Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Dad Shouted ‘Oh No’ as He Was Pulled Overboard by Shark During Fishing Tournament

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Dad Shouted ‘Oh No’ as He Was Pulled Overboard by Shark During Fishing Tournament · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: When you think about the Pacific Ocean, especially off Australia's
• 0:02
  East coast, it's just stunning, right, but it's also a
• 0:06
  place of uh, really intense sudden danger.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. It's the ultimate stage for deep sea game fishing,
• 0:14
  a sport that's incredibly high stakes. It pits human skill
• 0:18
  against well the raw power of nature.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: And that brings us to Paul Barney. He was fifty eight,
• 0:23
  a real figure in that world, not just an angler,
• 0:26
  but much more.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: He really was a devoted father, successful businessman running a
• 0:31
  construction company, but in the fishing community, a legend, decorated champion.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, but his passion was also tied to his community role,
• 0:39
  wasn't it.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, definitely. He was the secretary and a past president
• 0:43
  of the Port Hacking Game Fishing Club. People respected him immensely.
• 0:46
  He wasn't just about winning. He championed catch and release,
• 0:49
  mentored younger anglers, a real pillar of the community.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: He sounded like someone deeply connected to the sea with
• 0:55
  a lot of respect for it.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: That's the impression everyone had built his life around it, really,
• 0:59
  which makes.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: What happened on February twenty third, twenty twenty five even
• 1:02
  more well. Gut wrenching. It was during the big one,
• 1:06
  the NSWGFA Interclub State Championships.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the peak of ended the season, highly competitive, and
• 1:12
  out there off Port Stevens, something went terribly wrong.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: He was battling a huge short fin mago shark and
• 1:19
  somehow he got dragged overboard the culprit, the trace line.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: That's right, the very piece of gear designed to handle
• 1:25
  the shark's power became essentially a fatal tether, entangled him,
• 1:30
  pulled him under.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: And tragically his body was never.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Found, ever recovered. No.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: So our mission today in this deep dive is to
• 1:37
  get past the headlines, the rumors that always fly around
• 1:40
  things like this.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Exactly, we need to really understand the mechanics of what happened,
• 1:44
  focus on that critical maybe five second window where things
• 1:47
  went catastrophic.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: We'll look at the official corners findings here with the
• 1:51
  crew on his boat, the dark Horse witnessed.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: And critically talk about the safety changes that came out
• 1:57
  of this, the barning protocols they call them. Now, how
• 2:00
  did this specific piece of gear designed for strength end
• 2:04
  up causing such a tragedy. That's what we need to unpack.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's start by painting a picture for people who
• 2:09
  maybe aren't deep into big game fishing. Why Port Stevens
• 2:14
  and Newcastle? What makes that patch of ocean so special
• 2:18
  and well so dangerous?
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Right, It's basically down to oceanography. You've got the East
• 2:22
  Australian Current, the EAC, Yeah, the one from Finding Nemo,
• 2:25
  but much more powerful in reality.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Uh right, the fish Highway sort of.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It's this warm current pushing south and it runs
• 2:33
  smack into these nutrient rich upwellings coming off the continental shelf.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: So deep cold water meeting warm surface.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Water exactly, and that collision creates this incredible concentration of
• 2:43
  marine life. Plankton blooms, baitfish swarm, which brings in the
• 2:46
  big guys precisely. You get massive tuny, yellowfin, bluefin marlin,
• 2:51
  other billfish and of course the apex predators, big sharks
• 2:54
  like macOS, even great whites. It's a world record hunting.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Ground, so angler's flock there for the challenge.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: They do, but it demands everything peak physical condition, top
• 3:04
  notch gear and incredible teamwork. Especially during a major tournament
• 3:08
  like the Interclub State Championships, forty boats all competing, the
• 3:13
  pressure is immense.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: You hear it, called man versus monster. Yeah, what does
• 3:17
