Shark Bait

Recently the Western Australian government began its process of making the beaches safer for people by setting drum lines and baits with massive fish hooks on them to catch large sharks. These sharks will be mainly Great White Sharks and Tiger Sharks, which are found along the Southern WA coastline.

Both the Great White Shark and the Tiger Shark remain “vulnerable” according to the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature).

Almost unanimously, the families and friends of loved ones who have been taken (i.e. eaten) by sharks in Australia have actively resisted the call to catch and kill the culprit. Maybe this is because the people understand that the wanton slaughter of sharks will not bring their loved ones back?

Maybe this is because they feel that the ecology of the ocean will be affected by the random culling of the breeding stocks of these huge fish?

Or maybe they have a twisted version of involuntary organ donation and feel that, by killing the animal that ate their loved one, their loved one dies again?

I have a fear of sharks that was entrenched as a child and I blame Peter Benchley and Steven Spielberg – “Jaws” scared the bejesus out of me! I know it is an irrational fear and I have been a lot closer to death doing various other activities than I ever have in the ocean. Yet, despite my unreasonable and groundless notion that I could be attacked by a predator at any time, I continue to swim, surf, kayak and generally frolic in the ocean at any given opportunity.

If I get taken, then (and I don’t mean to dwell in the realm of the understatement here, but…) it would really suck! But I know the risks when I enter the water and accept them as part of the unspoken and unwritten contractual agreement we, as human beings, have with nature.

I know the risks when I visit the bush – I could be bitten by snake. Snakes such as Dugites, Brown Snakes and Tiger Snakes are common and often listed in the top 10 of the most dangerous snakes in the world. But if I was bitten and died, would there be a wholesale slaughter of snakes?

I know the risks when I go out for a few beers and a late night curry. At 1AM, the kebab van is usually frequented by the young male of our human species, full of intoxication and bravado. If I get punched and hit my head and die, do we cull young males under 25?

The answer to both of these questions is, of course, no! It would be ridiculous to suggest we should – yet that is exactly the scenario our government wants us to swallow when it comes to sharks. The chance of catching and killing a shark that has actually attacked someone is so remote I’m likely to win lotto before it happens. Many other sharks – guilty only of being a shark – are now sentenced to death as a result of the actions of a dubious few that have ventured close enough to land to snack on people.

In a bygone era, “civilised” man has all but wiped out threats to human expansion. Tigers are as endangered in the wild as they can be – shot for sport and because they will attack and kill people. Bears have suffered the same way; likewise countless other animals over the centuries. I thought that the world had grown up somewhat and we were past such barbaric acts of inhumanity.

I was wrong.

At the same time as this shark cull began, the Japanese town of Taiji began it’s yearly cull of porpoises and dolphins in a secluded cove on the southern coast of Japan. Despite years of global outrage, this slaughter continues in Taiji. Australia (and the rest of the world) has rightly condemned this practice for many years. However, with the wanton destruction of our own marine animals in process, we just look like hypocrites now.

It seems obvious to me that, if you set hooks and fresh bait, you will attract sharks and you will likely catch them. Why would you want to ATTRACT the sharks closer to the beaches? Surely repelling them is a better option?

It has been argued that the baiting doesn’t attract sharks anyway and people – like me – who suggest it does are ignorant and don’t understand the process. Well, if this baiting doesn’t attract sharks, why are the baits that will be deployed off Perth beaches in the next few days being removed for the Perth-Rottnest Island swim?

Politically this is just another blight on an already proven weak government (the back-flips on policy are too numerous to count).

Ecologically, it is obscene.

Globally, WA is seen as another Taiji.

We don’t deserve that – we’re better than that. I just hope the government sees sense.

If you’ve read this far…thank you.

#shark #westernaustralia