Following the sixth fatal attack off Western Australia’s coast in the past two years, the WA state government has announced that tougher measures will be implemented in order to prevent further attacks.
According to reports, professional shark hunters will be paid to patrol designated zones with a licence to kill any shark bigger than three metres spotted in these areas – which span large parts of the metropolitan and south-west coastline. Baited drumlines will also be placed along the coast in order to catch sharks.
WA premier Colin Barnett was careful not to label the new measures a ‘cull’, but admits that the new policy is controversial.
Read Zag scribe Anton Louw’s thoughtful piece regarding the subject of shark culling, which he wrote after Reunion Island prime minister Thierry Robert threatened to implement a shark cull following a spate of attacks off the Indian Ocean island last year.
A petition has also been set-up to stop the proposed killing of white sharks in WA.