  that actually involve? Gear wise? Yeah, it's not your average
• 3:20
  weekend fishing trip, right.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely not. We're talking heavy beauty stuff, eighty even
• 3:25
  one thirty pound class lines, reels that can hold like
• 3:30
  a mile of line, bolted into these specialized fighting chairs.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: The chair is key, I imagine it's essential.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: You're fighting something that can pull with thousands of pounds
• 3:38
  of force. You have to be strapped in, using your
• 3:40
  whole body, legs and back against the rod just to
• 3:43
  gain line.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: And the crew they're not just watching it, no way.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: They're crucial driving the boat to follow the fish, keeping
• 3:49
  the deck clear so lines don't tangle, spotting the fish,
• 3:52
  coaching the angler, managing the leader. It's a constant, coordinated effort,
• 3:57
  like a ballet, but with you know, huge amount of
• 4:00
  adrenaline risk.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: It sounds incredibly demanding, and the risks are obvious, big waves,
• 4:06
  powerful fish. But you mentioned something earlier, the culture around
• 4:10
  safety gear, specifically PFDs life jackets.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a really critical point and honestly quite controversial
• 4:18
  in the sport, especially among the pros the veterans.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Why wouldn't you wear one? It seems like a no brainer.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Well, the thinking or the tradition has been that PFDs,
• 4:26
  particularly the older bulkier ones, get in the way. They
• 4:30
  can restrict movement when you're trying to quickly strap into
• 4:32
  the fighting harness or move around the deck chasing a
• 4:35
  fish that's running.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Erratically, So mobility over safety pretty much.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: For someone like Paul Barning with decades of experience, the
• 4:43
  calculation was likely that his skill and knowledge mitigated the risk. He,
• 4:47
  like many others, prioritized being unencumbered. It's a known risk
• 4:51
  they accepted, but one that obviously had tragic consequences.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Here let's circle back to Paul Barning himself. His influence
• 4:57
  went beyond just being a skilled angler on his boat,
• 5:00
  The dark Horse. Oh definitely.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: He was huge in his local club port Hacking. People
• 5:06
  describe him as a true gentleman. He wasn't just about
• 5:10
  the trophies. He genuinely loved mentoring people, staying late after
• 5:14
  meetings to show rookies, had a rig baits, sharing tips,
• 5:17
  and he.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Was big on conservation too, right catch and.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Release very much so he championed it within the club
• 5:23
  and the wider community. He had plenty of championship wins sure,
• 5:27
  but colleagues said he was proudest of promoting sustainable fishing practices.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: His boat, the dark Horse, a forty foot sport fisher,
• 5:35
  sounds like it was his pride and joy.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: It was state of the art gear, meticulously maintained. On
• 5:40
  that day, February twenty third, he was out there with
• 5:43
  his regular crewmates named Bradley, Mark and Tom, about twenty
• 5:46
  seven nautical miles offshore.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: And they were targeting marlin, which is pretty standard for
• 5:50
  that tournament.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, striped marlin was the target. But as any game
• 5:53
  fisherman knows, you can aim for one species, but you
• 5:55
  take what bites. And out there sharks are always the wildcard,
• 5:59
  the unpredictable exactly, and with forty boats out there, the
• 6:03
  pressure to perform to land something significant was intense. Then
• 6:07
  around one pm, that wild card showed up in a
• 6:09
  big way.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Okay, this is where we need to get into the
• 6:12
  specifics y the strike itself. What did the crusay happened?
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: It was sudden and incredibly violent, they said. The live
• 6:19
  bait rig they had out just vanished the rod bent
• 6:22
  double and the line started screaming off the reel at
• 6:25
  an unbelievable speed.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Not like a marlin strike.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: No, they knew instantly the sheer power and speed. Paul
• 6:32
  yelled something like, we've got a big one and scrambled
• 6:34
  into the fighting chair. They quickly realized it was a shark,
• 6:37
  a big one, and.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: They identified it as a short fin mecho tell us
• 6:41
  about the species. They're known for speed, right, Oh yeah.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: The cirrus oxyrynches often called the cheetah of the ocean
• 6:46
  for good reason. Possibly the fastest shark species out there.
