The Queensland government will enact shark control measures in the Whitsunday Islands after two tourists were attacked in separate incidents within 12 hours.

September 21, 2018

The charter company whose yachts two shark attack victims were staying on in north Queensland is warning its customers to stay out of the water.

Two tourists have been seriously injured after similar attacks at Cid Harbour on the Whitsunday Islands on Wednesday and Thursday.

Both were sailing with Queensland Yacht Charter vessels at the time.

Managing director Christophe Vanek says all its clients on the water have been warned to be vigilant and refrain from swimming in Cid Harbour and the broader Whitsundays for the foreseeable future.

“We’re are also working with relevant government agencies in relation to both incidents,” Mr Vanek said in a statement on Friday.

A 12-year-old Melbourne girl holidaying with her father and sister received a life-threatening wound to her leg in Thursday’s attack.

The incident came less than a day after Tasmanian woman Justine Barwick, 46, was also bitten on her left thigh while snorkelling in the same harbour.

The child was taken to Mackay Base Hospital in a critical condition, but is now being flown to Brisbane for further treatment.

Ms Barwick was taken to Brisbane on Thursday and her condition has since been upgraded to stable in intensive care at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Fisheries Queensland will set three baited drum lines in the harbour on Friday to catch the shark or sharks responsible.

“It is possible that there’s more than one shark involved in these unfortunate events,” the department’s shark control program manager Jeff Krause told the ABC.

“We don’t normally go out and search for any sharks that may have been involved in a shark attack but due to the nature of these multiple attacks, Fisheries Queensland is going to deploy three drum lines in a bid to try and catch some of the sharks in that area.”

Mr Krause said various types of whaler species, as well as bull and tiger sharks, can be found in waters around the harbour.

The last attack in the area was eight years ago.

Shark attack expert Daryl McPhee, from Bond University, said while the likelihood of being attacked by a shark is slim, the Great Barrier Reef has a higher population of sharks than other areas.

“Sharks will bite things that they think are prey and sometimes they consider people prey,” he said.