If there's one thing that has stood out in local news reports recently it has to be the high number of shark sightings off Perth beaches. I have been back here a bit over a year and a half. But I'm pretty sure that there weren't nearly as many such stories at this time last year. And there were far fewer over the years 2006 and 2007, when I was living here. The numbers really do seem to have just shot up in the last year. This period could be dubbed Perth's Summer of the Shark!

The latest sighting was off Mettams Pool. This pretty little beach has long been popular with families. That's because it's comparatively secluded, unlike Trigg and Scarborough to the south. Also, there's a reef a little way off the shore where the waves break, so the water close to the beach remains calm.

I often went there when I was a little tacker myself and enjoyed scuba diving on the edges of this reef. Needless to say there were never any shark sighting back then. Times sure have changed!