• 6:50
  They can hit speeds around forty knots maybe even faster,
• 6:53
  and bursts forty knots.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: That's over seventy kilometers an hour exactly.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: They're built like torpedoes, huge tail fin for propulsion, and
• 7:02
  this one felt enormous. Based on the fight, the crew
• 7:05
  estimated it was well over ten feet long, maybe pushing
• 7:08
  eight hundred pounds.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: At eight hundred pound missile on the end of your
• 7:11
  line pretty much.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: This isn't just reeling in a fish. This is battling
• 7:14
  a creature with incredible hydrodynamic power.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: And they thought it for twenty minutes. That sounds intense,
• 7:20
  but maybe surprisingly short for such a big fish.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: It is incredibly fast to bring a maco that size
• 7:26
  boat side twenty minutes is testament to Paul's skill as
• 7:29
  an angler and the crew's flawless coordination. They would have
• 7:33
  been working flat out.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: What would that involve.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Constant pressure on the fish, Paul working the rod and reel,
• 7:38
  sweating buckets, the drag on the real likely smoking hot,
• 7:42
  the crew maneuvering the boat constantly to keep the right
• 7:44
  angle on the fish, stop it running under the hull,
• 7:47
  clearing lines, just intense focused teamwork.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: And the goal was tag and release.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's the standard practice, especially for macOS which tire quickly.
• 7:56
  You want to get the tag in and release them
• 7:58
  fast to maximize their survival chances. So speed and efficiency are.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Key, which brings us right to that critical piece of gear,
• 8:05
  the trace line. Explain exactly what that.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Is, right. The trace line or leader is that short,
• 8:10
  heavy duty section connecting the main fishing line to the hook.
• 8:14
  It's maybe six to fifteen feet long.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: And it has to be super strong.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Incredibly strong. It's designed to withstand the shark's teeth abrasion
• 8:23
  against its rough skin. We're talking maybe four hundred six
• 8:26
  hundred pound test monophylamin or sometimes even nylon coded wire.
• 8:30
  It's tough, very low stretch. It's meant to be the
• 8:33
  strong point, the part that.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Doesn't break the final connection, the.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Final physical link between angler and animal, and its strength,
• 8:40
  ironically is what became the problem.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Here, because when the shark is close, someone has to
• 8:44
  handle that trace line.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Directly, exactly to control the shark's head. For tagging, you
• 8:49
  can't just rely on the rod and reel anymore. Someone
• 8:52
  often the angler or a designated wireman, has to physically
• 8:56
  grab that trace line hand over hand to pull the
• 8:59
  shark along side.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: That leads us straight into the fatal moment, the entanglement,
• 9:04
  the tug of war, as the coroner called it. What
• 9:06
  did the cruise he happen?
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: Okay, so the Makea was boatside, but it wasn't totally
• 9:10
  subdued and made another surge trying to dive, And in
• 9:14
  that instant, Paul made a move. He came out of
• 9:16
  the fighting chair, lunged towards the gunnel and grabbed the
• 9:20
  trace line himself to get control. Yes, his crewmate Bradley,
• 9:24
  who was closest, testified he saw Paul wrap the trace
• 9:26
  line around his wrists once, perhaps twice. He said, to
• 9:30
  get a better grip. More leverage. Paul apparently shouted, I've
• 9:34
  got it. He thought, he added under control for the tag.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Wrapping a line around your hand or wrist, even if
• 9:40
  it's common practice for some, it sounds inherently dangerous, Especially
• 9:44
  that kind of line.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: It's exceptionally dangerous. Think about it. You're bypassing every safety feature.
