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Arguments in favour of Australian states using nets, drum-lines and other shark culling measures
1. Sharks represent a serious threat to Australian beachgoers
It has been claimed that average numbers of human lives lost due to shark attacks is a misleading way of viewing the danger that sharks can pose to beachgoers. According to this point of view there are some areas of the world where sharks represent a far more significant threat than they do in others.
Those calling for stronger measures against shark attacks note that to claim that as an average over the last fifty years one human life per year has been lost as a result of shark attacks in Australian waters is not an adequate response to the spate of deaths that has occurred in West Australian waters over the last few years.
Six people have been killed by suspected great white shark attack in West Australian waters since September 2011, including three fatalities within less than two months. Since November 2000 there have been 25 shark attacks or shark-related fatalities reported in West Australian waters.
It has been noted that it is not only in West Australian waters that there have been significant clusters of shark attacks. Other clusters have been reported around the world, in the waters off Mexico, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Brazil and Iran. The reason for these clusters of attacks is not known.
It has also been claimed that there has been an increase Australia-wide in the number of attacks and deaths occurring as a result of sharks.
John West, the curator of the Australian Shark Attack File at Taronga Zoo, has noted that there have been 207 unprovoked shark attacks in Australia over the last 20 years, and that 124 of those have occurred in the last 10 years. Mr West has further noted that in West Australian waters, in the twelve months prior to April 2013, there was a total of eight recorded shark attacks, seven of them from great whites. This compares with an average for West Australia of 4.4 attacks each year over the past decade.
The need to protect human life is the principal reason given by the Western Australian premier, Colin Barnett, for the new strategies his government will be introducing.
Mr Barnett has stated, 'I realise that many people object to the catching of sharks; however, the government has taken this measure after long consideration. It wasn't a knee-jerk reaction. We've been looking at this for some time."Our aim is to provide greater protection to beach goers.'
2. Stronger shark control measures succeed in reducing the loss of human life
Supporters of shark culls and other stronger measures to reduce shark numbers in popular fishing, swimming and boating areas claim that these measures are successful in reducing the loss of human life.
Critics of such measures usually state that shark-related fatalities continue to occur despite them. Supporters of such measures argue that though they may not succeed in totally eliminating the risk of attack and death, they do succeed in substantially reducing that risk. That is, they claim, in those areas where such measures are employed the number of lives lost or people injured due to shark attack is lower than it would otherwise have been.
In a Fact Check posted on the ABC's Internet site on December 22, 2013, it was stated, 'Historical shark attack figures suggest that the use of shark nets and drum-lines does markedly reduce the incidence of shark attack when implemented on a regular and consistent basis.'
The following figures are offered in support of the ABC Fact Check claim, 'In Queensland, there has been only one fatal attack on a controlled beach since 1962, compared to 27 fatal attacks between 1919 and 1961.Statistics from the NSW Department of Primary Industries indicate that before nets were introduced in NSW in 1936 there was an average of one fatal shark attack every year. There has been only one fatal attack on a protected beach since then and that was in 1951.'
There have been similar successes in South Africa where, in KwaZulu-Natal, a well-organised shark control program has reduced fatalities from shark attack at Durban beaches to zero. South Africa employs an extensive system of nets and drum-lines. At Durban, from 1943 until the installation of nets in 1952, there were seven fatal attacks, since then there have been none. Similarly, at KwaZulu-Natal's other protected beaches, from 1940 until most of those beaches were first netted in the 1960s, there were 16 fatal attacks and 11 resulting in serious injury. In the three decades since nets were installed there have been no fatal attacks at those beaches and only four resulting in serious injury.
Most of the shark nets deployed in South Africa are 214 metres long and 6 metres deep and are secured at each end by two 35 kg anchors; all have a stretched mesh of 51 cm. The nets are laid in two parallel rows approximately 400 metres offshore and in water depths of 10-14 metres. A drum-line consists of a large, anchored float (which was originally a drum) from which a single baited hook is suspended. Most beaches are protected either by two nets or by one net and four drum-lines, but the quantity of gear varies from beach to beach. Durban, the largest coastal city and holiday resort in South Africa, has 17 nets, each 305 metres in length, which cover all the popular swimming beaches between the mouth of the Umgeni River and the harbour entrance.
3. Shark attacks can damage the economies of coastal communities
It has been noted that shark attacks can have a dramatic effect on tourism in coastal communities and so seriously harm their economies.
On September 28, 2011, there was a shark attack at Fish Hoek Beach, near Cape Town, South Africa that resulted in a swimmer, Michael Cohen, losing portions of both of his legs.
The attack on Michael Cohen was filmed and drew more than a million Internet viewers. A survey of more than 400 people taken a month after the attack by the local surf lifesaving club and a community organization found that 17 percent of respondents had cancelled their planned vacation at Fish Hoek Beach following the attack.
On July 30, 2012, a great white shark attacked Christopher Myers at Ballston Beach in Truro, Cape Cod, in the northern United States. The attack had an immediate negative effect on the local economy.
