Dave Riggs: WA documentary maker has been tracking a rare great white pairing sighted off in Esperance

A rare shark pairing has been sighted off Western Australia’s coastline, according to a documentary filmmaker who has been tracking the duo. Dave Riggs, a local of popular tourist town Esperance, about 700km southeast of Perth, observed two enormous great white sharks lingering around the stunning beaches in the weeks leading up to Christmas. “Up until about December 17, there were two big five metre sharks, one was male and the other female,” Mr Riggs, who documented his observations in a now-viral YouTube video, said. “Before she left, the female was really really chill, and really massive, to a point where to me, she looked like she could have been pregnant.” He compared her to a 2000kg 2024 Toyota Hilux, which is about double the weight of a big Angus bull. Mr Riggs observed that before leaving the area, she appeared to have “slimmed down,” which led him to wonder whether she had chosen the world-renowned beaches to give birth. “It’s really unusual to have not just one five metre great white, who has come back at least two years in a row to the same place, but we had two,” he said. The filmmaker was also curious as to whether the pair were in partnership, based on a prior filming project where two sharks were identified to have travelled a lengthy distance together. Murdoch University physiological and behavioural ecologist Adrian Gleiss revealed there was limited evidence to suggest that sharks, particularly of this size, travelled in pairs. “Sharks can and do often form social bonds (this is an emerging research area). However most of this research is often based on smaller species or juveniles of other species,” Mr Gleiss told The West Australian. It was even more uncommon for male and female sharks to stick together. “Adults of the opposing sex however often do not like to co-occur. Reason being that mating can cause injury for females in many species of shark, therefore leading to females actively avoiding male harassment,” he said. “Sharks probably do not partner up for long periods of time.” It was challenging to study large species’ of sharks, Mr Gleiss added, which meant researchers often borrowed “knowledge from other, smaller species or juvenile life stages”. A spokesperson from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development said they could not comment directly on the observations of Mr Riggs, but the organisation, “supports a variety of research projects and initiatives, including work with research partners, to enhance our understanding of shark biology and broadscale movement to better inform government policies.” “More general information about shark species and current research is available from the SharkSmart website,” they said. Mr Riggs said the duo’s uncharacteristically relaxed behaviour during their Esperance visit was rare for Western Australian beaches. Shark sightings in the area were typically of much smaller sharks, up to about three metres, and most often off the eastern beaches amongst the kelp beds, or when there was a presence of whale carcass. Typically the three metre sharks were the ones behind attacks, he added, which he thought could be due to them being younger, less experienced hunters. He theorised there could be a lack of food over about a six-week period between whales leaving and the long nose fur seals beginning their birthing off the nearby Archipelago of the Recherche islands. The response to his eye-opening documentary displayed a shifting perception towards sharks in Australia, which Mr Riggs suspected indicated greater respect being held for the giant mysterious ocean dwellers. He urged the public to practice extreme caution around sharks regardless of whether they seemed relaxed or not, given “a switch could flip” at any moment and have devastating consequences.