• 9:50
  The reels drag system is designed to let line out
• 9:52
  under extreme pressure. The rod flexes to absorb shock. By
• 9:56
  wrapping the line, you eliminate all that.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: You become the direct anchor points exactly.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: You've replaced sophisticated mechanics with human bone and muscle, and
• 10:04
  that trace line it's thin, but incredibly strong. It won't
• 10:07
  break easily. It effectively becomes a high tensile wire connecting
• 10:10
  you directly to well, in this case, an eight hundred
• 10:13
  pound force of nature.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Paul weigh about one hundred and eighty pounds.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Right, There's just no context, absolutely none. His body mass
• 10:19
  offered virtually zero resistance against the kind of instantaneous force
• 10:23
  that Maco could generate its pure physics at that point,
• 10:27
  so the Mako made its move instantly. Bradley said, the
• 10:30
  shark gave this incredibly powerful whiplike tail thrust and just
• 10:34
  doze straight down for the abyss. All that force transferred
• 10:38
  directly up the trace.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Line and because Paul had it wrapped.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: The line snapped taught like a bowstring. Bradley said. Paul
• 10:44
  was just yanked off his feet across the deck. Bradley
• 10:48
  heard his boots scrape against the gunwale, a sound. He said,
• 10:51
  he'll never forget.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: And Paul said something, just.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Two words, barely audible over the chaos.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Oh no, just heartbreaking.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: That moment of realization, Yeah, wasn't so prize maybe, but
• 11:01
  just finality. He knew in that split second what was happening.
• 11:05
  He was pulled over the side, gone, immediately, pulled under
• 11:09
  instantly because he was wrapped tethered to that diving mako.
• 11:14
  The shark's momentum and power dragged him down incredibly fast
• 11:17
  into the deep dark water. The crew just saw the
• 11:20
  splash and then nothing. The horrifying realization hit them he
• 11:25
  was gone, pulled under by the trace.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: The shock must have been immense, but the crew reacted fast.
• 11:31
  What did they do immediately after he went.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Over their training? Their instincts just kicked in. Bradley, being closest,
• 11:37
  immediately hit the engine kill switches stop the boat dead
• 11:40
  in the water, critical move.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: To prevent moving further away or worse.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Exactly at the same time, Mark, another crew member, was
• 11:47
  already grabbing the EPRB.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: The emergency position indicating radio beacon, explaining why that's so
• 11:52
  vital out there.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: It's the lifeline. Once activated, it sends a distress signal
• 11:56
  with your precise GPS coordinates via satellite directly to rescue center.
• 12:00
  It turns a needle in a haystack search into a
• 12:02
  target at operations starting from a known point, absolutely crucial
• 12:06
  in the openation.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: So Mark at the EPRB dropped a GPS mark.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Or booey too yep, and got on the radio broadcasting
• 12:14
  the may day vessel dark Horse, their position thirty two
• 12:17
  degrees forty five south, one hundred and fifty two degrees
• 12:20
  fifteen east, and the emergency fishermen overboard entangled in shark line.
• 12:25
  Immediate assistance required.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Did they try to cut the line?
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: They cut the main fishing line, Yeah, let the rod
• 12:29
  and reel go. But the trace line, the one around
• 12:33
  Paul's wrist, it was already taught, pulling him down deep.
• 12:36
  There was nothing they could do about that specific connection
• 12:39
  at that point he was gone too fast.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: That made a call must have set off alarms everywhere.
• 12:43
  Describe the response. It wasn't just official rescuers, was it.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: No, it was incredible. The entire tournament fleet, all forty boats,
• 12:51
  heard the call and immediately stopped fishing. Just like that,
• 12:54
  competition over. They became a search and rescue.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Fleet, the fishing community pulling together.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Instantly, they formed a search grid, fanning out from the
• 13:02
  last known position, every eye scanning the water. Meanwhile, the
• 13:05
  official response kicked in. Coastguard helicopters scrambled, police boats launched,
• 13:10
  specialized sonar units were deployed, and back on shore agony.
• 13:14
  Paul's wife, Leoni, rushed to the marina. Friend's family. Other
• 13:18
  club members gathered just waiting, hoping against hope, a terrible vigil.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: But the conditions out there, they were working against any
• 13:25
  hope of finding it, weren't.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: They brutally so Two main things doomed the search efforts. Really. First,
• 13:31
  that current the EAC.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: How fast was it running about four.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Point five knots? That's fast, almost five miles per hour.
• 13:39
  In water like that, a body, especially without flotation, can
• 13:42
  be swept miles away in just a couple of hours.