Eric Gustafson, the owner of Fun Seekers, the oldest surf school on Cape Cod, has stated, 'The phones stopped ringing, like literally stopped for the first time ever.'
Wendy Northcross, the chief executive office of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, has claimed, 'A series of shark attacks, even if they occurred on the Outer Cape, would affect tourism across the entire region.'
Ms Northcross has stated, 'After the attack on Mr Myers last summer, my office fielded scores of concerned calls. Many tourists coming here for a summer vacation do not distinguish between the regions or towns. It's Cape Cod that gets the reputation...'
Similar concerns have been expressed in Australia. On July 16, 2012 (after the fifth fatal shark attack in West Australian waters in ten months) Western Australia's Fisheries Minister, Norman Moore, told the International Business Times that he was worried that the spate of attacks could seriously harm the state's lucrative tourism industry, which draws tens of thousands of tourists each year.
Mr Moore stated, 'Those people who want to come here to enjoy an ocean experience will be turned away because of this situation.'
Similar concerns have been expressed after the most recent shark-attack fatality in West Australian waters. West Australian MP, Troy Buswell, has demanded that great white sharks be removed from the Federal protected species list, warning that a series of attacks is threatening the South West's economy.
Surf stores and schools in West Australia claim they had sustained a drop in sales of surfboards, surfing lessons and water-based leisure equipment, with one Dunsborough store reporting 92012-13) its quietest year in two decades.
4. Shark culls and other measures are not intended to threaten the survival of sharks or other marine species
Supporters of shark culls, baited drum-lines and shark nets argue that they have no intention of hunting any marine species to extinction, they simply wish to protect human lives.
Keith Halnan, a surf instructor at Redgate Beach, Western Australia, has stated, 'We do need to cull. A lot of people think cull, cull, cull, is like kill, kill, kill, but we've got to do a biological control here. You know, we're not about to kill all the great whites but no one is putting a value on human life here.'
Mr Halnan, who was part of a delegation that has approached the Western Australian premier requesting a cull, has further stated, 'There should be a strategic reduction of great white shark numbers to bring the current situation back into balance. This would involve the use of strategically-set drum lines near shore.
We don't want to wipe out great white sharks but we do have to reduce their numbers in shore close to where people surf and swim to eliminate that threat to the public.
The litmus test to the government will be the drop in frequency of shark attacks to where the public feels safe entering the ocean.'
The Western Australian premier, Colin Barnett, has been reluctant to term the measures his government will employ a 'cull', stressing instead that the priority is protecting human life and thus on destroying sharks found in zones where they pose a threat to beach users.
Mr Barnett has stated, 'I don't know if it's a cull as such - and maybe that means different things to different people - but I certainly acknowledge that the public is demanding that sharks, where they stay around popular swimming or surfing areas, should be destroyed. I'm in that camp.'
Mr Barnett has explained his position further, '"I think we do need to be prepared to catch and, if necessary, destroy sharks that have either attacked or are a direct danger to people using our coastline. The great white is a protected species, so we have to recognise that.
But perhaps we need to look at a stronger, stricter stand when there is an imminent threat - and that is a large shark patrolling an area where people are located.
Safety of human life will be the first consideration.'
The Western Australian fisheries minister, Troy Buswell, has also denied that the new policy amounts to a cull. Mr Buswell has stated, 'It is not a widespread, fear-driven hunt for predators. It's a localised hazard-mitigation strategy.'
5. Stronger shark control measures have been employed or are being considered by other nations
Supporters of strong shark control measures claim that such measures are either being used or are being considered in other parts of the world.
South Africa has what may be the most extensive shark netting, drum-lining and general management program in the world.
Most of the shark nets deployed in South Africa are 214 metres long and 6 metres deep and are secured at each end by two 35 kg anchors; all have a stretched mesh of 51 cm. The nets are laid in two parallel rows approximately 400 metres offshore and in water depths of 10-14 metres. A drum-line consists of a large, anchored float (which was originally a drum) from which a single baited hook is suspended. Most beaches are protected either by two nets or by one net and four drum-lines, but the quantity of gear varies from beach to beach. Durban, the largest coastal city and holiday resort in South Africa, has 17 nets, each 305 metres in length, which cover all the popular swimming beaches between the mouth of the Umgeni River and the harbour entrance.
In Hong Kong, after the shark-attack death of three swimmers over 10 days in 1995, the government installed shark nets on all 32 gazetted beaches. Unlike the long-line and gill-net designs common in Australia and South Africa, these are permanent installations and are barrier nets. There have been zero fatalities since installation in 1995.
In July 2013, the French government on the Pacific island of R‚union announced a plan to kill 90 tiger and bull sharks along the coast (in addition to 24 already killed over the past year) in response to five human deaths from shark attacks reported since 2011. In the same period there has been a further seven non-fatal attacks. Although surfers have been the victims in the majority of the attacks, the two most recent shark attack victims were swimming in near-shore waters. The authorities have also announced a seasonal ban on surfing across much of the island.