[imagesource: 9News]

More Australians have been killed in unprovoked shark attacks this year than in any year since 1934, so you can excuse the reaction of kayaker Matthew Smith in the video below.

La Niña, which is associated with cooler sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific, could be a factor in the increase in fatal shark attacks, and there’s no doubt that an increase in the use of drones makes these videos all the more frequent.

Earlier in the month, pro surfer Matt Wilkinson had an up-close and personal encounter just off the coast of Ballina, in New South Wales, but if there’s no drone up in the air, he would have had no idea he was being circled.

That’s not the case with Smith, who was very well aware that a great white was in his vicinity.

Here’s 9News:

Matthew Smith was fishing for snapper 1.5 kilometres offshore from Black Head Beach, north of Tuncurry, when he had an unwelcome visitor…

“I did think that I was probably going to die,” Mr Smith said.

I like the honesty.

Here’s the 9News report:

Screaming “f*ck off” at a four-metre shark is very, very Australian.

Fair dinkum.

[source:9news]