• 13:44
  Even with the GPS marker, the potential search area just
• 13:47
  exploded outwards, with time as the second factor. The location
• 13:51
  the Mako's dive likely took Paul down towards the edge
• 13:54
  of the continental shelf, deep water, very.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Deep, very quickly, meaning visibility.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Dropped basically zero for divers pretty fast, and the sheer
• 14:03
  depth made any kind of underwater recovery operation incredibly difficult
• 14:07
  and dangerous, especially on short notice.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: And then there was the issue the PFD, again crucial point.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Without a PFD, he had no buoyancy. He was entirely
• 14:15
  at the mercy of the shark's pull and the ocean currents.
• 14:18
  Rescue experts were grimly realistic. Even if he'd somehow become
• 14:22
  free of the line underwater hypothermia in that current, survival
• 14:26
  chances dropped dramatically After just a few hours. They estimated
• 14:29
  a negligible chance of survival beyond about twenty two hours.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: So after forty eight hours of searching covering hundreds of square.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Miles, they had to suspend the active search. They found nothing,
• 14:39
  no trace of Paul, no trace of the shark. After
• 14:42
  the initial incident, Just as one report starkly put it
• 14:45
  a frayed trace and an empty horizon. The ocean had
• 14:49
  claimed him completely.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Utterly devastating, and the focus then had to shift in
• 14:53
  it from the search to the investigation.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Yes, the formal process began. An inquest was scheduled for
• 14:58
  October twenty twenty five, led by Deputy State Coroner Derek Lee.
• 15:02
  The goal wasn't just to record the death, but to
• 15:05
  understand why and prevent it happening again.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: What was the official finding? How did the coroner classify
• 15:10
  the death?
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: The ruling was death by misadventure. That's a specific legal finding,
• 15:14
  meaning it was an accident essentially, not foul play, not suicide,
• 15:18
  not negligence in a criminal sense, but an unforeseen, tragic
• 15:22
  outcome of a deliberate action. The ruling specified he was
• 15:26
  pulled under water while managing a trace line.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: And this is where the inquest played a really important
• 15:31
  role in clarifying things, wasn't it because there had been
• 15:34
  those lurid media reports suggesting a shark attack after he
• 15:37
  went in the water.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, that narrative was out there, sensational but wrong. The corner,
• 15:42
  along with the forensic pathologist, doctor Luckin, looked closely at
• 15:46
  the evidence, primarily the crew's testimony. They concluded very clearly
• 15:50
  the shark overpowered him via.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: The line, so the entanglement killed him, not a bite, correct.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: The force the speed being dragged down that was the
• 15:58
  cause of death. There was zero roo evidence of any
• 16:00
  postfall attack or mauling. The NSW Game Fishing Association put
• 16:05
  out a strong statement confirming this, calling those attack claims
• 16:08
  fabricated and untrue. That factual clarification was important for the
• 16:13
  family and for the sport's reputation. It was physics, not predation.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: And the cruise testimony was vital for that conclusion. Bradley's
• 16:21
  account of the tug of war.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, Bradley's description was key. He emphasized how incredibly fast
• 16:27
  it all happened. The moment Paul wrapped the line, felt confident,
• 16:31
  shouted I've got it, and then maybe two seconds later,
• 16:35
  the mago dives and he's gone, just instantaneous, no time
• 16:38
  for anyone to react grab him cut the line right then.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: So even though it wasn't ruled negligence, the inquest did
• 16:45
  identify contributing factors, the lack of the PFD, the handwrapping exactly.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Those were seen as critical elements in the chain of events,
• 16:52
  and based on that, the coroner's court issued clear, proactive
• 16:55
  recommendations things aimed squarely at preventing this specific type of tragedy.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: What were those recommendations?
