Really Western Australia!? Again?

The department of fisheries for western Australia made the following announcement today.

“Following a series of tagged shark detections of a white shark at the Warnbro receiver a decision has been made to deploy capture gear to take a white shark that has been assessed as posing a serious threat to public safety.”
 

source


So what has this shark done to pose this serious threat to public safety? Did it attack a surfer? Did it try to bite a swimmer?…… actually no. According to their press release, “The Department of Fisheries sent vessels to investigate and it became apparent the same shark has been within one kilometre of the shore over consecutive days.” …. ah, …. well,….. hmm,….. I really don’t know what to say. A shark is swimming in the water within a kilometer (.62 miles) over consecutive days! I guess that is reason enough to go out, capture and kill a protected species. I mean really, it is our Ocean and not the sharks! (sharkasm intended, just to make sure)

After stating that “The initial pattern of detections of this tagged shark combined with the mitigation strategies did not warrant further action”.  They went on to say. “However there has been an increase in the number of day-time detections on consecutive during the lead up to Christmas, and school holidays combined with warm and sunny weather, people are more likely to be in the water using the beaches, fishing and diving.” … So it’s not really the shark that is the problem, it’s the people who want to go where they know a shark is swimming. I mean really, it would just be ridiculous to think that the strategies in already place right now “Measures required to negate serious threat to the public have been put in place, including beach closures, notifications to the community, and alerts / detections posted on Twitter and the department’s SharkSmart website, however, given the likely increase in water users and increased detections of this shark, more direct action has now been taken to address public safety concerns.” would prevent a possible attack. No, of course not. They need to go out and kill this protected shark. Anything else would just not be right!
 
The fisheries department justifies their action this way “The decision to remove the shark has been made under the State Government’s guidelines for the take of a shark posing a serious threat to public safety,”…. pssst, don’t tell anyone, but how is a shark in the water a serious threat to a person on land? If the required action includes closing the beach and alerting the community, how exactly does this shark pose a serious threat?

I guess we now know, what the government had in mind, when they stopped their challenge to the decision to remove the drumlines. Just make up a hypothetical threat and go out to kill a protected species….. Well done!

Anyway, you can read their entire press release here.

Remember that Western Australia does this to supposedly protect the public and help tourism. We can all choose to not visit Western Australia and show them that way, what we think of their actions.

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver
 

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.

Another catch and kill order for a great white shark?

Congratulations Australia! You have done it again. According to “The Australian” a catch and kill order has been issued for what is believed to be a great white shark that killed a surfer over the weekend.

The article states 35-year-old Chris Boyd, was attacked on Saturday morning by what’s believed to be a great white shark at the popular surf break Umbries off Gracetown, 270km southwest of Perth. Mr Boyd, originally from Queensland, was killed instantly when he was mauled by a great white shark while surfing at popular break “Umbies” off Gracetown, 270km south of Perth at about 9am WST yesterday

It then goes on to say that The state’s fisheries department issued a catch and kill order for the shark, saying there was an imminent threat of more attacks in the area. The fisheries department is quoted as saying they weren’t ”just going to randomly kill sharks – it depends on what they see”

This is ridiculous. What exactly are they going to see? Since they say that the shark that attacked Mr. Boyd was “believed” to be a great white shark, how exactly are they going to determine that a particular shark is the right one, if they don’t even know the species for certain? 

This is another typical reaction for a government agency. Do something, no matter how stupid, just to appear to be doing something.

Our heart goes out to the family of Mr. Boyd, but indiscriminately killing an animal is neither bringing Mr. Boyd back, nor is it making the ocean any safer for anyone else.

Cheers,

Martin Graf
CEO
Shark Diver


About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com

Shark sentenced to death?

Strange things are happening in Australia. According to a report on sharkyear magazine and the international business times a shark has been sentenced to death, because of a suspected attack on a diver. “A catch and kill order was issued and staff have…