ABC 7) reports that a recently published study on great white shark counts off of California’s central coast indicates that the number of white sharks is “surprisingly low.”

The study was published in The Royal Society’s Biology Letters. Researchers used photographs of dorsal fins to identify 130 unique white sharks at the Farallon Islands off Central California. An algorithm was then used to determine an estimate of 219 mature and sub-adult white sharks in Central California. The study notes that this number is “substantially smaller than populations of other large marine predators.”

Other researchers have pointed out that since this is the first study of its kind in the region that there is no baseline figure to compare the estimated count to.

Chris Lowe of CSULB’s SharkLab , quoted in a Discovery News, suggests that “using traditional marine mammal survey methods on a non-air breathing species” could result in lower numbers, since there could be a lower chance of seeing white sharks on the surface, as opposed to counting marine mammals who must surface to breathe.

Sean R. van Sommeran, of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation, also chimed in on the topic in the comments section of the Discovery News article and stated that “the figure of 200-300 hundred adults has been conventional wisdom among California Field Researchers since the late 1990s.” He also went on to note that his research team has not seen “more or fewer” sharks since 1990 at the Farallones.

On a related note, the Shark Diver blog weighs in on the estimated numbers at the Farallon Islands, as well as count estimates at Isla de Guadalupe.

The Toronto Star recently reported that Nicole Moore, the Canadian woman who, in January, was involved in a bull shark attack in Cancun, is sharing the story of her recovery via her new blog mooretolife.ca.

In addition to chronicling Moore’s recovery process, the blog also has a page that gives Moore’s first-hand account of her shark encounter. Various accounts of Moore’s attack appeared in the news media, which Moore describes on her blog as having “made a debacle of the entire incident.”

Best wishes to Mrs. Moore as she continues her journey down the road to recovery.

Seventh Generation recently posted the above feature on Stefanie Brendl of Shark Allies. The interview discusses shark conservation efforts, the important roles that sharks play in the environment, and the shark fin industry.

The video also features commentary from native Hawaiian Kawika Kaluhiokalani in regards to the shark fin industry, and touches on cultural views of sharks and marine life from a Hawaiian perspective.

Aside from the fact that the “100 million shark killed annually” figure is used in this video (as opposed to the research-backed 26-73 million figure), the video still stands as a solid and well-produced example of pro-shark media.

Freedive International recently posted a video in which they did field testing of the AquaShield Shark Deterrent System in the waters off of South Africa. The sharks species seen in the video include the sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus) and the brown shyshark (Haploblepharus fuscus).

The owners of this video do point out that they are not attempting to refute claims made by the manufacturer, rather the point of the video is to show that “only that the device does not work with these species of shark.” While one could probably bring up a valid argument that the shysharks were being baited, the sevengill sharks in the video did not appear to be baited and certainly seemed indifferent to the presence of the AquaShield device.

If nothing else, the divers in the video seemed to be having fun while testing out the device.

According to the Coventry Telegraph, London’s Tate Moden art museum will feature Damien Hirst as its star exhibitor in 2012 when the summer Olympics come to London. Hirst is known for encasing various species of animals in formaldehyde and presenting them as works of art. Perhaps, one of his most famous works is “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living,” which is essentially an encased tiger shark carcass suspended in formaldehyde.

“The Physical Impossibility of Death…” was commissioned for £50,000 in 1991 and was completed in 1992. the Coventry Telegraph reports that it was later sold for about £6.5 million. A 2006 New York Times article reports that the original shark had begun deteriorating when the item was sold. Hirst volunteered to replace the shark and enlisted the help of Oliver Crimmen, a curator at the Natural History Museum in London, to better preserve the second shark, which was housed in the original case.

The two tiger sharks used in Hirst’s work were caught by Queensland fishermen, who were hired by Hirst.