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Three main ones. First, mandatory PFD use at least during
• 17:04
  the fighting and landing stages of billfish and sharks and tournaments,
• 17:07
  no more prioritizing mobility over basic floatation safety in those
• 17:11
  high risk moments.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: That's a big cultural shift for the sport.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Huge. Second recommendation develop and mandate quick release trace mechanisms,
• 17:19
  something that allows the handler to break the connection if
• 17:22
  things go wrong.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: We'll come back to that. And the third.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Enhanced crew training specifically focusing on emergency procedures for entanglement,
• 17:30
  rapid line cutting techniques and man overboard drills tailored to
• 17:34
  this kind of scenario. The inquest provided closure legally, but
• 17:39
  the community response really built the legacy.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about that legacy, the impact on Paul's family,
• 17:45
  his community. How did they cope and how did they
• 17:48
  turn that grief into something constructive.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Well, the grief was obviously profound, rippling through the whole
• 17:54
  tight knit game fishing world. Paul's wife, Leoni showed incredible strength.
• 17:59
  She did so the dark Horse. Understandably, the memories were
• 18:03
  too painful.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine stepping back on that boat.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: No, but she kept his fishing rods, polished them almost
• 18:09
  like a shrine in their garage, a way to keep
• 18:11
  his passion alive, tangible.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: And she had that quote, didn't she, Something about the
• 18:15
  sea giving more than it takes.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, apparently from an old letter Paul wrote her, the
• 18:20
  sea gives more than it takes, but when it does take,
• 18:23
  remember the gifts. It shows this amazing perspective, seeing it
• 18:27
  not as malice from the ocean, but as part of
• 18:30
  the inherent bargain you make when you pursue that kind
• 18:32
  of passion.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: That mindset seems to have helped their children too, Sam
• 18:36
  Eleanor and Brigette.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: It seems so Eleanor and Brigette, who were also into
• 18:40
  fishing and diving, really channeled their grief into advocacy. They
• 18:44
  became passionate voices pushing for better safety gear, particularly lighter,
• 18:49
  less restrictive PFDs, especially for women anglers, where sometimes gear
• 18:53
  options weren't as well.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Developed, making safety less of a burden so people actually use.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: It exactly, they helped drive innovation in PFDs design and the.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Whiter fishing community. How did they respond?
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: It was really unifying. Tributes came in from all over Australia,
• 19:07
  from Cairns to Perth. His home club, Port Hacking put
• 19:11
  up that plaque Paul Barning mentor Champion Friend Gone Fishing Eternal.
• 19:15
  The NSWGFA dedicated the next season's tournaments to his memory,
• 19:19
  raising funds for ocean safety initiatives. It was a collective
• 19:23
  sense of loss but also responsibility, which.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Leads us to the core takeaway, really, how this tragedy
• 19:29
  tangibly changed the industry. The barning protocols, What exactly are they? Okay?
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: So the Barning protocols are now the standardized safety procedures
• 19:37
  taught nationally specifically for handling that trace line in the
• 19:41
  final moments of a fight with a large fish like
• 19:43
  a shark or marlin. Before Paul's death, how you handled
• 19:47
  the wire was off and down to experience tradition, which
• 19:51
  sometimes included.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Wrapping, which we now know is incredibly.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Risky, fatally risky. So the protocols mandate specific gear and techniques.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Tell us about those changes? What do they require? Physically?
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Two key things? First, wearing heavy duty puncture and friction
• 20:06
  resistant gloves often kevlar, whenever you might handle the trace.
• 20:10
  This gives some protection against cuts and burns if the
• 20:13
  line runs, and makes it harder for a wrap to cinch.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Down tight makes sense in the second part, this is the.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Big one, the use of quick release systems or breakaway loops.
• 20:21
  If you must take a rap or secure the leader
• 20:23
  to yourself or the boat.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Okay, explain the breakaway loop. How does that prevent the tethering.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: It's ingeniously simple, really. It's a connection, often a specific
• 20:32
  piece of lighter monofilament line between the main trace line
• 20:35
  and the handler's harness or a cleat. It's designed to
• 20:39
  be the intended.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Weaklink, so it breaks under extreme pressure.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Exactly if the shark suddenly surges and the force exceeds
• 20:47
  a preset limit, say one hundred and fifty or two
• 20:49
  hundred pounds, that loop snaps instantly. The connection breaks. The
• 20:54
  handler might still get pulled off balance, maybe even into
• 20:56
  the water, but they are not tethered to the diving fish.
