Shark cull in Australia. Saving lives?

The first shark was caught and killed under the new shark cull policy in Western Australia. According to the ABC in Australia,  Fisherman says animal he shot was threat to public safety.

Photo http://www.abc.net.au

In response to the international outcry, denouncing the policy, Western Australias Transport Minister Troy Buswell, who was one of the architects of the policy while he was fisheries minister, is quoted as saying "I suppose my question is, to those people who are so violently opposed to it (the shark cull) happening in Western Australia, is why do you value a West Australian shark so highly, and why do you value protecting a West Australian life so lowly, compared to the rest of Australia?" 

So my question to you Mr. Buswell is, since you are so concerned about threat to public safety caused by the sharks, who cause about 2 deaths (in all of Australia) a year, what are you going to do about:

Smoking, 17'000 deaths in Australia? Are you going to confiscate cigarettes? ...... Oh no, the pay you taxes on those, sorry, we need the money more than those lives.

Alcohol,  3'200 deaths in Australia? Are you going to outlaw alcohol? ...... Oooops, no can do, they also pay a lot of taxes.

Skin cancer, 540 deaths in Australia? Are you going to ban people from going to the beach? .... Oh no, that way they wouldn't go into the Ocean and we wouldn't need to cull the sharks. Dang, can't do that!!!!

Drowning, 290 deaths in Australia? ...... wait are you saying they are more likely to drown than get bitten by a shark?... Oh no, we have to stop people from going into the water!! Wait, if we do that, we don't need to cull the sharks. Dang, scratch that idea!

So Mr. Buswell, are you caring so little about Australian lives that your are not going to do a darn thing about all those deaths? ..... but you're hellbent on culling sharks, which is not even proven to have any effect on the number of people bitten by sharks?

Ah, Mr. Buswell, you are saying I'm being ridiculous. Well, of course I am! We both are! The only difference you and me isExcept of course, stopping the cull!!!  It's stupid, it doesn't safe lives and can have a devastating effect on the environment.  
, I know I'm being ridiculous and don't for a second believe we should do those things I'm suggesting.

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 sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Is Australia killing sharks? Again?

This is getting ridiculous. According to a couple of articles in the Australian, the Western Australian government has again decided to kill great white sharks. According to one article "Large sharks that swim into designated 'kill zones' near popular swimming and surfing beaches in Western Australia will be hunted by professional fishermen." The article quotes the fisheries minister Buswell as saying "This does not represent a culling of sharks. It is not a fear-driven hunt, it is a targeted, localised shark mitigation strategy,'' 

Wait a minute, did Mr Buswell say this is not a culling?  They are baiting hooks to catch and kill sharks, but it's not a cull. Only a politician can say something like that and actually think it makes sense.

A second article in the australian also states that "Treasurer Troy Buswell, who loses the fisheries portfolio on Wednesday, admitted it was likely other marine animals would be caught with the baited hooks, and it was possible tagged sharks used for research could also be caught by the new policy.

But the government insisted public safety came first."

There are a couple of things that don't make sense. Let's look at this a little closer.

1. The director of the Conservation Council of Western Australia correctly states that "This new cull policy amounts to indiscriminate fishing, and will not only cull potentially risky sharks, but we can expect to see dolphins, turtles, seals, nurse sharks and a range of other marine life killed off our beaches." So, since the baited hooks will not only target large sharks that are in the area, but also kill other marine life, the hooks will actually lure sharks into the area, because they will be attracted by the animals caught by the hooks. So how exactly is that going to make the beaches safer?

2. Targeting large sharks doesn't make a lot of sense, since it is actually the younger sharks that tend to be more inquisitive and less cautious than the adult ones.

Once again, politicians cater to the uneducated public and want to be seen as doing something, even if what they are doing isn't going to help and quite possibly could make the situation worse.

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.

Chris Fisher and South African Government at its best?

I've been diving with Great White Sharks at Isla Guadalupe for 11 years now. During that time I've gotten to know a lot of people in the field, from dive operators to researchers and government officials.

A lot has changed since we first started our shark diving operation. We've gotten to know individual sharks and learned that they show distinctly different behaviors and personalities. We learned that we didn't need to throw half a cow into the water to attract the sharks. Researchers learned where the sharks migrate to, what kind of tags work and don't work, we all made mistakes and learned from them.  During that time there were a lot of documentaries produced that showed what we learned and tried to educate the public and government officials.

It pains me to see, that after all we learned there is still a "Jaws" perception in the public opinion and governments are ignoring scientific discoveries, and are using drum lines and nets along with targeted shark killings to "protect" the beaches.

Fin mutilated by one of Chris Fishers tags

It's not just the public and governments that don't seem to learn. There are "scientists" that are still living in the past, using antiquated methods to tag and track sharks and seem more concerned with promoting themselves on TV than with doing some real research and protecting the sharks.

Sometimes those misguided government actions target the same shark as do those questionable research methods. A recent drum line catch in South Africa not only killed a beautiful animal, but it also exposed some brutal research methods. The shark that was caught had a dorsal fin that was badly mutilated by an attached transmitter. Chris Fisher, a self proclaimed shark expert with a "research" vessel is responsible for that transmitter. Come on Chris! This is the 21 century, there are better methods to catch and tag a shark. Stop mutilating and killing sharks to promote yourself and your show.

Cheers,

Martin Graf
Managing Director

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 sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Australia to kill Great White Sharks?

A article in the "Australian" reports that: "WEST Australian Fisheries officers are determined to catch and kill a great white shark suspected of having established itself at unpatrolled swimming beaches along the southwest coast since Christmas."
  
Wow, I guess the shark should know that it is not supposed to swim in an unpatrolled swimming area. They want to hunt and kill the shark simply because it's a shark, not because it has attacked anyone. The article further states:

Tony Cappelluti, from the Fisheries Department's shark response unit, said his team was almost certain they were seeing the same shark. "Our assessment is there's a shark of 3-4m, and it's a white shark, which is high risk, in the area," Mr Cappelluti said.

Almost certain? Well, I'm almost certain that a 3-4 m white shark is a juvenile that's still eating fish. Mr. Capelluti concludes by saying:

"(So) we've deemed it to be an imminent threat under the guidelines because there's possibly going to be people in areas we can't get to or can't guarantee we can mitigate the risk by getting them out of the water and keeping them out of the water."

Wouldn't it be easier to advise people not to go swimming in unpatrolled waters?

I wonder if this has to do with how we portray sharks in the media. "Shark Week" type shows and news outlets seem to cater either to those who find the most creative ways to get a shark to bite a gopro or anything else in sight, or those fools who go and ride the sharks to show how "docile" they are. Reporting how sharks really are seems to be almost non existent.

As I'm writing this I'm watching the local CBS news in San Diego, reporting that a 16 white shark that was tagged on the east coast has been spotted 17 miles off the coast of Florida. Their "expert" says that people have been advised to stay out of the water. ..... they spot a shark 17 miles away and advise people to get out of the water? .... really?!

Maybe, if we want to protect the sharks, we need to focus on educating the media, as well as government and beach safety officials, to give them an accurate description of the sharks. We should respect them for the wild predators they are, but there's no need to fear them!

Cheers,

Martin Graf
Managing Director
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 sharkcrew@gmail.com.