You all deserve congratulations, you really do, and I want to congratulate everyone, but the pessimist in me makes me afraid to celebrate. This is certainly better than the originally proposed cull, but it seems there are some loopholes that could mean indiscriminate killing...such as being allowed to set drum lines when a shark that isnt a threat is declared a threat simply by swimming too close to shore. Considering the planned increase in efforts to patrol beaches by air, white sharks spotted within a kilometer of shore seems like it could be somewhat often...Are they going to set drum lines every time that happens, and if so, how long do they stay in and how many animals die in the mean time? Extract below: The Fisheries Department redefined their description of what an imminent risk means, so a shark could be considered to pose an imminent risk even before a shark attack occurs. Under the guidelines the department may set drum lines to capture and kill great white sharks that come within one kilometre of the shore. The department currently takes into account a number of factors including whether conditions are conducive to people using the water and if measures to clear people out of the water were unlikely to remove the risk. Read more: watoday.au/wa-news/no-drum-lines-in-wa-but-sharks-could-still-be-killed-20140913-10g8uj.html#ixzz3DBYOm0gL
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 09:21:44 +0000