• 21:00
  There's a potential death sentence into a potentially recoverable falloverboard.
• 21:04
  It separates the person from the irresistible.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Force that sounds like a game changing piece of safety
• 21:09
  tech born from tragedy.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: It really is a fundamental shift from relying on strength
• 21:13
  to relying on a planned point of failure for safety.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Were there other changes you mentioned technology improving too.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, The incident definitely spurred more focus on shark awareness tech.
• 21:22
  Things like apps that use data from acoustic buoyes tracking
• 21:25
  tag sharks. Anglers can get real time alerts about shark
• 21:28
  hotspots or movements.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: So better situational awareness.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: Right. It doesn't eliminate the risk of encountering a shark,
• 21:35
  but it helps crews make more informed decisions about where
• 21:38
  and when to fish, especially during high pressure tournaments, avoiding
• 21:41
  known aggregation areas for example.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: It really highlights that tension, doesn't it, between relying on
• 21:47
  technology and relying on human skill or instinct. Doctor Charlie Euveniers,
• 21:51
  the shark expert you mentioned. His point was that sharks
• 21:54
  aren't villains here exactly.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Doctor Hubanirs emphasizes they are powerful, wild animals operating on
• 22:00
  instinct and physics. This wasn't a malicious attack, It was
• 22:04
  a consequence of immense power meeting a flawed technique under pressure.
• 22:08
  His point is agitation is key. You have to respect
• 22:12
  the animal's power and adapt safety protocols even if they
• 22:15
  feel counterintuitive after years of doing things another.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Way, like wearing the PFD trusting the breakaway loop.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Precisely because instinct in that split second of crisis can
• 22:24
  lead you to do the wrong, dangerous thing like wrapping
• 22:27
  the line, new protocols and gear have to override that instinct.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Paul Barning's story is just such a profound, sobering lesson
• 22:34
  for anyone involved in any pursuit that pushes limits. Really
• 22:38
  where the safety gear, use the mandated procedures, value your
• 22:42
  crew's life above the prize.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: That final Oh no, it wasn't just personal realization. It
• 22:47
  became this punctuation mark signifying the end of one era
• 22:50
  of handling trace lines in the beginning of a new,
• 22:53
  safer one built on the lessons learned from his loss.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: When we think back to that day February twenty third,
• 22:58
  twenty twenty five, mechanics of it, all, that entanglement, it
• 23:02
  really underscores that constant dance between human ambition and the raw,
• 23:07
  untamable power of nature.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Paul was a true champion, respected by all, but
• 23:12
  he was overcome, not by malice, but by physics, by
• 23:15
  the ocean's forces, meeting a moment where safety protocols were bypassed.
• 23:19
  The ocean, as they say, keeps its secrets, and ultimately
• 23:21
  it kept Paul.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: It leaves us and you listening with a challenging thought,
• 23:25
  doesn't it Whatever your passion is, climbing mountains, sailing oceans,
• 23:29
  even competitive business, when you push boundaries, how do you
• 23:33
  evaluate risk? When does optimizing for performance like ditching the
• 23:38
  PFD from mobility, cross the line into unacceptable danger?
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: What defines a valiant loss versus a preventable tragedy? What
• 23:46
  are those non negotiable safety steps you absolutely must take
• 23:50
  before you embark on something where the stakes are potentially
• 23:53
  life and death.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Paul Barning's legacy isn't just a plaque on a wall.
• 23:56
  It's written into the rule books now. It's in the
• 23:58
  kevlar gloves, the breakaway clips, training drills.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: A constant, vital reminder that the ocean and pursuits like
• 24:04
  this demand immense respect, rigorous preparation, and maybe most importantly, humility.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: A heavy thought to end on, but an essential one.
• 24:12
  We'll close this deep dive remembering Leoni Barning's final private
• 24:15
  message cast out to see for Paul tight Lines love,
• 24:19
  Thank you for joining us,